Kremlin Connected Children Grew Up In The Very Countries Whose Societies Their Parents Claim To Reject

Meet the Kremlin’s children. While their parents publicly oppose the West, their children grow up in the very countries whose societies they claim to reject. “It’s obviously extreme hypocrisy,” said Daniel Treisman, a professor of Russian politics at the University of California, Los Angeles. “They may not even see a contradiction,” Treisman said. “They think there is this competition between the US and Russia, but why should this affect their daughter’s educational plans? Or where are their towers?” Putin himself blasted Russians who could “mentally” align themselves with the West in a speech last month, accusing them of believing they were part of a “superior race” and collaborating with the “collective West” on one goal: “The destruction of Russia. ” “The Russian people will always be able to distinguish true patriots from scum and traitors and simply spit them out like a mosquito that accidentally flew into their mouths,” Putin said. One of the first families of alleged Russian corruption and hypocrisy is that of Dmitry Peshkov, Vladimir Putin’s deputy chief of staff and spokesman – a role that makes him Putin’s most powerful telepath, who on an almost daily basis distributes hard labor. President vs. the West.
The United States recently imposed sanctions on Peshkov, his wife and two adult children (from two previous marriages), saying the family lived a “luxurious lifestyle that did not match Peshkov’s civil servant’s salary and was most likely based on illicit wealth.” of Peshkov’s connections with Putin. ” At least two of his children grew up largely in Western Europe before returning to Moscow as adults. Although the US Treasury Department did not specify the disputed exaggerations, Peshkov – who retained his role for almost a decade and reportedly made $ 173,000 in 2020 – was spotted wearing a $ 600,000 branded watch and went his month. A $ 730,000-a-week yacht off the coast of Sardinia, according to a study by the Anti-Corruption Foundation founded by jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Based on property records, social media posts and traffic violations databases, the Anti-Corruption Foundation also revealed that Peshkov’s wife, ex-wife and children have luxury multi-million dollar vehicles and homes around the world. – including Russia and France – a display of wealth in stark contrast to the nearly 20 million Russians living in poverty. The staggering but seemingly inexplicable wealth of such families in Putin’s world, experts say, is summed up in a single concept: kleptocracy. “A kleptocracy is just a government ruled by thieves,” said Jodi Vittori, a professor of corruption and global politics at Georgetown University, “where policies and decisions are made on behalf of these thieves.”
An intricate web of shell companies, offshore banks and covert transactions often hides their wealth, with accounts closed within each other, making it difficult to locate where the funds come from. The wealth accumulated by Russian kleptocrats is often spent in Western economies.
“They want to live in the West because the richest countries in the world are in the West. The amazing cultural centers are in the West,” Treisman said. “But in addition, Western countries have a much safer rule of law than Russia. So if they can bring a lot of their money to the West, they can feel more secure.” The hypocrisy of Russian officials and their families who enjoy the grandeur of the West has been a common secret in Russia for years. In 2016, a bill was introduced in the State Duma banning the education of the minor children of most Russian officials at foreign universities, arguing that domestic education would be the key to becoming true patriots. The bill did not pass. Peshkov’s 24-year-old daughter from his second marriage, Elisaveta Peskova – whose aggressive social media posts have often become the food of Russian and European tabloids – does not shy away from publicity or controversy, as she allegedly said on a Russian television network that he feels “better in the European environment” and described Russia’s education system as “real hell.” Most recently, she refuted her father’s public statements by posting “no to war” on her Instagram stories, the slogan used by Russians opposed to the war in Ukraine. The post was taken and announced by the Russian TV network TV Rain, but was quickly removed. As a toddler, Pescova reportedly attended the Ecole des Roches outside Paris – where her annual tuition is about a quarter of her father’s salary and her extracurricular activities include aviation lessons. Pescova continued her Paris education with an internship at Louis Vuitton and a degree in marketing from a French business school. She did her internship in the European Parliament. According to the Anti-Corruption Foundation, Pescova and her mother bought a 180-square-foot, nearly $ 2 million apartment in 2016 in one of Paris’ most expensive neighborhoods, on Victor Hugo Avenue, between the Eiffel Tower and its Arch. Triumph. and the lush Bois de Boulogne. CNN has not confirmed the purchase. Peskova’s exaggeration in France parallels that of her half-brother in Russia. A 2017 survey by Navalny’s anti-corruption team found Nikolay Choles – Peskov’s eldest son who grew up in England – traveled around the world in private jets, owned some real estate in Moscow and ran his fleet of luxury vehicles. in the city, as 116 traffic violations, while he is said to be unemployed. “It certainly represents a high level of at least cynicism, if not outright hypocrisy,” said Vittori, Georgetown’s professor. Peskova described the sanctions as “completely unjust and unfounded” and said she was “upset” because restrictions prevented her from traveling. In a statement to the Telegram, Peskova wrote that she was “proud” to be Russian and that imposing sanctions on adult children and “especially a girl” was “crazy”. “There is almost no fair trial,” he added, “during such a witch-hunt and frantic hatred for anything Russian.” Peskova – who, when she reached CNN, did not go into the details of this story at the time of publication – is not the only child associated with the Kremlin and enjoying continental high society. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who called for a “post-Western” world order in 2017, sent his daughter to prestigious universities in London and New York. Even the daughter of Lavrov’s alleged girlfriend’s seemingly influential position: She posted photos of herself on the yacht, at the Austrian ski resort and at the beach villa of a wealthy oligarch, according to the Anti-Corruption Foundation. Polina Kovaleva – whom the British government refers to as Lavrov’s “stepdaughter”, although he is not officially married to her mother – owns a $ 5.8 million apartment in one of London’s most expensive neighborhoods, according to with recent sanctions imposed on her. The Anti-Corruption Foundation revealed that Kovaleva bought the apartment in Kensington when she was 21 years old. The apartment is within walking distance of Imperial College, where he also attended. Lavrov’s much less visible daughter, Ekaterina Vinokurova, now 39, attended Columbia University in New York, where she lived for 17 years before graduating from the London School of Economics. Both Kovaleva and Vinokurova have recently been sanctioned by the United Kingdom. “This sends a strong message that those who benefit from the association of those responsible for Russian aggression fall within the scope of our sanctions,” US Secretary of State Liz Tros wrote in a press release announcing sanctions against Kovaleva. Putin himself is no exception to the hypocrisy of harsh anti-Western rhetoric towards family members or those close to him, taking advantage of what the West has to offer. One of his alleged partners, who allegedly gave birth to a daughter, became the owner of a $ 4.1 million apartment in Monaco a few weeks after the birth of the child, according to a research by the Russian independent media Proekt, based on the so-called Pandora Papers. His eldest daughter, Maria, is said to have married a Dutch businessman. The couple is said to have lived in a $ 3.3 million apartment in the Netherlands. An eight-bedroom villa in Biarritz, France, associated with his youngest daughter, Katerina – the multimillion-dollar mansion was bought by her ex-husband Kirill Shamalov, a longtime friend of Putin and billionaire Gennady Timchen by activists and is offered as a safe haven to Ukrainian refugees.
Both of Putin’s daughters were sanctioned by the United Kingdom and the United States last week. Peshkov described the new measures as a “frantic tendency” for Washington to impose sanctions on Moscow. “Russia will respond without failure and will do as it sees fit,” he added. Putin is rumored to have more children out of wedlock, all of whom appear to have lived in Western countries. These reports have always been refuted by the Kremlin.
Despite his family members’ connections to the West, Putin recently targeted other Russians with “villas in Miami or the French Riviera that they can not stand without foie gras, oysters or gender freedom, as they call it.” The problem with such people, Putin said on March 16, is that they are “there in their minds and not here with our people and with Russia.” Drew Griffin and Jeffrey Winter contributed to this report.