The Russian power dynamic seems to continue to crumble. But while their fathers are being criticized, the children of Putin’s defense minister and other high-ranking military officials are taking luxury vacations around the world, triggering regular shitstorms on social media.
Their fathers are high-ranking Russian military officials and some belong to the “Siloviki”, Putin’s closest circle of secret services and the military. Most have been sanctioned after Russian troops invaded Ukraine less than a year ago. But the children of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, his deputy Timur Imanov, the head of the Russian foreign intelligence service Sergey Naryshkin and the new chief of staff Valery Gerasimov seem to notice little of this.
They vacation in Dubai, Bali and the Seychelles and sometimes live undercover in EU countries – despite the sanctions against their fathers. The Russian opposition portal TheInsider has revealed where and how the children of Russia’s military elite have a good time in wartime. In view of the numerous Russian losses in Ukraine, these reports and images regularly trigger shitstorms on social networks in Russia. For example, users post pictures of frozen soldiers in response to vacation photos taken by Schoigu’s daughter in Dubai.
Defense Minister Shoigu has long been criticized for his troops’ lack of progress in Ukraine. He recently announced a major restructuring of the Russian army and is also said to send his own fighters from the “Patriot” group to Ukraine. Meanwhile, his daughter Ksenia is having a good time in Dubai, where she and her husband Alexei Stolyarov peddled the luxury hotel Caesar’s Palace for at least 500,000 rubles.
This was revealed by “TheInsider” based on pictures of her husband on Instagram. In November, the couple was also at the Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi. Ksenia has the money for this, among other things, through her former investment company, whose companies received orders from prominent oligarchs who are also contractors of her father’s ministry.
“While our compatriots are risking their lives with guns in their hands, some think they can continue to stay in luxury resorts abroad,” Oleg Kyvshinnikov, the governor of the Vologda province, criticized on Telegram. He was reacting to a picture of Russian MP Denis Dolschenko from Putin’s ruling party, which is said to show him together with Shoigu in the said region. But the photo that shows her in summer clothes on January 7 was apparently not taken in Dubai in ice-cold Vologda.
Shoigu’s Deputy Minister Timur Ivanov has also been sanctioned by the EU since October. Four months earlier, his wife divorced him and was thus able to counteract the sanctions, as the “Tagesspiegel” reports. Her son flew to London shortly before the mobilization, her daughter lives in Paris. According to research by the anti-corruption fund of the imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny, she bought jewelry and jewels worth hundreds of thousands of euros there. The fund proved Ivanov and his ex-wife numerous cases of corruption. Construction companies commissioned by the ministry are said to have paid for renovations in his villas in Moscow and Tver.
Last summer, Putin’s close friend Sergey Naryshkin, director of foreign intelligence, said: “All masks have come off and it is obvious to us that the NATO bloc is waging a hybrid war against both Russia and our ally, the Republic of Belarus.” . But at the same time his daughter Veronika was vacationing in Turkey of all places – a NATO country.
Since Naryshkin’s family members are not sanctioned, they are free to roam the world. Veronika takes advantage of this and, according to the Instagram pictures of her best friend, has been traveling to Turkey, Italy, Greece, the Seychelles, Dubai and Bali since the beginning of the war. But Veronika also has it nice at home in Moscow: “TheInsider” reports that she owns a 179 square meter apartment for almost 60 million rubles. The daughter of the head of the secret service has a seven percent stake in the large company Kenton LLX. Which is supported by the Moscow government, among others.
Valery Gerasimov has only been the new commander of the Russian armed forces in Ukraine for a few weeks. According to Putin’s plan, “General Armageddon” should lead Russia to victory in Ukraine. Aliona, his son Evgeny’s wife, on the other hand, prefers to vacation on the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine, which was annexed by Russia. Together with Evgeny, she lives in a 160 square meter apartment. The name of the owner is unclear, reports “The Insider”, excerpts only say: “Russian Federation”.
