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Millionaire blogger, professional traveler, “Number 1 in the Arctic”, race driver — all this Bogdan Bulychev. In an interview with Sport, he spoke about how he achieved success, about trips to the Northern Military District zone, about the dangers lurking at the front, and also about how much Ukrainians give for the head of a Russian deputy.

— U you have 1.1 million followers on Instagram (the activities of Meta (social networks Facebook and Instagram) are prohibited in Russia as extremist). The figure is impressive. How did you manage to become a millionaire blogger?

— There were even more, but after I officially supported the SVO, some unsubscribed. Two hundred thousand, if not more. But I admit honestly: I cheated a little at the start. When Instagram first appeared, I used these must-likes. When there were not yet a hundred thousand subscribers, they gave an increase, and after “one hundred” I realized that people were watching me. If the content is good, then recruitment continues. I even stopped counting numbers. I missed a million subscribers, I was somewhere on an expedition.

— In our country, everyone loves figure skating. Do you realize that in terms of the number of subscribers you are on the same level as Alina Zagitova, Alexandra Trusova?

— Certainly. And this awareness gives a certain responsibility. It’s one thing when you tell something to friends in a restaurant, in the kitchen or in the bathhouse. Another thing is to broadcast to a large audience. Every word… You understand that “a” — it must be precisely justified, “b” — you bear full responsibility for it. An audience of millions is an audience. This means that I can be interesting to them, a leader of opinions.

—Money issue. Is it possible to monetize this interest on social networks?

— Before the start of the SVO, I had dozens of advertising contracts, I was an ambassador, the face of more than ten different brands. This is a car brand, equipment, and clothing. It's less now, but still the same. Everything is changing a little, everyone has exhaled and understands that we need to move on. The players have changed a little, but the essence remains the same.

— By the way, among your latest projects is an old Moskvich to the Arctic. Did the plant somehow contact you?

— There were several options. In general, we wanted to go to the Zaporozhets, but, you know, now there is some political overtones. And we decided to take another unusual car. Driving a Niva or UAZ would be boring, and subscribers wrote in the comments: “Yes, I would drive my Nine.” But the “nine” is also easy, so we took a 50-year-old “Moskvich” and drove it. Many said that the plant bought us. But in fact, I admit that we called the plant and they said that their concept was, on the contrary, to move away from the old Moskvich.

— Often accused of cheating subscribers ?

— Absolutely not. What's the point? If we had set a goal for the number of subscribers, then we could have poked me. And the best measure of what we do is views on YouTube.

— And there are almost 100 million of them.< /strong>

— After the start of the Northern Military District, and then after the announcement of partial mobilization, many left the country. Did such a thought occur to you even for a split second?

— Fleeing the country — definitely not. I understood perfectly well that I would not go anywhere. But, as I like to joke when my wife is nearby, I’m a little henpecked! Although this is not true. We sat down for family council. I asked what she thought. He said that we could leave, but then we would leave the country completely and would not return here again. Because I will be ashamed: before myself, before my family, before my friends, before my ancestors. Or we stay. The wife replied: “How can you even talk about moving?!” “Okay, great, that’s what I wanted to hear from you.” Then I once again realized that it was not in vain that I chose her. Regarding mobilization, then someone really fled, someone succumbed to the herd feeling. I have friends who left. I ask: “What are you doing?” And in response: “I don’t know, everyone ran, and I ran.” Not everyone should be condemned.

After all, I am from Kolyma, from a fishing region, my uncles were hunters, and I myself have been hunting since childhood. And periodically I go out with friends. And we had a base booked in Kazakhstan for trophy goose hunting. And I had long dreamed of going there, tickets were bought, we were supposed to go, and then all this happened. Sat down. I simulated the situation, I understand: I am with a weapon and leaving the country. Canceled the trip. Although we had been booked eight months in advance, they could barely squeeze us in; everything was already booked. I refused my friends, and these are serious people from Kazakhstan. «How did it happen?» — They say. I answered to take the money I paid, take a friend, anyone, instead of me. I can’t, there’s a situation going on in my country right now where everyone is running in panic. I can't afford to leave the country. My audience may think that I am also running, supposedly under such a pretext. Again we return to responsibility to the “million-plus” audience. You must filter some of your “wants”.

— As I understand, there were also serious disagreements within your expedition team after the start of the SVO?
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— How to put it mildly. I believe that every person has their own opinion and it should be respected. “Everything is relative,” as Einstein said, but there are lines that should not be crossed. Some may support, some may not, this is everyone’s right. But most of all I don’t accept it when people belittle things they didn’t do themselves. Maybe they are afraid to do it. But at the same time they call it little things. We planned to bring Chinese tour operators to work out a route for tourist groups from China in the Far East. At the very last moment, on the day of the start, the Chinese colleagues first met not with me, but with my now former partner Sasha Elikov. Before this everything was fine. They knew very well that I was going to the Northern Military District zone, bringing bulletproof vests and first aid kits to the doctors. They said that they, as the Chinese side, support that the Chinese people are with us. And then they met with him, and then they called and said: “We cannot go together, we are worried that your support for the mobilized may affect our tourism business.” I say: “Your position is very strange. Literally four hours ago it wasn’t there.”

— How did this happen?

— I almost immediately understood where all this was coming from… I called Alexander, and he told me: “You know… While you were taking cookies to the front, it was normal. And when you went with the plenipotentiary on February 23 to reward the soldiers near Ugledar — this too much, you have become part of the fighting.» It’s good that he told me this on the phone… To understand, you need to go there once. You immediately understand what the hell “cookies” are?! Boys are dying there! And we need any help, even letters from the children that we brought… They open them and sincerely read them. Someone looks at the signature and “Oh, my daughter’s name is the same!” He reads it and carefully puts it in his armor, in his pocket. Yes, we brought food once, but we were told that there was plenty of food and we didn’t need it.

— What is most important at the front now?

— Thermal underwear, warm shoes, a bunch of first aid kits, bulletproof vests for doctors, cars, UAZ “Loaves”. We prepare them separately. I cooperate with both the Yaroslavl and Magadan governments. And this was a total discovery for me! We are all accustomed to the fact that… Well, a deputy or a governor… You understand. And here everyone has a very clear position. This really made me very happy. One misfortune that came to us from the West united everyone. And it doesn’t matter who you are — an engineer, blogger, driver, governor or State Duma deputy. We were all sitting in the same car, we ran over a “petal” and our tire was torn off. There are many stories.

— Which deputy are we talking about?

— From Magadan. Anton Aleksandrovich Basansky, my age, a young guy. And there is also a situation where the Ukrainian side has appointed a reward of 100 thousand dollars for the deputies. They are being hunted there. And he was on his 38th business trip there when they went with him. Literally in a week he goes. I say: “Anton, what are you doing?” And he: “I’m done, there’s no other way.”

— How did you find yourself at the front for the first time?

— I came to visit a classmate. We have a graduation chat, and he wrote there that he was mobilized, one of our class. He writes that everything is fine, but the only thing that was brought to the location in the Volnovakha area. And this is just a forest. And they are told: “Now this is your home.” He says: “While we were waiting for further decisions, I went to the neighboring village, bought a bucket and cooked borscht for 15 people.” And he himself is a hunter, they built a house there. And I’m sitting in a cafe… And there’s a man in a bucket making borscht for other boys. I think: “No, this is some kind of bullshit. Here I choose a crouton or toast, count out the tip, and the guys there eat borscht out of a bucket.”

— How long did it take you to decide to go to the “ribbon”?

— Five or seven days later I was with him. He asked for thermal underwear, socks, something else, a whole list. I brought it, saw on the spot that more was needed, and five days later I went to their location again. And again, again, again. On the way to the interview, a woman wrote to me and said: “My son, from Yakutia, went to the front as a volunteer. The problem is that he’s big, a kid, and they gave him a bulletproof vest — it weighs like a pendant on his chest.” So I now gave her all the contacts, called the guys, said that this is the same for me. I should take everything at cost. And we will deliver if necessary.

— Previously, you raised money under almost every post. Are people responding?

“The people were very active. We needed protection for the doctors, who told how they pulled out the wounded with virtually no protection. There are statutory body armor, but they are inconvenient to crawl in, and others are small. We collected almost the entire amount, and then the governor of the Yaroslavl region got involved. He read my post and said: “Let us help.” Then I needed a car, the subscriber said: “I have a car, I was preparing it.” Moreover, he himself is from Germany, he prepared “Loaf” for himself, it was generally ideal, he wanted to bring it for himself and travel around Berlin. He paid part of the money for it himself, and we paid part of it. They were taken and given to the doctors.

— Was there any other unusual help?

— Long before the start of the SVO, I met the Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy for the Far Eastern Federal District, Yuri Trutnev. On February 23, the children were given individual kits prepared by Magadan. It was hello from home. Then Yuri Petrovich’s office contacted me and said that he was going to go reward the fighters, and offered to go with him. To be honest, I thought that, since he was such a high-ranking person, they would gather everyone in the rear. And we went into the thick of it. Directly below Ugledar. And practically in the trenches they awarded the guys. It was then that Yuri Petrovich brought them Lobaev sniper rifles and optics. This was unusual for me.

strong>— The amounts there are still a little different, as I understand it? Are they different from those collected using social networks?

“I asked him just then how much help they provide. He says: “For all this time, they have already brought in more than half a billion.” We, with our millions of rubles, modestly stand aside, of course. At this moment you understand that when everyone from the outside is trying to rock us, to split us, it’s all nonsense. When the presidential envoy or the governor is walking next to you under fire, or you are traveling with a State Duma deputy.

— That’s the end of the story from the NWO zone do not end?

— Here's another one. We were making a film about whalers, and our main character is a modest guy, 23 years old, a whaler. He himself is a Chukchi and told his parents that he went to Khabarovsk to get a weapons permit. And he left as a volunteer, and now he works as a driver in the Zaporozhye direction, right on the front end, giving rides to BC. We want to come and film the continuation of the story. After all, he has immunity, he is a small indigenous people of the North, he is not conscripted. And here is an example of when some people simply run, while others get up and go to fight.

— As they sometimes joke, some receive a medal for the capture of Upper Lars.

— Yeah, and a rainbow one. And others receive well-deserved awards. In general, when you are there, everything is completely different. After the first business trip, I also noticed that when you come back, life goes on as usual. Everyone is doing well. And there are military operations, bombings, people die. I remember coming to the hotel, while I was washing my face, I heard explosions. I look out, and next to the window there is a glow, Donetsk is being bombed by dozens of Grads. I didn’t even have time to understand what happened. It turned out that several people died. But when you come here, the values ​​are completely different, people don’t feel what’s happening. It’s partly good that the state was able to leave comfort within the country, despite what’s going on. On the other hand… The boys will return from there, everyone will look at them strangely, but in fact they are now doing everything there so that we continue to live here as before, and maybe even better.

— Your life, the life of a professional Arctic traveler, consists of overcoming. What is more terrible — to conquer the Arctic in inhumane conditions or to be at the «front line» of the Northern Military District?

“Everywhere is scary in its own way.” Only a fool is not afraid. But when you understand what you are doing, the “work mode” turns on. When we arrived near Ugledar, there were flights a few meters away; at first you twitch, but, no matter how it sounds, you get used to it and start working, doing your job. But then, when we left the line of combat contact, I saw the general light a cigarette with a shaking hand. And he says: “I don’t know if you realized what danger we were in now. We were in the thick of it. “Birds” were flying there, they could copy us and work on us with art.” And among us were the commander of the Vostok group, the presidential envoy, and the leadership team. So let's say, a super tasty morsel. Realization comes a little later.

—You mentioned the incident of hitting an anti-personnel mine. How did this happen?

— Yes, we hit a petal and the wheel banged. We stopped and realized that when we got out, there were still “petals” nearby. We drove further, to the asphalt, and only then changed the tire. There was a case when once we went to a checkpoint in the contact zone, and guys in an armored personnel carrier slowed us down. “Where are you going?! Here 300 meters — and there’s fighting. This house is ours today, tomorrow it’s theirs.” And we rolled out, we had to give the parcel to the guy, but he was in the trench. We were lucky that it was still cloudy. “If it were a sunny day, the birds would fly, and they would immediately attack you with ATGMs.” No, we understood this perfectly well, we were flying 140-150 kilometers per hour. They knew what they were getting into.

— The end justifies the means.

— Yes, there was a goal. Plus, this is my fellow countryman, my mother really asked me to tell him. They dragged this box, searched for him for two days, but still found him and handed him over.

— Have you ever been on the brink between life and death?< /strong>

— Yes, about Elena Valeryevna Vyalba. Do you know each other personally?

— We don’t know each other personally, but I have an interesting story connected with her. I grew up in Magadan, and we have a “Vyalbe store”. If I'm not mistaken, it's called «Champion». And when I was little, this store was the coolest sports store in the city. Everything was there! And everything is not consumer goods, but everything is like the guys from the national teams, the champions. And I was engaged in classical wrestling. And before the first competition, I broke my piggy bank and bought my first Adidas wrestling tights. I still have it at home, torn, even a little bloody. And won the city championship! Thanks to Elena Vyalbe.

— It feels like there is some kind of special forge of Russian patriots in Magadan. Vyalbe never minces his words and is not afraid to express his opinion.

— As my friend jokes, knowing my position, “blink twice if you are being held captive.” “No, everything’s fine,” I say. Maybe this is due to the region, the harsh climate and image. Kolyma! People there are a little more honest and truthful. We never locked the apartment during the day, for example. Plus the habit of mutual assistance. If you are standing on the road somewhere in the central part of the country with a broken down car, they may not stop next to you. And there, when it’s below minus 50 outside, it’s a threat to life. Mutual assistance by default.

You need to be able to express your position. To be honest, when I expressed my attitude towards SVO, a huge number of colleagues called me — both travelers and bloggers. They twisted their finger at their temple, saying, how can you, and what if suddenly… What “if suddenly”? You're either like this or you're not. I think, like Mrs. Vyalba, I would be ashamed of myself. If you want to say something and don't say it, it means you're a coward. Objectively. And the coward not only doesn’t play hockey, but doesn’t play sports at all and doesn’t achieve anything. And since I became the best in the direction of the Arctic in my segment, how could I take a position and remain silent? The question here is not only about Magadan residents, but about people who are not cowards.