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CORRUPTION

Cruise Ship Troopers: How Children of Russian Siloviki Have Fun Abroad in Wartime

Children of sanctioned government officials, siloviki and parliamentarians continue to visit NATO and EU countries, The Insider has found out. Dubai, Bali, the Maldives and the Seychelles are also among the popular holiday destinations for travelers whose fathers are at war with Ukraine.

Content
  • Foreign Intelligence Chief Naryshkin's Daughter in NATO Countries and beyond

  • Defense Minister Shoigu's Daughter Having Fun in Dubai

  • Senator Dzhabarov's anti-American son vacationed in the USA

  • Federation Council Speaker Matvienko's and State Duma Vice Speaker Zhukov's daughters-in-law

  • Chief of the General Staff Gerasimov's son is abroad, but not quite

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Foreign Intelligence Chief Naryshkin's Daughter in NATO Countries and beyond

“All masks are off, and it is obvious to us that the NATO bloc is waging a hybrid war both against Russia and our ally, the Republic of Belarus,” Sergey Naryshkin, director of the Foreign Intelligence Service, said last summer. That summer, his daughter Veronica went on vacation to Turkey, a NATO country.

Naryshkin's daughter's Instagram is closed to the public, but The Insider discovered the account of her closest friend Victoria Kosolapova - incidentally, the daughter of Alexei Kosolapov, the famous ex Lokomotiv Moscow soccer player and Russian national team player.

Victoria and Veronica often travel together. On Instagram you can find pictures of their vacation together in Italy, Greece and other European countries.

Before the New Year, Naryshkin's daughter went to Bali. She stayed with her friend at AYANA Resort Bali, where a night costs over $500.

On top of that, Veronica has spent the first days of 2023 in Dubai.

Since the beginning of the war, she has also been to the Seychelles. In general, she can move freely around the world: the Foreign Intelligence chief’s family members are not included in the sanctions lists.

In Moscow, according to the information available to The Insider, Naryshkin's daughter lives in her 179-meter apartment in the Lomonosov apartment complex, which costs nearly 60 million rubles. She also owns a country property in Sorochany, near the ski resort.

The daughter of the intelligence chief has a 7% stake in Kenton LLC. The company put into operation a huge (92,000 sqm) production and warehousing complex in Krasnogorsk worth 6 billion rubles. Naryshkina's business has support from the government of the Moscow region and the federal corporation SME. Another of her assets is the MillCreek hotel with a golf course in the Leningrad region.

Defense Minister Shoigu's Daughter Having Fun in Dubai

Ksenia Shoigu went to Dubai for the New Year vacations. The Insider spotted a photo of her on vacation in the UAE posted by her husband, blogger Alexei Stolyarov.

The Insider figured out the hotel where the couple was staying. It was Caesar’s Palace Dubai. A stay there would have cost them at least 500,000 rubles.

Ksenia Shoigu and her husband in Abu Dhabi in November 2022
Ksenia Shoigu and her husband in Abu Dhabi in November 2022

Ksenia earned her beautiful life thanks to her father's corrupt connections. She owned an investment company, Capital Performance, that had absorbed billions from the budget. Ksenia's firms were responsible for paid medical examinations of government drivers, and received subcontracts from oligarch Gennady Timchenko to build stadiums, bridges, and roads. Finally, she was an advisor to the deputy chairman of the state-owned Gazprombank, and became a managing partner in a foundation run by oligarch Vladimir Yevtushenkov. Both Yevtushenkov and Timchenko are contractors for the Ministry of Defense.

Senator Dzhabarov's anti-American son vacationed in the USA

In the summer of 2021, REN TV channel ran a documentary attacking the Russian opposition, allegedly in the service of the United States. Federation Council member Vladimir Dzhabarov was one of the main speakers denouncing the opposition.

As The Insider found out, while the senator was exposing the “pro-American” opposition, his son Alexander Dzhabarov was coincidentally traveling across America.

Dzhabarov Jr. and his wife (at least, a common-law one) Sofia Cheloyants vacationed in California. He visited San Francisco and Los Angeles, among other places.

According to leaks from the database of persons with dual citizenship and residence permits, the senator’s daughter-in-law Sofia Cheloyants, known for her struggle against “foreign agents,” has an Israeli passport.

Dzhabarov's son, unlike his father, is not on the sanctions list. And so, he still travels to Western countries. During the war, he posted pictures from Sweden and Norway on his Instagram account. Alexander also managed to visit Turkey and Dubai in recent months.

As Important Stories reported, Dzhabarov Jr. owned a Cypriot company, Valuestage Trading Limited, through which he invested in the Russian developer RKS Development. He invested $17.5 million in the offshore company. Through RKS Development the Dzhabarovs are linked to the family of businessman Igor Sagiryan, the senator’s long-time “benefactor”.

Back in the day Vladimir Dzhabarov served in the FSB and had the rank of Major General. At the beginning of the 1990s, he headed the K Department (counterintelligence support for the credit and financial system) of the FSB Economic Security Service. After leaving the service, he went to work in the field he had previously supervised. Sagiryan became the main lobbyist for Dzhabarov's career moves. Sagiryan served as the President of Renaissance Capital bank till 2009 and appointed Dzhabarov vice-president. Sagiyian then headed the Troika Dialog group of companies, where Dzhabarov was also promoted to the position of vice president. The owner of Troika Dialog at the time was Ruben Vardanian. As a reminder, Troika Dialog was involved in laundering money of the Russian elite, including Putin himself (through his nominee, cellist Sergei Roldugin).

Dzhabarov's relatives were also employed by entities controlled by Sagiryan, particularly his brother Eduard and mother Lyubov Galayeva; his son Alexander is now an employee of the RDIF (Russian Direct Investment Fund). Sagiryan, who was involved in laundering corrupt Russian money through Troika Dialog, helped Putin attract foreign investments back in the 1990s and facilitated the opening of a Crédit Lyonnais branch in St. Petersburg. The bank was used to funnel large sums of corrupt money abroad. William Browder, the founder of the Hermitage Capital investment fund, called Sagiryan a participant in a scheme to steal money under the guise of income tax refunds. Today, Sagiryan, who is closely linked to senator Dzhabarov, does business in London. Sagiryan's family controls the Ping Pong restaurant chain; Sagiryan himself has British citizenship and lives in the UAE.

As for the Dzhabarov family’s real estate in Russia, The Insider found three apartments in the Timiryazevsky Residential Complex with a total area of 263 square meters, a 133-meter apartment in Butyrskaya Street and a cottage in the Green Oasis settlement near Moscow. The total value of the properties is nearly 200 million rubles.

Federation Council Speaker Matvienko's and State Duma Vice Speaker Zhukov's daughters-in-law

Sergei Matvienko, son of the Federation Council Speaker, earned his initial capital when his mother was Governor of St. Petersburg. Sergey leased and privatized city property under “investment agreements” with the St. Petersburg mayor's office. He has also absorbed billions of rubles in government contracts through his companies to repair sewage systems in various Russian regions.

Yulia, Matvienko's son’s wife, likes to vacation at the family villa in Italy, in Cambodia and Turkey. The Federation Council Speaker’s daughter-in-law spent the New Year holidays in the Maldives, at the Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi hotel.

A night at the hotel costs over 3,000 euros (230,000 rubles).

State Duma Vice Speaker Alexander Zhukov’s daughter-in-law spent the fall on the Greek island of Mykonos. She went to Bali to for the New Year celebration.

Chief of the General Staff Gerasimov's son is abroad, but not quite

The Insider did find one person among the political and military elite whose relatives prefer vacations in Crimea (in fact, also abroad, but, according to the Kremlin, in a “patriotic” way). This is the Chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov.

His son Evgeny resides at 103 Leninsky Prospekt. The 160-square-meter apartment was purchased in 2020, but it is not known in whose name it was registered. The name of the owner is hidden under the “Russian Federation” moniker in the Rosreestr extract.

Alyona Gerasimova (née Mangusheva) lives with the general's son. The Insider found her account in VKontakte. Judging by the pictures she posted, the Chief of the General Staff’s daughter-in-law likes to vacation in Crimea. In the picture below, for example, she is wearing a robe issued by the Porto Mare Hotel in Alushta:

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