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☆ In Russia, Putin’s Puppets Are Coming to Life - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Mikhail Zygar | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

This system has existed for a long time — at least since Mr. Putin’s first re-election in 2004 — and has always worked perfectly: It maintains the facade of Russia’s imitation democracy. Mr. Putin’s puppets have begun to come to life. Mr. Kiriyenko, who was prime minister for less than a year in 1998, forswore liberal politics to become a key figure in Mr. Putin’s administration. In his role, Mr. Kiriyenko has often relied on political puppets. Friends, including me, discouraged Ms. Sobchak from taking him up on the obviously suspect offer, but she agreed.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Putin’s, Boris Nadezhdin, Nadezhdin’s, Sergei Kiriyenko, Kiriyenko, Ksenia Sobchak, Sobchak, Kiriyenko’s, Nadezhdin, Putin Locations: St, Petersburg, Western, Russia

☆ Ukraine war live updates: Moscow, North Korea 'actively advancing' arms deal; Russian general appears to resurface for first time since Wagner mutiny
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Sergei Surovikin, the former commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, seen here in 2021. A photo has emerged online that appears to show Russian General Sergei Surovikin, a top military figure who was regarded as an ally of Yevgeny Prigozhin, alive and in public. The rebellion was seen as the culmination of a long-running dispute between Prigozhin and Russia's defense ministry. "General Sergei Surovikin is out. The general was reportedly arrested in June and then dismissed as the head of Russia's Aerospace Forces in August, according to the Moscow Times.

Persons: Sergei Surovikin, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Surovikin, Prigozhin's, Prigozhin, Wagner, Ksenia Sobchak, Sobchak, Valery Gerasimov, Holly Ellyatt Organizations: Wagner Group, NBC News, Russia's Aerospace Forces, Moscow Times, New York Times, Kremlin, Putin Locations: Ukraine, Moscow, Prigozhin

☆ Russia's 'General Armageddon' seen in first photo since Wagner mutiny
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A view shows a couple appearing to be Russian General Sergei Surovikin and his wife Anna at an unknown location, in this undated photo published September 4, 2023. "General Sergei Surovikin is out. A second report, published by prominent independent Russian journalist Alexei Venediktov on his Telegram channel, said: "General Surovikin is at home with his family. Surovikin, who gained the nickname "General Armageddon" during Russia's military intervention in Syria's civil war, was briefly in charge of Moscow's war effort in Ukraine before that role was handed in January to General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff. Surovikin was widely viewed by Russian war commentators as a forceful and capable figure.

Persons: Sergei Surovikin, Anna, Wagner, Ksenia Sobchak, Alexei Venediktov, Surovikin, Venediktov, RIA, Viktor Afzalov, Valery Gerasimov, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Mark Trevelyan, Nick Macfie, Ron Popeski, Cynthia Osterman Organizations: Ostorozhno Media, REUTERS Acquire, Rights, Reuters, Defence Ministry, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Russian, Kremlin, Ukraine

☆ Her Advice to Antiwar Russians: Resistance Is Futile, So Find Ways to Cope
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Anton Troianovski | More About Anton Troianovski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Emerging from a friend’s Maserati on southern Spain’s Mediterranean coast, Ksenia Sobchak wants the world to know: Back home in Russia, fighting for change is futile. “There is no resistance, nor can there be any,” she says. “This has to be understood.”She can point to ample proof to support her pessimism: Thousands of Russians have been arrested for protesting the war. Ms. Sobchak is one of the best-known media figures still based in Russia and the daughter of one of Mr. Putin’s first political mentors. She is able to widely communicate her call for Russians to just cope with the war, though her stance has also made her profoundly unpopular among two distinctly different sets.

Persons: Sobchak, Vladimir V, Putin’s Organizations: Maserati, Liberal Locations: Russia, Ukraine

☆ Russia's FSB thwarts attempts to kill two prominent journalists, Interfax reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

July 15 (Reuters) - Russia's FSB security service said on Saturday it had thwarted alleged Ukrainian-backed plots to kill two prominent Russian journalists, Interfax news agency reported. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine, which in the past has denied involvement in assassinations of pro-war figures inside Russia. Two prominent pro-war Russian figures, journalist Darya Dugina and military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, have been killed in bomb attacks inside Russia in the past year. Russia blamed their killings on Ukraine, while Kyiv denied that and portrayed them as evidence of Russian infighting. In May a prominent Russian nationalist writer, Zakhar Prilepin, was wounded in a car bombing that killed his driver.

Persons: Margarita Simonyan, Darya Dugina, Vladlen Tatarsky, Zakhar Prilepin, David Holmes Organizations: Kyiv, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Ukrainian, Ukraine, Russia, Russian

☆ The widow of Putin's political mentor and mother of his rumored goddaughter is increasingly voicing concerns about Russia's war in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A prominent Russian senator with close ties to Putin is increasingly criticizing the war in Ukraine. Sen. Lyudmila Narusova, whose late husband was a mentor to Putin, has been a skeptic of the war since the start. "Nobody has explained how victory is supposed to look," Narusova told an interviewer with Forbes Russia in an April video, according to a translation in The Washington Post. "I think they themselves do not know what they are doing," Narusova told the independent Dozhd channel in February 2022, per The Times. His widow's public defiance is a sign of the worry growing among top Russian officials ahead of Ukraine's much-anticipated counteroffensive.

☆ Russian theatre director accused of 'justifying terrorism' remanded in custody
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/6] Russian playwright Svetlana Petriychuk, detained on suspicion of justifying terrorism, attends a court hearing in Moscow, Russia May 5, 2023. REUTERS/StringerSummary This content was produced in Russia, where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in UkraineMOSCOW, May 5 (Reuters) - A prominent Russian theatre director was remanded in custody for two months on Friday after being accused of justifying terrorism with an award-winning play about Russian women who married Islamic State fighters, the state news agency TASS reported. Investigators opened a case this week against Yevgenia (Zhenya) Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk, alleging that Petriychuk's "Finist, the Brave Falcon", which premiered in 2020 under Berkovich's direction, had broken the law. "Finist, the Brave Falcon" won two "Golden Mask" national theatre awards last year, and Berkovich also received a nomination for best director. The detention of the two women has drawn condemnation from several prominent Russian artists and cultural figures.

☆ Mystery around Putin's rumored god-daughter who fled Russia deepens as her mom tells state media she'll return soon
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Ksenia Sobchak, Putin's rumored god-daughter and a media figure, fled Russia last week. Now, her mother told Russian state media that she is expected to return to Russia soon. "She will, very soon," Narusova told Ria Novosti when asked if her daughter is slated to return, according to Radio Sputnik. After fleeing Russia, Sobchak was named a suspect in the case, and her home was searched, according to TASS. Narusova told Ria Novosti that her daughter, Sobchak, was not involved in the alleged criminal activity, Radio Sputnik reported.

☆ Putin's rumored god-daughter, who fled Russia, said she could be 'in big trouble' and was cut off from friends and family
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A prominent Russian media star who fled the country posted saying she is in "big trouble." In her Telegram post on Saturday, Sobchak wrote: "My thoughts are with my family, who I have been separated from." Possibly, in big trouble." In her most recent post referring to her situation, Sobchak decried a backlash she had received in Russian media, as Russian newspaper Kommersant reported. Possibly, in big trouble.

☆ Putin's rumored god-daughter, a star of Russian media, fled the country after an order for her arrest
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Russian media star with strong ties to Putin fled the country, per multiple reports. Ksenia Sobchak, rumored to be Putin's god-daughter, is in Lithuania, an official there said. Ksenia Sobchak left Russia and entered Lithuania using an Israeli passport late on Tuesday, state-controlled media outlet TASS reported, citing unnamed law-enforcement officials. Putin has since described Sobchak as a mentor, and Ksenia has long been rumored to be Putin's god-daughter. Putin has clamped down hard on Russian media outlets in the last years, an effort that has, as of the invasion of Ukraine, all but silenced independent journalism in the country.

Jauniskis said Lithuania has no evidence of any threat that Sobchak could pose to national security. Russian state news agency Tass reported Wednesday that Sobchak was a suspect in an extortion case involving her media director Kirill Sukhanov. Sobchak has for years been rumored to be Putin’s goddaughter, which she has denied. A well-connected media figure, Sobchak runs a YouTube channel with more than 3.2 million subscribers where she conducts often hard-hitting interviews with Russian newsmakers. Sobchak’s departure marks the latest exile of a prominent Russian celebrity.

☆ Russian media figure Ksenia Sobchak is in Lithuania after house search - state security
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

VILNIUS, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Russian media figure Ksenia Sobchak is in Lithuania after entering the country on her Israeli passport, the head of Lithuania's counter-intelligence service said on Thursday, a day after Russian police searched one of her houses. She is the daughter of the late Anatoly Sobchak, St Petersburg's mayor in the 1990s, who was Putin's boss and friend. Israel's daily Haaretz newspaper reported in April that Sobchak acquired Israeli citizenship after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Sobchak said she had genuinely wanted to win the contest and was interested in politics and bringing about change. Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius Editing by Andrew Osborn and William MacleanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Reality show-ul „Dom-2” este perfect pentru mine, întrucât este un spectacol despre oameni, relații și dragoste. Proiectul a revenit pe micile ecrane în luna aprilie pe canalul „Yu” TV din Rusia, dar fără Olga Buzova. Acesta a dezvăluit pe o rețea de socializare că povestea ei în calitate de concurent și prezentator a luat sfârșit: „Trebuie să merg mai departe! 04/12/2021, viața mea asociată cu reality show-ul „Dom-2” s-a încheiat oficial. ️Emisiunea a început să se difuzeze în 2004 pe canalul TV TNT și a intrat în Cartea Recordurilor Guinness ca fiind cel mai longeviv reality show.

Persons: Olga Buzova, Bonya, Nelly Ermolaeva Organizations: Guinness Locations: Rusia, Republica Moldova

„Cel mai lung reality show zilnic din lume despre cum să construiești dragostea pe TNT se încheie. Marele final de două ore al emisiunii va fi lansat pe 30 decembrie”, a declarat sursa agenției. Proiectului va fi înlocuit cu o linie de cinci programe în genul stand-up, au declarat pentru TNT. Toate celelalte trebuie să dispară „, a declarat directorul TNT, Roman Petrenko, ale cărui cuvinte au fost citate în serviciul de presă. Printre gazdele spectacolului se numără Ksenia Sobchak, Ksenia Borodina și Olga Buzova.

Persons: Dom, Petrenko, Olga Buzova, Bonya, Nelly Ermolaeva Organizations: TNT, YouTube Locations: Roman

„Cel mai lung reality show zilnic din lume, despre cum să construiești dragostea, difuzat pe TNT, se încheie. Marele final, de două ore, al emisiunii va fi lansat pe 30 decembrie”, a anunțat serviciul de presă al postului de televiziune, citat de tass.ru. Între timp multe s-au schimbat, iar proiectului ar urma să fie înlocuit cu cinci programe în genul stand-up. „În cei 16 ani de Dom-2, spațiul de televiziune s-a schimbat dramatic – peste patru sute de canale TV au apărut în țară. Toate celelalte trebuie să dispară”, a declarat directorul TNT, Roman Petrenko, citat de serviciul de presă al postului de televiziune.

Persons: Dom, Petrenko, Olga Buzova, Bonya, Nelly Ermolaeva Organizations: TNT Locations: Roman, Republica Moldova

☆ The wild life of Ksenia Sobchak, Putin's rumored god-daughter and former presidential candidate who dramatically fled Russia
▼ + stars: | 2018-03-18 | by ( Michal Kranz | Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

TV host, actress, socialite , and former presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak — who is rumored to be the goddaughter of President Vladimir Putin — has fled Russia for Lithuania. Her family ties with Putin go back to before she was born, when her father helped him enter national politics. And when she transformed herself from glamorous socialite and TV star to progressive politician, Putin made no attempt to stop her. "She has always got away with stuff, and it's always been understood that Putin's presidential administration made sure she didn't get into too much trouble," Dr Jade McGlynn, a Russia-focused researcher at the University of Oxford told Insider. Here's how Sobchak went from pop culture darling, to liberal opposition figure, to a fugitive of Putin's Russia.

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