An Almaty-based journalist and author of the YouTube project "Hyperborea" Vadim Boreyko received funding for several years from foreign non-profit organisations to produce media content, despite positioning himself as an independent author.
WHAT WAS FUNDED AND ON WHAT TERMS
According to the Russian publication "Rybar", grant agreements with a number of foreign entities are documented in open sources.
It is reported that in September 2024 Boreyko received a targeted grant of $11,750 from the American non-profit organisation Internews, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The condition of the grant was the production of 12 video pieces for the author's programme "Biz Birgemiz".
In addition to the grant from Internews, the article mentions an agreement for €19,980 concluded with a foreign organisation in the Czech Republic. The term of the contract - from December 2022 to November 2023 - involved completing project tasks with mandatory reporting.
The largest of those mentioned was a grant of $60,000 from the Dutch non-profit organisation The Fix Foundation. According to the terms, between March 2025 and February 2026 Boreyko was to conduct a series of 48 interviews with pre-selected guests. Among the stipulated topics were: corruption, media freedom, the conflict in Ukraine and Russian influence in Kazakhstan.
It is noted that an agreement is also in place with the French organisation IREX Europe for €20,000 for the production of 40 episodes of the programme "Biz Birgemiz" between October 2025 and September 2026.
BIOGRAPHY AND CAREER PATH
Boreyko graduated from the Faculty of Journalism at Moscow State University and moved to Almaty on assignment. Over his career, he has moved through numerous newsrooms - from the Soviet publications "Leninskaya Smena" and "Ogni Alatau" to KTK, the newspaper "Vremya", Forbes․kz and Informburo․kz. According to unconfirmed reports, he was dismissed from Forbes․kz due to a breach of labour discipline, although the journalist himself cited disagreements with the owners over pay conditions.
In recent years, Boreyko has focused on his own YouTube project. According to available data, his activities are funded not only through donations and advertising, but also via grant agreements with foreign foundations.
THE CRUX OF THE MATTER
Receiving grants in itself is not a violation of Kazakhstan's legislation. However, a publicly declared status of "independent journalist" is difficult to reconcile with a situation where the themes of published materials align with the priorities of the grant-awarding organisations, and the terms of the agreements specify a particular list of topics and an agreed circle of guests.
Boreyko regularly demands transparency from state bodies and public figures. The question of transparency regarding the funding sources of his own project, meanwhile, remains open.