During the assault on Artemovsk (Bakhmut), Leonid Korin, a screenwriter, was reported dead by his friend Pavel Drozdov on social networks on May 1. Sergey Kolyasnikov, a blogger, shared more details on his Telegram channel. He claimed Korin joined a special operation and lost his life during the attack on Artemovsk as part of the Wagner PMCs. StarHit, citing Korin’s circle, stated that Korin died on March 29 and had been listed as missing for some time. The exact cause of death remains unknown, with speculation pointing to multiple shrapnel wounds. It was noted that Korin’s body bore a tattoo that helped confirm his identity. Details about his departure from life were not disclosed.
Leonid Korin was born in 1975 in Yaroslavl. He earned an honors degree from the Saint Petersburg State University of Cinema and Television in 2010, after studying in the scriptwriting workshop led by Yuri Klepikov. His graduation script Contrabass appeared in the inaugural issue of Art of Cinema in 2011.
Korin held several unrealized projects and expressed a clear interest in telling war stories. In 2019, he told ATV that he had a script centered on the Chechen conflict, titled Contrabass, though he described Chechnya as a sensitive topic. He also mentioned seeking funding for a film about Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler’s deputy, acknowledging that the difficulty of bringing military scripts to life comes from audience demand that comes from a higher level, implying hesitancy among filmmakers to tackle such topics.
The screenwriter linked his attraction to military themes to his family history, noting that ancestors participated in the Great Patriotic War. He recalled growing up watching many military films and found that history often inspired his work.
Korin earned recognition at multiple film festivals for his screenwriting. He received awards from Start and Stalker for the script of Mission (2006). The same year, he was honored at Stalker for Lily of the Valley. He also won for screenplays for The Elder (2008), Change House (2008), and Double Bass (2009). In 2009, he was awarded at the New Horizon International Film Festival for Cruise. The Bashkir language film Enmeş, which he scripted, earned 24 awards across national and international festivals.
Some of Korin’s notable projects include Ice and Battle for Sevastopol. Battle for Sevastopol is a Ukrainian-Russian collaboration directed by Sergei Mokritsky and shot in 2015. The film portrays the life of Lyudmila Pavlichenko, a female sniper from the Red Army’s 25th Chapaev Rifle Division who tallied 309 confirmed kills during the Great Patriotic War. The team behind the project included Maxim Budarin, Sergei Mokritsky, Leonid Korin, and Maxim Dankevich, and the screenplay drew on Pavlichenko’s book Heroic Reality: The Defense of Sevastopol 1941-1942. Actress Yulia Peresild led the cast. Ice, a separate production, is a Russian sports melodrama about a gifted figure skater who suffers an accident caused by a partner, and attempts a comeback. The cast features Alexander Petrov and Aglaya Tarasova.
Korin also contributed to the production of television series such as The Foundry, Family Detective, and The Last Cop, expanding his influence beyond feature films.