The Federation Fund, which gained infamy in late 2010 for the scandalous aftermath of its star-studded charity gala featuring a memorable vocal performance by President Putin, has submitted claims for defamation against a radio station and two Moscow journalists in connection with the gala fallout, claimant representative Konstantin Kozlov told RAPSI.

Two separate claims have reportedly been submitted. In the first, the Federation Fund is listed as the plaintiff, while radio station Echo Moscow and its journalist Matvei Ganapolsky are listed as co-defendants. In the second, Federation Fund director Vladimir Kiselev is listed as the plaintiff, while Echo of Moscow and its journalist Artemy Troitsky are listed as co-defendants.

The claims stem from a blog entry and a radio broadcast that allegedly spearheaded a widespread media campaign that conveyed the Fund as fraudulent and its director as a crook.

In March 2011, Olga Kuznetsova - who had anticipated the Federation Fund’s assistance in covering her seriously ill young daughter’s hospital bills - published an open letter lamenting the fact that she had not received any such assistance in the months following the charity gala. It was soon discovered that charitable funds had not been administered to any of the hospitals that had expected their receipt either.

Shortly thereafter, Ganapolsky posted an entry in his blog entitled, “Another fraud while sipping champagne,” and Troitsky delivered a radio broadcast detailing the incident. The story quickly gained notoriety and an international media firestorm followed suit. Kozlov told RAPSI that both the blog entry and the radio broadcast centered on the same storyline, wherein the gala was depicted as a sham fundraising event, and Kiselev was depicted as the thief of said funds.

As the incident occurred early last year, Federation Fund initially claimed that the gala had been held in order to raise awareness of - not funds for - seriously ill children and treatment centers in Russia. Later, however, the funds were administered to the children and treatment centers that had anticipated them.

The aforementioned media firestorm has given rise to a number of defamation lawsuits. Kiselev previously sued newspaper Moscow Komsomolets for $150,000, and its journalist Alexander Minkin for an additional $50,000. Last August, a Moscow court dismissed another defamation claim filed by Federation Fund against Moscow’s TV Dozhd.