On Sept. 18, a decree issued by Vladimir Putin awarded the Order of Merit to the Fatherland, 3rd Class, to cellist Sergei Roldugin, who is best known not for his music, but for his role as a “wallet” — or a “secret caretaker” of the Russian leader’s unofficial wealth. The same document granted state honors to 27 employees of Kremlin-controlled television network Pervy Kanal (lit. “Channel One”), according to The Insider’s count. The document was published earlier today on Russia’s official legal information portal.
Roldugin, the artistic director of the St. Petersburg House of Music and a longtime friend of Putin, received the award “for major contributions to culture and the arts and many years of fruitful work.” Putin had already awarded him the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 4th Class, in 2021.
The Order of Merit to the Fatherland is one of Russia’s highest state decorations. It has four classes, with 1st Class being the highest.
Roldugin’s name has repeatedly appeared in investigations into the assets of people close to Putin. The 2016 Panama Papers showed that offshore structures linked to the cellist had handled more than $2 billion in transactions.
In 2023, a Zurich court convicted four managers at the Swiss subsidiary of Gazprombank who had helped open accounts for companies linked to Roldugin. The Insider reported at the time that the Swiss prosecutors’ case materials indicated the musician was only the nominal beneficiary of the companies and was acting on behalf of third parties.
In March 2026, Putin transferred shares in the nationalized Muzyka sheet-music publishing house to the Talent and Success Foundation, which Roldugin co-founded and currently chairs. Putin himself heads the foundation’s board of trustees.
A month later, it emerged that the same foundation had received a 4.99% stake in energy company En+ worth about 14 billion rubles ($166.2 million).
The block of 31.9 million shares was transferred to the foundation as a “donation.” Independent outlet Verstka reported that the stake amounted to 5% minus one share — just below the threshold at which a shareholder is required to notify the Russian Central Bank and publicly disclose the holding.
Among the Channel One employees named in the decree, four received the Order of Honor, four received the Order of Friendship, and 19 were awarded the Medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 2nd Class.
All were honored “for their contributions to the media and many years of dedicated service.”
Those on the list included television presenters Anton Vernitsky, Vitaly Yeliseyev, and Anatoly Kuzichev, as well as Sergei Titinkov, Channel One’s chief producer for film programming and production.
