Albina Kovalyova is an award-nominated documentary producer and director specialising in telling compelling human stories from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and the former Soviet Union.

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion into Ukraine, Albina has been focusing on character-led films about the war. She directed and produced ... Read More

Albina Kovalyova is an award-nominated documentary producer and director specialising in telling compelling human stories from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and the former Soviet Union.

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion into Ukraine, Albina has been focusing on character-led films about the war. She directed and produced Occupied for BBC Eye Investigations - a unique first hand experience of a family facing Russian occupation in Kherson, Ukraine.

Her latest film Blood Brothers, was an unprecedented access to the pro-Russian nationalists in Serbia and their ties to the Russian mercenary group Wagner.

Albina’s other documentaries have taken her from Russia’s high Arctic to the battlefields of Eastern Ukraine and Kazakhstan’s border with China. She has covered the hidden epidemic of domestic violence in Russia, Ukraine’s HIV crisis, and been behind the scenes with democracy activists in Belarus.

Her unique understanding of the region and empathy for her subjects has helped her create films that combine journalistic excellence and human warmth.

She grew up between London and the United States and is from a mixed Russian-Ukrainian background. She spent over 10 years as a news producer and correspondent, traveling widely in Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet republics and covering major news stories for international media including NBC News, Channel 4 and Associated Press. Read Less