Childhood and youth
Ruslan Vikhlyantsev was born on May 20, 1989 in Leningrad. The boy’s parents, Eduard Vikhlyantsev and Larisa Ivanova, studied at the University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics, and lived in a dormitory. They never got married; the future blogger was still young when his father left his mother.
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Ruslan Usachev without a beard
In her 2nd year, Larisa transferred to St. Petersburg Mining University, where she met Yuri Melnikov, who became her first official husband. Ruslan was lucky with his stepfather: he raised him as his own son, gave him a good basic education, sending him to study at a gymnasium. Even after Yuri divorced his stepson’s mother, they continued to communicate warmly.
The early years of the celebrity's biography were spent in the city of Norilsk, but after graduating from school he returned to his native St. Petersburg. In 2007, the guy became a student at the University of Culture and Arts, studying at the Faculty of Media Design.
Biography
Ruslan Usachev was born on May 20, 1989 in St. Petersburg. The blogger’s real name is Vikhlyantsev. When Ruslan first saw the world, his parents were students and lived in a dormitory. Shortly after the boy was born, the father abandoned the mother and baby.
While in her second year, Ruslan’s mother, Larisa, transferred to another university, where she met her first husband. Yuri Melnikov became a very good husband and stepfather. After graduating from school, Usachev decided to move away from his parents, who then lived in Norilsk, and enter St. Petersburg. The guy succeeded, and he became a university student on a media design course.
Gradually, interest in studying began to wane, and Ruslan began to look for an alternative occupation. Around that time, YouTube was launched in the vastness of Russia.
YouTube channels
While studying in his 3rd year, the young man realized that he did not want to work in his specialty, and decided to try himself in other fields. At this time, YouTube had just begun to develop in Russia, and Ruslan became interested in watching videos by foreign authors. After a few nights, he realized that he would like to create something similar.
In the Russian segment, beginning bloggers did not yet have any guidelines. We had to move blindly, inspired by the creativity of our Western “colleagues”. Almost simultaneously with the celebrity, Katya Klap, Evgeny Bazhenov and Ilya Maddison began their journey, who later achieved success.
Ruslan did not go unnoticed either. He created the channel at the end of March 2010, and on April 1 published his debut video from the “Harmful Cinema” section, inspired by Nostalgia Critic. To interest the public, the blogger thought carefully about the image - he took the pseudonym Usachev and drew a logo in the form of a mustache.
The young man had a plan: if he didn’t find an audience in 10 episodes, then he shouldn’t continue. But success came much earlier. Already the 3rd video has gained about . Back then it was an impressive figure. According to Ruslan, he realized that video blogging has a future in Russia, and was pleased to plunge into further development.
Ruslan Usachev and Dmitry Medvedev
Soon Usachev joined Yuri Degtyarev’s team, becoming one of the creators and participants in the “Thank you, Eva!” project. — Russian community of bloggers. Here he ran the Twitotta column - he reviewed the Twitter accounts of famous people, including politicians.
The next points in the celebrity’s creative biography are participation in the first Russian web series “Police Everyday Life” and the “Let’s Play” program on the Kontr TV channel, where he became the co-host of Ilya Maddison. A striking image of the celebrity was the teacher Marina Konstantinovna, to whom a lot of art and memes were dedicated.
Ruslan’s success was noted at the level of public recognition: in 2012, he was among the 50 famous people of St. Petersburg according to Sobaka.ru magazine, and also became the winner in the “Startup of the Year” category.
That same year, the column “It’s time to get out!” appeared, which the blogger created together with Mikhail Krzysztofsky. In each episode, the presenters visited a city in any country in the world, talking about culture, sights, and cuisine in the format of an entertainment show. This project became the most popular on the celebrity channel and was hardly inferior to “Heads and Tails.”
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Ruslan Usachev and Mikhail Kshishtovsky
But in 2020, filming had to be stopped due to the coronavirus pandemic. Later, Usachev’s co-host decided to leave the program. While in quarantine, the blogger devoted more time to reviews of news that were published in the Usachev Today section, no less beloved by the public.
That same year, Ruslan celebrated his anniversary - 10 years on YouTube. In honor of this, he decided to briefly revive already forgotten formats - “Harmful Cinema” and Twitotta. Although the experiment was a success, Usachev did not return the columns forever, because he believes that his new audience is not interested in them.
Shortly after that, he released a video about inflation, for which he conducted an entire investigation. The blogger compared prices in 2007 and 2020 and came to the conclusion that the cost of goods has increased by at least 160%.
TOP 50. Ruslan Usachev
How did the idea to shoot video reviews come about?
I was born and raised in St. Petersburg, studied to become a designer, graduated from the University of Culture and Arts last year, but one day I realized that I was a terrible designer. The best thing that awaited me along this path was depression. At the same time, I was filming a video. At that time it was the most advanced field, and even now. After the trial videos, I decided that I could launch the project on a regular basis.
Has it become a job now?
As a rule, when people ask me what I do, I answer: “Unemployed.” It is hypocritical to consider this work, although it provides me with income.
However, you were one of the first in Russia to engage in video blogging professionally.
Before me, at least, there was Ilya Madisson, then kamikadze_d and hundreds of schoolchildren who began to imitate them. The Internet in Russia lags behind the Western one by two to three years, this is noticeable even in large projects. It's the same with video blogging, we have a time reserve. This, of course, is an advantage, because it is not difficult to predict what will be relevant tomorrow.
How did the community of video makers “Thank you, Eva!” appear?
At some point, it became clear that if every blogger filmed for himself, there would be no development. We decided to try to create a collective blog, invited talented authors, and it turned out to be the right decision. "Thanks, Eva!" to some extent, it is also a production studio: anyone who comes up with an idea for a good video will be able to implement it on this platform. But now we are trying to be reborn, the time has come for more large-scale projects.
Are there unique Russian web formats?
To “Thank you, Eva!” There is my program “Twittot”, this is a review of “Twitter”. And although the review format is one of the most common, the content has no analogues. In general, Internet projects in Russia are unique in principle. Our media people are accustomed to using classic television, magazines and newspapers, but not the Internet. We went the opposite way and began to create content specifically for the Internet, where there are no channels divided by audience segments, like MTV or “Culture”. My personal example: when I started filming the news program “Usachev Today,” my female audience and the proportion of the adult population increased. If six months ago half of the subscribers were schoolchildren, now the main category is users aged eighteen to twenty-one.
Do you have a team?
I have no conflicts with myself, so I do everything alone. I can always compare the final result with the original idea. And I don’t remember a case where even once it turned out exactly as I expected.
You met with the ex-president several times.
Yes, it happened. Once there was a meeting with young people, and the second - with Internet users, we were invited there as a project “Thank you, Eva!” We were able to show Medvedev our video, and he subscribed to me on Twitter.
Tell us about your relationship with the Nashi movement.
Along with other bloggers, I went to Seliger last summer, where I gave lectures on viral videos. There are many acquaintances left, but I would not want to work for the movement. For my audience, I decided to be politically neutral. I have preferences, but I don’t think it’s necessary to express them.
Did these contacts affect your reputation?
They accused me of propaganda and wrote that I was a “pro-Putin prostitute.” Thank God, this wave has passed; the memory of the average Internet user is very short. Now in Runet it is very dangerous to mention Putin’s name in any context. If you simply state a fact: “Putin has become president,” you are immediately accused of propaganda. It became mass paranoia.
You once said that the time of Anton Nosik and Rustem Adagamov is passing.
Yes that's right! A simple example: during Nikita Mikhalkov’s Internet activity, the director gave an interview to Rustem Adagamov. It became clear that Adagamov was not able to compose a sentence longer than six words in less than a minute. Blogs flourished when the Internet was slow and nothing but text could load. Then, with megabit connections, photo blogs became popular, and the third stage was the transition to video. Smart bloggers adapt to new formats and keep up with the times. The same Artemy Lebedev, for example, films his travels on video.
How will Russian vlogging develop?
The answer is clear: TV series! They are perceived completely differently than on television. The “Thank you, Eva!” team and I With an almost zero budget, we filmed the first episodes of “Police Days” - a film about domestic cops, after which directors and TV channels began to contact us, offering to make a joint project. If we talk about a new level of Internet television, then this is it.
Other projects
The year 2014 gave the celebrity a new hobby - stand-up comedy. Together with comedian Danila Poperechny, he visited several cities in Russia as part of the “Without Mat” tour.
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Ruslan Usachev, Maria Minogarova and Danila Poperechny
Starting next year, Ruslan annually organized the Vidfest festival for video bloggers of different ages. Both Internet stars and those who were just starting out on the YouTube platform gathered there. In addition to sharing experiences, guests had the opportunity to take part in the “Like” award ceremony. The event was later discontinued due to financial difficulties.
Ruslan Usachev today
Today, Ruslan Usachev does not slow down and continues to actively work on new projects. His current author's work is “Usachev Show”. The recently released video channel has collected almost 2 million subscribers waiting for fresh releases. At the same time, the blogger participates in organizing festivals called “Vidfest”, which began in 2015.
In addition, Ruslan fills Instagram with entertaining videos and photos, which he takes during numerous travels and work trips.
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Personal life
The video blogger has many fans, and each of them would be glad to become his girlfriend. But Ruslan prefers not to disclose details of his personal life. In the past, he was credited with an affair with Katya Klap, but this was just speculation.
Later it became known that Usachev was in a relationship with model Katya Riemer, but the couple stopped appearing together in public. Soon, a rumor began to gain popularity on the Internet that the celebrity had a child, whose mother’s name is unknown. The information has not been officially confirmed.
It is now unknown whether Ruslan has a lover. In photos for his Instagram account, he prefers to pose alone or with friends.
Why are homeless people at risk and how can they be helped?
— Homeless people cannot isolate themselves because they simply do not have a home. If previously they could wash their hands in the toilet of a shopping center, spend the night at the station in the waiting room, or come to a store or cafe where they could be given expired food, now these people do not have such an opportunity.
Among those who find themselves on the street, there are many elderly people, people with low immunity and chronic diseases. Therefore, they are especially vulnerable to the virus. Another problem is the lack of information. There is a leaflet on the Nochlezhka website that talks about preventive measures. You can download it, print it and hang it on your front door. Anyone can join the “You are not alone” campaign, collect a package with the most necessary things and leave it in a visible place in your city.
Ruslan Usachev now
In 2021, the blogger shocked his subscribers with an unexpected announcement - he was leaving Russia. The celebrity was prompted to make this decision by the troubled situation in the country. Ruslan said that he has not yet chosen the state to which he wants to move, so he is going to travel until he finds a suitable place. Creative activity will continue.
After the blogger’s confession, heated discussions broke out on the Internet. Some ironically noted that, having wandered around the countries, he would miss his homeland and return. Others recalled that in the past, Usachev had repeatedly stated his reluctance to leave the country, and since he decided to do this, everything is really bad.
Personal life of Ruslan Usachev
Ruslan does not talk about his amorous affairs. But in 2015, there were rumors about his romantic relationship with colleague Katya Klap. The young people collaborated closely, released joint videos, and appeared at various events. Later, Katya started dating blogger BadComedian.
Ruslan Usachev and Katya Klap
The Internet jokingly calls British actress Emma Watson “the love of his life,” for whom he has repeatedly shown tender feelings in his video works.
