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Less than a year ago, I was a successful director and screenwriter in Moscow. Now, I spend my sleepless nights in New York City, trying to find airline tickets for my friends to escape Russia before they’re sent to the front lines or arrested.

I was about to begin making a movie when the Kremlin started bombing Ukrainian cities. Dozens of actors and a film crew were waiting for me to begin shooting. Many of my friends had already fled the country that week. They called me every five minutes,...

At least three Russian news anchors have resigned from state-run channels since Channel One employee Marina Ovsyannikova’s on-air protest against Putin’s war on Ukraine on Monday night, with more Russian TV personalities currently on “holiday.”

Zhanna Agalakova has quit her job at Channel One as Europe correspondent, according to the BBC. Two anchors at another state-run channel, Ntv, have also resigned. On Tuesday, Lilia Gildeyeva, who worked for Ntv since 2006 and been praised by Putin, announced she has also left the country. “At first I left, I was afraid that they wouldn’t just let me go,” she told independent Russian journalist Ilya Varlamov of Varlamov News. Vadim Glusker, who had been at the network for nearly 30 years, has also resigned.

The BBC reports rumors of journalists also leaving Russia state TV group Vgtrk.

Rt editor Maria Baronova was among the first to step down earlier this month,...

Exclusive: Ukrainian news organizations are busily enacting contingency plans that have been in place for many years and are reporting through-the-roof news ratings, as local citizens and the international world tune in for updates on the escalating situation.

Speaking exclusively to Deadline via a translator yesterday, as Vladimir Putin prepared for full-scale invasion, Oksana Dychnich, the Head of News Production for StarLightMedia, the nation’s largest TV channel group, said a senior committee of all departments from news, Hr, operations and finance had set out scenarios a long way in advance.

Dychnich didn’t go into detail about the contingencies but told Deadline her news team is “doing our best so we can carry on reporting but feel comfortable from the technological, content and security side.”

“No matter your politics, this is a time when the media should unite the country,” she added passionately. “That is our aim.”

She said the war has,...

In the first installment of The Late Show's "Russia Week," Stephen Colbert showed how he ended up on Russia's top late-night program, Evening Urgant. During the taping, Colbert slugged vodka shots and announced his presidential candidacy in 2020. "I thought it would be better to cut out the middleman and just tell the Russians myself," he said.

On The Late Show Monday, Colbert played the full clip of his appearance on Evening Urgant, as well as a backstage interview with host Ivan Urgant. Colbert asked whether he felt comfortable joking about politics.

Stephen Colbert just met his Russian counterpart. (Sounds like the plot of a great spy novel, no?)

The late-night host officially launched “Russia Week” on Monday’s episode of The Late Show, in which he shared the first of five segments that were filmed on location in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

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In the video above, Colbert makes an appearance on Evening Urgant, Russia’s late-night talker that host Ivan Urgant describes as “closer to [Jimmy] Fallon than to John Oliver.”

Among the highlights of Colbert...

When in Russia... While "on assignment" in Russia, the Late Show host Stephen Colbert appeared on Russian late night show, Evening Urgant, and said that he's considering a run for president in the next election, assuming no one in the U.S. would hear about it that is. While playing a vodka-instead-of-bullet-infused round of Russian roulette with the show's host Ivan Urgant, Colbert confirmed that the show wasn't broadcast in the States and then the 53-year-old funnyman, who's known for his dry wit and his liberal political leanings, made his big announcement. "Ok. I am here to announce that I am considering a run for president in 2020, and I thought it would be better to cut...

Stephen Colbert hinted at a potential 2020 presidential run during an appearance on a Russian late-night TV show.

Colbert, who is visiting Moscow for an upcoming segment on The Late Show, told Evening Urgant after some vodka shots, "I am here to announce that I am considering a run for president in 2020. I thought it would be better to cut out the middleman and just tell the Russians myself."

The Kanye-esque proclamation came after Colbert made numerous digs about the Donald Trump administration and their alleged connections to Russia. "To the beautiful and friendly Russian people,...

Stephen Colbert for President? The “Late Show” host said during an appearance on a Russian late-night show that he’d run for president in 2020. The CBS host made his announcement on “Evening Urgant,” a Russian show hosted by comedian Ivan Urgant. Colbert was in the country filming an upcoming episode of “The Late Show.” “I am here to announce that I am considering a run for president in 2020, and I thought it would be better to cut out the middle man and just tell the Russians myself,” Colbert said after taking several shots. “If anyone would like to work on.

Stephen Colbert is in Russia at quite an opportune moment. As he tapes segments there for “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” breaking news back in the United States continues to confirm that Russia – and, specifically, Vladimir Putin – orchestrated hacking and other interference to impact last year’s presidential election.

That’s why, tongue-in-cheek, Colbert went on the Russian late-night show “Evening Urgant” (hosted by Ivan Urgant) to announce his plan to run for U.S. president in 2020.

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After taking a few shots of vodka (with a pickle chaser), Colbert said, “I am here to announce that I am considering a run for president in 2020, and I thought it would be better to cut out the middle man and just tell the Russians myself! If anyone would...

Stephen Colbert is in Russia and, on Friday night, was set to appear on Evening Urgant, a popular late-night show hosted by Ivan Urgant that airs on state-run TV and looks suspiciously like certain late-night shows in the U.S. In video on the program’s website (you have to wade through a long-ish program trailer first) that appears to be video of Colbert’s appearance – or the best case of Russian Fake News ever – Colbert is seen exchanging pleasantries and face slaps…...

Timur Bekmambetov’s first outing as a director since his Hollywood film Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter sees him going back in time again to the beginning of the First World War at the end of 1914.

Yolki 1914 is the fourth instalment of Bekmambetov’s New Year hit comedy franchise Yolki, which his production-distribution company Bazelevs launched in 2010.

Bekmambetov directed the first Yolki (aka The Six Degrees Of Celebration), which took $26m at the box office in the Cis territories in 2010/11.

Since then, Bekmambetov has only served as the producer on the following two Yolki films.

The first sequel Yolki 2012 – which posted $30m at the Cis box office in 2011/12 – took place on New Year’s Eve in 11 cities from small regional towns to Saint Petersburg and Moscow, and was directed by Dmitry Kiselev, Alexander Kott, Oksana Bychkova and others.

Kiselev, Kott, Alexander Karpilovsky and Olga Kharina directed the episodes of the third film Yolki 2014 which was released on Dec...