Alexander Vladimirovich Pichugin (designated as a foreign agent; born July 13, 1973, in City of Gorky) is a Nizhny Novgorod journalist and media manager, founder of several local online publications, and editor-in-chief of Reporter-NN. He spent twenty years working in television, founded the Vesti-Privolzhye programme on a Nizhny Novgorod channel, and won the Nizhny Novgorod Probuzhdenie (award) ("Awakening") prize three times[1][2]. Outside journalism, he is known as a songwriter and the lead voice of the Nizhny Novgorod band Yuzhnoye Shosse (band) ("Southern Highway")[3].

From a family of teachers to television news

Pichugin was born in City of Gorky into a family of teachers and in 1995 graduated from the philology faculty of Lobachevsky University with a degree in philology and journalism[1][2].

He entered television in 1993 as one of the first members of the news department at the Volga (television company) broadcasting company, where, according to a local biographical essay about him, he mastered virtually every television profession. He left in 2000 as editor-in-chief of the news directorate — to launch a new programme in Nizhny Novgorod[1].

Vesti-Privolzhye and years on air

Pichugin founded the Vesti-Privolzhye programme on the RTR channel — now Rossiya 1 — and ran it as editor-in-chief until March 2003[1][2]. This was followed by his first, brief experience on the other side of the camera: press secretary to the chief federal inspector for Nizhny Novgorod Region.

For six months he worked in Krasnodar Krai as the author of the social television programme Sodeystviye. Pomoshch. Spasseniye ("Assistance. Aid. Rescue"), which aired on several broadcasters across the region: in Krasnodar, Sochi, Novorossiysk, Armavir, and Slavyansk-on-Kuban[1].

From 2004, he was back in Nizhny Novgorod: editor-in-chief of Informservice (nnov.tv), the city's first cable channel with its own broadcast output, while simultaneously presenting the news at the Kreml (television company) television company. From 2005 to 2008, Kreml became his main place of work: he presented and edited the news, and was the author and host of the programmes Osnovnoy Vopros ("The Main Question"), Pravitelstvennyy Chas ("Government Hour") — interviews with the regional governor — and the weekly round-up Sem Vechera ("Seven in the Evening")[1].

In 2008–2009, Pichugin headed the press department of the governor's and regional government's press service, coordinating the work of the deputy governors' press secretaries, and then returned to the airwaves — at NNTV, where he hosted "Government Hour" and ObyektivNO. Itogi Nedeli ("ObjectivelyNN. Weekly Review"). From October 2010 to 2012, he headed the press centre of the Volgo-Vyatka branch of Sberbank[1][2].

His own publications

From 2013, Pichugin began building his own platforms: the internet portal Doroga7 ("Road7"), and the news agencies IF-Region (ifregion.ru) and Nizhny Seychas ("Nizhny Right Now")[2][4]. In June 2017, he launched Reporter-NN, which remains his main project; between 2019 and 2021 he was the founder of the portal Otkryty Nizhny ("Open Nizhny") and the news agency Newsroom24[2].

He articulated the mission of his publication himself, in the "About the Project" section, and the formulation is telling: Reporter-NN consciously refuses to be a wire service and promises to follow its stories through to the end[5].

The publication maintains its own formats: the special project Rasserzhennyye Nizhegorodtsy ("Angry Nizhny Novgorod Residents"), photo essays on the city's vanishing landscapes, the editor's video blog, and long-form interviews. Worthy of particular note are civic-interest stories such as a poll on the fate of Shveytsariya Park, in which more than 1,700 people took part in May 2020[5].

Beyond his websites, Pichugin ran the Telegram channels Sorokin Khvost ("Sorokin's Tail") and Sorokin SPIch; the first of these was recognised by the Probuzhdenie prize jury alongside Reporter-NN[6].

All three publications — Nizhniy Seychas, Otkryty Nizhniy, and Newsroom24 — continue to operate today, now without him; Pichugin himself appears on the list of Media Figures of Nizhny Novgorod.

We will never whine about a poor "news agenda" in Nizhny Novgorod and the Region. Something is always happening! — you just need to see it and try to tell it as close to the truth as possible.

— Alexander Pichugin, "About the Project," Reporter-NN website

Three alarm clocks

The Nizhny Novgorod Probuzhdenie (award) prize was established in 2012 by the Nizhny Novgorod Expert Club and the Media Strike centre; the laureates are chosen by an independent jury made up of editors-in-chief and heads of regional media outlets, public figures, and past prize winners, and the trophies take the form of alarm clocks[7][6]. Pichugin has won it three times[2].

In December 2017, the "Professional Journalism Project" award went to Reporter-NN — a publication that had not yet reached its first six months of existence. At the same ceremony, the editorial team was also nominated in a second category, while the "Leader of the Year" that year was Alexander Sergeyev, president of the Russian Academy of Sciences[7][8].

In 2020, Pichugin received the "Leader of Social (Network) Journalism" nomination — "for active, constructive, and substantive work in the Nizhny Novgorod segment of internet communication platforms"; the jury's decision listed him as editor of Reporter-NN and author of the Telegram channel Sorokin Khvost[6]. A further award in the "Professional Journalism Project" category was given to his work in 2015[2].

He sits on the prize's panel himself, and speaks of its purpose the way people usually speak of a guild matter rather than an awards ceremony[6].

Its central idea is to recognise people for the actions and deeds that consolidate civil society.

— Alexander Pichugin on the Probuzhdenie prize

Yuzhnoye Shosse

The second well-known side of Pichugin is music. He is the frontman of the band Yuzhnoye Shosse (band), the author of most of its songs and all of its lyrics; the band's website notes that he "sometimes plays acoustic guitar for some reason" and considers himself lucky: he plays and performs the music he loves to listen to himself — The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Presley, Rod Stewart, The Doors[3].

He began playing in the mid-1990s with the band Garlem — the songs that later entered Yuzhnoye Shosse's repertoire date from that period. In 1999, after leaving Garlem, Pichugin and Evgeny Kiryanov started playing acoustic music together "for want of anything better to do"; the duo grew into the band Perekryostok ("Crossroads"), and that in turn became Yuzhnoye Shosse[3].

The group's first release, a three-track single called "Chisto Sluchayno" ("Purely by Chance"), was presented on February 4, 2007, at the Nizhny Novgorod club "P@utin@"[9]. Among the band's songs is one dedicated to the city — "V Nizhniy" ("To Nizhny").

The album is called "Purely by Chance." You can't say it was released purely by chance — we prepared for it, but there were a lot of chance elements in the release.

— Alexander Pichugin, February 2007

Teaching

Since 2021, Pichugin has been a mentor on the online courses Vstan i Skazhi! ("Stand Up and Speak!") and Tekst i Kontekst ("Text and Context") at Zvereva Nina Vitalyevna's school[2]. He had taught before as well: at the Nizhny Novgorod media school he led courses in "Television Programme Presenter" and "Editing Director"[4].

The breadth of experience he brings to teaching is rare: television news, analytical programmes, the governor's press service, corporate communications for a major bank, and his own online publications — in other words, nearly every facet of the profession that exists in the city.

The 2020 case

In April 2020, a sarcastic post appeared in the Telegram channel Sorokin Khvost: the author described a mass pilgrimage of believers to a monastery during the pandemic as an operation to infect the population[10].

Criminal proceedings were brought against him under Article 207.1 of the Criminal Code — public dissemination of knowingly false information; the prosecution sought two and a half years of restricted liberty. The authors of two expert assessments found no fake news in the publication: the text was deemed an extended metaphor and an expression of opinion, not a statement of fact[10][11].

On November 11, 2020, the Bogorodsky District Court imposed a fine of 300,000 roubles. Pichugin became the first journalist in Russia to be convicted under this article[12]. A year later came another fine — for taking part in an unauthorised rally. Since 2022, he has not lived in Russia[12].

Legal status

On November 7, 2025, the Ministry of Justice added Alexander Pichugin to the register of foreign agents; on the same day, seven other individuals and one project were also added to the register[12]. The basis was a decision of the Ministry of Justice of Russia dated November 7, 2025, issued pursuant to Federal Law No. 255-FZ of July 14, 2022[12].

The notice at the beginning of the article is based on this decision and relates to legal status, not to any assessment of the journalist's work.

Sources

  1. lib-avt.ru — Centralised Library System of Avtozavodsky District — Pichugin Alexander Vladimirovich: on a journalist's career (archive)
  2. praktika-nz.ru — Nina Zvereva's "Praktika" School — Alexander Pichugin: television journalist, media manager, PR specialist (archive)
  3. web.archive.org — Yuzhnoye Shosse band website — Band members (archive)
  4. mediashkola.com — Media School — Alexander Pichugin — instructor for the courses "Television Programme Presenter" and "Editing Director" (archive)
  5. reporter-nn.ru — Reporter-NN — About the Project (archive)
  6. Otkryty Nizhniy — Laureates of the Probuzhdenie 2020 prize announced
  7. reporter-nn.ru — Reporter-NN — Reporter-NN awarded the Probuzhdenie-2017 prize (archive)
  8. nn.rbc.ru — RBC Nizhny Novgorod — Probuzhdenie prize awarded in Nizhny Novgorod (archive)
  9. NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — Official presentation of the Yuzhnoye Shosse band's album took place on February 4
  10. roskomsvoboda.org — Roskomsvoboda — The case concerning a post in the Sorokin Khvost Telegram channel
  11. reporter-nn.ru — Reporter-NN — Alexander Pichugin: "Marching in step is always safer" (archive)
  12. Kommersant (Privolzhye) — Nizhny Novgorod journalist Alexander Pichugin designated a foreign agent (archive)