Story By: Feza Uzay, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency:  Newsflash

The editor of a small newspaper in a remote Russian mining town who gained fame for scoring numerous unlikely interviews with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars despite not having a proper local cinema has died unexpectedly at the age of 35.

Journalist Anna Vikalyuk was editor-in-chief of the Kopeyskiy Rabochy newspaper from December 2014 to July 2021, and under her tenure scored unlikely celebrity interviews with stars such as Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Jessica Alba, and many others.

Most of the star-studded interviews were totally out of place among the regular content of local stories and interest pieces.

However, it turned out that many of the interviews were arranged by a former resident of Kopeysk, Margarita Sushkevich, who was married to producer Jack Tewkesbury.

She wanted to put her hometown on the map and decided the best way to do that was by using the local paper and getting A-list celebrities photographed with the publication, and sending the pictures to the editor together with world exclusive interviews.

The paper claimed at the time that the interviews were part of a promotion of films with Jack and Margaret apparently paying USD 200 per year to advertise them and support the paper.

However, an enquiry by Russian-American media outlet Forum Daily discovered that there were no cinemas in the province capable of handling more than a handful of locals viewers, but still the exclusives kept coming over.

It was unclear what the reason was for the death of the 35-year-old former editor, who leaves behind a young daughter. She left the paper to start a new job again in the media and had been making big plans when she unexpectedly died after being hospitalised with a fever.

The governor of the Chelyabinsk region, Alexei Teksler, was among those leading tributes to the journalist with an official statement from his office.

It said: “During her short, but bright and interesting life, Anna Vikalyuk made a huge contribution to the development of the media sphere of the South Urals, forming fundamental new approaches in the work of the municipal media of Kopeysk and the Chelyabinsk region.

“Under her leadership, the newspaper ‘Kopeyskiy Rabochy’ became a very professional publication, won a number of prestigious awards, and expanded its readership.

“The memory of Anna Ivanovna Vikalyuk will forever remain in the hearts of people who knew and loved her.”