Ksenia Bolchakova

Ksenia Bolchakova
Ksenia Bolchakova
Occupation	Journalist

Ksenia Bolchakova, in Cyrillic Ксения Большакова, is a Russian investigative journalist, who became a naturalized French citizen in 2018, and works in France.

In 2022, she, along with Alexandra Jousset, received the Albert Londres Prize for audiovisual journalism for their joint documentary on the Wagner Group.

Family and Early Life

Ksenia Bolchakova was born on March 26, 1983, in Moscow. Her father worked for Pravda; in 1986, he was appointed as the newspaper's correspondent in Paris and moved there with his entire family until the dissolution of the USSR.

Later, Bolchakova pursued her studies at Sciences Po Paris and then joined the general news service of BFM TV, eventually becoming a correspondent for this outlet and others in Moscow.

She acquired French citizenship through naturalization on December 3, 2018.

Career

In 2022, she co-directed, alongside Alexandra Jousset—whom she had befriended during their studies—the documentary Wagner, Putin’s Shadow Army, which aired on February 20 on France 5. The two women had been interested in the subject since 2018 but only secured funding to make the documentary in January 2021.

On November 28 of the same year, they received the 38th Albert Londres Prize for audiovisual journalism for this documentary, with the jury praising "a thorough and relentless investigation," documenting "the actions of this shadow army, helping us understand the geopolitical stakes of the Kremlin."

Reports and Documentaries

• AIDS: When Will It Be Eradicated? with Aurore Aubin, 2017.
• Ukraine: The End of the Russian World? with Philippe Lagnier, 2022.
• Ukraine: In the Footsteps of the Executioners (2024).

Awards

• 2022: Grand Prize at the FIGRA.