Proekt is an online publication in Russia that was banned by the Putin regime and specializes in investigative journalism. His reporters have covered several headlines about the Kremlin dictator’s environment and personal life. We print an excerpt of the interview below. NV: The Wall Street Journal reports that there was a package of sanctions against Alina Kabaeva (Putin’s alleged mistress), but these sanctions were withheld so as not to provoke Putin’s anger. You see the logic behind this, because his daughters can be sanctioned, but not his own mistress? Ruban: I think that’s very strange. You know, I have this relationship, not very pleasant. Many of my fellow journalists in Russia have at some point decided for themselves that there is a double fixed line, some red lines that can not be crossed, such as the health of the president or his family. And so if they cross these red lines, they will close their forms, they will be fired. but if they do not crucify them, they will somehow survive and save face. By no means do I want to convey that I recommend for the mother to be inactive, but I do see some overlap here. For some reason, the Americans decided for themselves that the daughters are acceptable, but Kabaeva is scary. Well, you know, you always have to allow the fact that, unlike Russian journalists, Americans can access certain information. But to be honest, it seems to me that even if his intelligence is a strange overly cautious behavior. In my opinion, on the contrary, the more people really affected by Vladimir Putin, the better, the stronger the pressure of sanctions. But for some reason, the Americans decided to play it well. This excessive caution seems absurd to me, as the example of my Russian colleagues shows. All those who have paid their bets have long been punished far more than those journalists who did not err carefully. It seems to me that the same would happen in international politics if Kabaeva were not exempted from sanctions. If Putin is so crazy that he plans to take the reins and – I do not know what could be worse, a nuclear war, an attack on another country – I do not think that sanctions on Alina Kabaeva will play a decisive role. The story goes on Read also: Putin the loser NV: The US government believes Kabaeva has at least three children by Putin, while another story tells four. Ruban: He has two other children who have already been sanctioned. NV: Can you explain how Kabaeva turned from a gymnastics champion into one of the most influential women in Russia? Putin: Here we have to separate, as always, everything in Russia, to separate the facts from the conjectures. No one knows for sure, everything is a conversation, but the debate, as in any strictly authoritarian or already totalitarian state, is just a few messages and positions. And these are often informal positions – perhaps not in totalitarian societies, but in feudal societies – I no longer know how to describe today’s Russia. Such regimes have some informal positions that show the influence of the individual. Alina Kabaeva leads the National Media Group, a privately held entity controlled by Putin’s friend Yuri Kovalchuk. Read also: Ukrainians admire Boris Johnson and Andrei Duda, do not support Putin and Lukashenko Thus, this National Media Group unites almost all non-state but loyal media in Russia. Not the (top) Rossiya channel, but, say, the First Channel or Ren-TV, both of which belong to the National Media Group. And Alina Kabaeva holds an honorary leadership position there. Such places are not given to ordinary joists. Kovalchuk is a man who specializes in Vladimir Putin’s personal affairs, so there are no ordinary people in his structures. He owns Rossiya Bank and the bank’s shareholders are close friends and relatives of Vladimir Putin. And if they cease to be his relatives, as in the case of his ex-boyfriend, who divorced his daughter, they are deprived of their share in the bank. It may sound complicated, but the point is that Yuri Kovalchuk is a man who puts people important to Putin in different places, in different positions. Kabaeva is one of those people. Read also: The use of nuclear weapons would force the world to end the Putin regime The second thing to keep in mind is that in Russia, Putin has some people who are just in charge of donating real estate to his relatives. Generally, they also do not give real estate to ordinary people. I do not know how important these people are, like Petr Kolbin, Gennady Timchenko, the structures of Arkady Rotenberg. Here everyone was caught donating real estate first to Alina Kabaeva’s grandmother, then to her sister, and each time these are quite luxurious assets. All this together makes us believe that Kabaeva, of course, is not an ordinary person. The rest are confidential stories, which in Russia we have to take with a little salt. NV: Is there an understanding of why Putin hides so much of his personal life? Is this a Chechen habit (the original Soviet security service) or does it violate the image of a monk busy with government and nothing more? Why, when he divorced his wife, could he not marry Kabaeva in public? Ruban: Here we can assume, of course, that this is a set of stories. But at some point, Putin decided that the less (the public) knew about him, the better. He has his head in higher clouds that have long been inaccessible to us, why should ordinary mortals care? Putin at the dawn of his political career, I mean the beginning of his presidency, revealed a number of facts about himself. I can give an example of this story: at one point we searched his family once again and found that a very important woman who controls the coal business and an entire area in Russia is his niece. So we found a photo of her with Putin in his biography and all these photos were provided with Putin’s permission. I think he is very angry… Putin’s relatives, his closest and dearest, his acquaintances, all the people who are somehow very close to him, are used in Russia to hide valuable assets. We even had a dispute in the editorial office, a small creative dispute over whether to call specific people, Putin’s minions or relatives. And at some point we realized that there was nothing to disagree about because Putin’s minions and relatives are intertwined. At some point, he initially regretted that he had already revealed something and decided not to reveal other relatives who owned his assets. Why stress unnecessarily? I do not think Putin is too scared, but I do not think, on the other hand, he wants to know about his luxury if he can help her. You are right that this is, of course, the Czech past, this is the idea you only need to know about him what he wants to say here and now. The problem, however, is that at some point he began to falter in his testimony: he says one thing and then says something completely about himself. Why; Because this kind of ruler is always a bit of an enigma, there should be no objective knowledge about him – he’s a bit of a mythical character of some kind. That’s how I would put it. NV: I have noticed that even the independent Russian media do not report much on this issue. Is it a matter of self-censorship? How strong was this impulse and what role did it play in what we are seeing now, the total destruction of the entire independent press? Ruban: Self-censorship in Russia is catastrophically high, but now it is not about the high – it is about small things. Self-censorship in Russia may be the avoidance of a different image of Ukraine. I think the editors-in-chief of all the official media are sitting there thinking, because once again no one is explaining to them what to do. But this is a story in itself, it is a phenomenon that will also be interesting to study one day, especially in relation to the war that is taking place now. As for Kabaeva, I have a different answer for you: does anyone think it is so easy to get up and find something for Vladimir Putin? Of course, this may not be obvious to the Western public, which is accustomed to the fact that the officials themselves are going to reveal some facts about their lives. It does not work that way (in Russia) – to learn many things, we need the development of investigative journalism, we need to develop some technologies and methodologies for investigative journalists. Yes, it is a complex issue. It is no coincidence that Russian investigative journalism is now flourishing in such terrible, difficult times, because there are so many technologies, tools, skills and opportunities to conduct such research. Some things gradually become public property. It took us many years to find out about Vladimir Putin’s relationship with Svetlana Krivonogich, with whom he has an illegitimate daughter. We did this research last year, and the case took place almost 20 years ago. It is clear that all this is very difficult. Therefore, there is very little information about Alina Kabaeva. Read also: Putin turns to nuclear, threatening to wipe out world if he fails to occupy Ukraine, says foreign affairs expert We happened to find out about her a few years ago, and after that, there is very little information about what is happening to her now. I can only tell you that I am sure that all this will sooner or later become known, proven or disproved. We will see, but that is what we have so far. I will repeat, of course, that self-censorship exists in Russia, but there are several publications that I am sure are working on it, have worked and will work again. NV: It seems that the fact that Alina Kabaeva appeared with an engagement ring in August 2021 was much discussed. Hitler also married Eva Brown shortly before he committed …
