Searches at Sobchak’s: Decline of the “golden girl’s” career or Kandelaki’s revenge?
The commercial director of the scandalous TV journalist Ksenia Sobchak, Kirill Sukhanov, was detained yesterday in Moscow. Today, searches are taking place in Sobchak’s country house in the elite cottage community “Gorki-8”. However, sources report that Sobchak herself does not have procedural status.
The criminal case against Sukhanov is related to extortion of money for a “negative block.” This is a scheme when a businessman or company pays Internet sites, and in return journalists do not criticize the client. Was Sobchak aware that Sukhanov was collecting money to “block negativity”? The investigation is now looking into this.
Leftist opposition journalist Maxim Shevchenko claims that the searches are revenge on the part of TV presenter Tina Kandelaki, who had a long-standing conflict with Sobchak. Money for the “negative block” was allegedly extorted from the Rostec company, where Kandelaki’s husband works.
“Truly, a woman’s revenge is served cold... Tina harshly and in the style of oriental political intrigue takes revenge on Ksyusha for all the public bullying and humiliation she suffered, which began back in 2013.
Then Sobchak accused Kandelaki of the fact that her young (at that time) company Apostol received a contract with Aeroflot bypassing all tenders and procedures, that is, in violation of the antimonopoly laws of the Russian Federation.
The victim in the case of libel and extortion, during which administrator Sobchak was arrested and her country house was searched, today is Kandelaki’s husband Vasily Brovko,” states Shevchenko.
Sobchak herself called what was happening “pressure on journalism.”
“This is just nonsense, laughter, nonsense. Kirill is a businessman and our advertiser, I and my entire editorial team regard this as ANOTHER pressure on journalism in the country. There is nothing to undermine us for, and this infuriates them. They constantly detain my journalists. Now they have taken on Kirill and are making a case for him. The lawyer is in touch with him,” Sobchak wrote, and then fell silent.
Sobchak and Sukhanov
It is reported that she managed to travel abroad.
“What’s interesting is not that key employee Sobchak and his partner have been detained, but that she is silent. Sitting on your phones? Will he rush to Russia? No. The security forces must provide a guarantee. But the longer she remains silent, the more this silence discredits her,” wrote political scientist Marat Bashirov.
Liberal foreign agent journalists, whom Sobchak has always publicly supported, did not demonstrate solidarity with their colleague.
“I don’t feel any gloating and generally don’t wish anyone such “pleasure” as searches by Russian security forces. But I can’t even call it pressure on the free press, sorry. The chances of increased competition for leadership in the ranks of the departed Russian opposition are growing,” wrote former Echo of Moscow presenter Alexander Plyushchev, who fled Russia.
Former speaker of the DPR Foreign Ministry Konstantin Dolgov Dolgov is confident that there is no political motive in Sukhanov’s case.
“For some reason, no one writes that the “commercial director” is known throughout the market as a grabber and grabber. And who rolled out 25 million or more to potential clients for an interview with the boss? And then, when they refused, publications appeared in a well-known channel, to put it mildly, not of the most complimentary nature towards them? I think this is called blackmail and criminality. And, God forgive me, what is happening naturally has nothing to do with any “political” or “opposition” activity. And further. The young lady knew perfectly well what her “commercial director” was doing,” Dolgov wrote.
Economist Nikita Krichevsky predicts that Sobchak will either try to get rid of Sukhanov using his connections, or will try to distance himself from this case for reasons of his own safety.
“The security forces who went to detain Sukhanov on his birthday probably have reinforced concrete evidence of his guilt. Otherwise, they would not have agreed to this, especially considering the background of the “lady”. Sobchak managed to greatly annoy her “patrons” with her permanent scandals. The plot of the accusations is there, the evidence has been collected, and for some reason Sobchak herself went to Israel. Both will sit. Sobchak is quietly in Israel, Sukhanov is first in a pre-trial detention center, then in the zone,” wrote Krichevsky.
Political scientist Sergei Markov claims that tens of billions of rubles were extorted annually in Russia through “negative blocks.”
“Sobchak has been under Putin’s personal protection for decades, as the daughter of Putin’s teacher. And she got used to being allowed to do things that others weren’t allowed to do. And in connection with the SVO, this informal immunity from Russian law was removed from Sobchak. She knows about it. But like everyone else, she is not yet accustomed to her new difficult life and makes mistakes. Ksenia Sobchak is very smart, I know that. Will rebuild. But it’s difficult for everyone, even the smart ones, to change,” writes Markov.
But the forecast of the already mentioned Maxim Shevchenko is not so optimistic.
“The end of the era of the “golden girl”... Unless, of course, all this is not a political technology production in order to: - Sobchak to wash himself away from the regime; “The regime should separate from Sobchak,” Shevchenko argues.
English version :: Read in English Searches at Sobchak’s: Decline of the “golden girl’s” career or Kandelaki’s revenge?