Political positions
In 2005, Bondarchuk joined the United Russia party and became a member of the board of its youth organization, the Young Guard of United Russia.
In 2006–2008, Bondarchuk was a member of the Council for Culture and Arts under Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2008, he, together with Rudovsky and the VTB banking group, co-founded Glavkino LLC, a company established by the president of Uralsib Nikolai Tsvetkov to manage the construction of a film and television complex in the Moscow Oblast. In the same year, he was mentioned in the press as the owner of a 30% stake in Glavkino. In the spring of 2009, the general director of Channel One Russia, Konstantin Ernst, was also named as one of the possible co-investors in the media project. It was reported that if negotiations on Ernst's entry into the project and Rudovsky's exit from it are successfully completed, the general director of Channel One, Bondarchuk and Tsvetkov's structures will own 49% of the LLC, and VTB will receive the rest. Subsequently, confirmation of information about Ernst's inclusion in the list of Glavkino founders was not published. In June 2009, the media named Tsvetkov, VTB, and Bondarchuk as co-founders of the LLC; the shares were not disclosed, but in November of the same year Bondarchuk noted in an interview: "Together with Konstantin Ernst, we are building the Glavkino studio on Novorizhskoe Highway. The facility should be commissioned in 2011." Already in January 2010, it was announced that VTB withdrew from the founders of Glavkino. At the same time, as the Vedomosti newspaper reported, the state bank intended to continue financing the project, for which it had already allocated $12 million. At the same time, General Director of Glavkino Ilya Bachurin assured journalists that "the state will still remain a co-owner of the project": according to him, "after some time another structure close to the state will become the new shareholder."
From 2007 to 2009, Bondarchuk was a member of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation (as part of the commission on culture).
In November 2009, at the 11th Congress of the United Russia party, Bondarchuk became a member of its Supreme Council. In January 2010, Bondarchuk became the curator of the party project for the construction of digital cinemas in 250 cities. He then assured that no money would be required from the party: it "can only help with information and, perhaps, in some places, with the allocation of a site for construction." In April 2010, the RBK Daily newspaper reported that the project for the construction of cinemas in small towns of Russia, developed by Bondarchuk together with the founder of the Kronverk Cinema chain Eduard Pichugin and producer Sergei Selyanov, would be financed by the Russian government.
In September 2010, it became known that Bondarchuk and Pichugin each bought 15.04% of the shares of AB Finance Bank and joined its board of directors. The purchase, according to Pichugin, cost each of them 150 million rubles. Bondarchuk explained the acquisition of banking assets by the fact that in order to conduct an investment business, it is "more profitable for them to have their own bank."
In 2012, Bondarchuk was a trusted representative of Prime Minister and presidential candidate Putin.
In October 2012, Bondarchuk headed the board of directors of the Lenfilm film studio. On 10 November 2012, Putin decided that the state would act as a guarantor of the loan necessary for the reconstruction of Lenfilm. Receiving a loan in the amount of 1.5 billion rubles was provided for in the development concept of Lenfilm, drawn up by Eduard Pichugin and adopted during public hearings.
From 2013 to 2015, Bondarchuk was a member of the public council under the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.
In March 2014, Bondarchuk supported the annexation of Crimea and signed a letter to President Putin in support of the annexation.
On 20 January 2016, Bondarchuk came out in support of Ramzan Kadyrov with the slogan "#Kadyrov is a patriot of Russia," supporting Kadyrov's call to treat representatives of the non-systemic opposition as "enemies of the people," which caused a public outcry.
During the 2018 presidential elections, Bondarchuk was a trusted representative of Vladimir Putin. In May 2018, he was a guest at Putin's fourth inauguration.
In 2018, Bondarchuk was a confidant of Moscow mayoral candidate Sergey Sobyanin.
On 20 November 2018, Bondarchuk, in accordance with a Decree of the President of Russia, was included in the new composition of the Presidential Council for Culture and Art.
Bondarchuk is a member of the Government Council for the Development of National Cinematography.
