Son of Servant of the People director put on the wanted list in Russia as one of the RDC leaders
24 July 10:41
Vasily Kiryushchenko, the son of the famous Russian director Alexei Kiryushchenko, who directed the popular TV series The Raven, My Beautiful Nanny, Who’s the Boss and Servant of the People, has been put on the federal wanted list in Russia. This was reported by the RIA Novosti propaganda agency, calling him “one of the leaders” of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), a paramilitary group fighting on the side of Ukraine against the regime of Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
According to media reports, Vasily Kiryushchenko, known by the call sign “Cardinal,” had been hiding his identity until recently. Videos of his speeches were published with his face covered, but later journalists identified him by his voice, appearance, and tattoos.
Kiryushchenko himself was born in 1994, but his FSB wanted list mistakenly states 1974.
From Moscow to Kyiv
Kiryushchenko studied at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and moved to Kyiv in 2021. It was then that he joined the ranks of the Russian Volunteer Corps, which was created in 2022 from Russian citizens who openly opposed the Kremlin.
Since 2023, Kiryushchenko has been actively involved in logistics and supply for the RVC. He created two charitable foundations in Ukraine – the Union of Foreign Volunteers and the Foreign Volunteer. They are used to purchase equipment, ammunition, and organize the recruitment of new fighters.
Terrorism charges
on June 6, 2025, Rosfinmonitoring added Kiryushchenko to the list of extremists and terrorists. Several criminal cases have been opened against him, including for public calls for terrorism and organizing the activities of a terrorist group.
Now Vasily Kiryushchenko has been officially added to the Russian federal wanted list.
Who is his father, Oleksiy Kiryushchenko?
The wanted man’s father, Alexei Kiryushchenko, is a Russian director known for many television hits, including the Ukrainian series Servant of the People, in which Volodymyr Zelenskyy played the role of a teacher who became president long before his real political career.
Kiryushchenko Sr. also directed series popular in the post-Soviet space and had a reputation as an artist loyal to the government.
Earlier this year, Alexei Kiryushchenko announced that he had lost his Russian citizenship.
According to the celebrity, he has not only refused to work in the terrorist state, but has also been a citizen of Ukraine for five years. So, despite all the rumors, he no longer has any ties to Russia.
In 2012, he finally moved to Ukraine and later received Ukrainian citizenship.
“I was born in Kharkiv, lived in Dnipropetrovs’k, and then in the Kharkiv region. After school, I entered the Dnipro Theater School. I joined the army and returned to Dnipro. Then my first wife encouraged me to enter the Shchukin School in Moscow. But I always said that Moscow is a branch of Kyiv (laughs). I was raised in a Russian theater school by Jews and Ukrainians,” the director recalls.
According to Kiryushchenko, since 2012, he has mostly lived in Ukraine, officially received a residence permit, and later a Ukrainian passport. According to him, it was his father who was most worried about this:
“My father, mother, brother – they all lived here, they are buried here.”
Kiryushchenko emphasizes that his family has a pro-Ukrainian position. Moreover, his son is an officer in the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, and his three daughters, a grandson, and three granddaughters live in Ukraine.
“My son is serving in the military, he is a DIU officer, a great patriot of Ukraine. I have three other daughters. One grandson and three granddaughters,” Kiryushchenko said.
The Russian Volunteer Corps is an armed formation of Russians fighting against the Putin regime on the side of Ukraine. In Russia, the RVC is recognized as a terrorist organization, but in Ukraine and among international allies they are considered part of the fight against authoritarianism.
