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As HBO‘s Chernobyl series comes to an end, a Russian TV network is creating its own take on the 1986 nuclear disaster.
The series was commissioned by NTV, a top free-to-air network, owned by Gazprom Media, the media arm of the natural gas giant Gazprom. It was partially financed by the culture ministry, which provided 30 million rubles ($460,000). The total budget has not been made public.
Principal photography was done last year in neighboring Belarus and the series is currently in postproduction.
Few details have been revealed so far, except for a short synopsis, which states that the series will follow a group of Soviet KGB officers tasked with uncovering a CIA agent stationed at the Chernobyl nuclear plant and involved in espionage.
NTV is known for pro-Kremlin programming. The air date of the series has not yet been announced.
Chernobyl aired in Russia on Amediateka, “the home of HBO.”
Although some local viewers criticized Chernobyl for inaccuracies and overall failure to catch the spirit of the Soviet regime’s final years, the series was generally well received in Russia. On KinoPoisk, the local analog of IMDb, its average rating is 9.1.
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