And also Alexander Filinov and Konstantin Teplyakov. They were charged with unlawful access to computer information committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy (Part 3 of Article 272 of the Criminal Code; up to five years in prison).
The investigation is studying the issue of bringing charges against the hackers under two more articles - “extortion” and “organizing a criminal community” (Article 163 and Article 210 of the Criminal Code; up to 15 years and up to 20 years in prison, respectively), two interlocutors told RBC , familiar with the progress of the case. The appearance of new articles is explained by “receiving new evidence of the criminal activities” of hackers, explains one of RBC’s interlocutors.
Anikeev, according to investigators, was selling information from hacked mobile devices and email accounts of Russian politicians and businessmen. Several high-ranking officials and businessmen, including Dmitry Medvedev, became victims of hackers. So far, only one person has been officially recognized as a victim in the case - the head of the directorate for project management in the field of housing and communal services of Sberbank. Anikeev himself, as his lawyer Ruslan Koblev said, insists that he did the hacking “for the sake of freedom of information on the Internet, and not because of some political orders.” Anikeev admitted his guilt and entered into a pre-trial agreement with the investigation.
Koblev, in a conversation with RBC, doubted that the FSB would tighten the charges against the defendants, since their actions, according to the lawyer, do not fall under these articles.
FSB trace
Correspondence allegedly belonging to Timakova, “Humpty Dumpty” in January 2015. The messages, including those from the secure government domain gov.ru, dated back to 2004-2015; on the website of the International Information Exchange they were offered to be redeemed for 150 bitcoins, which at that time was equivalent to $35 thousand.
“The correspondence includes photographs that illustrate the activities of the former president and now Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev. A large number of previously unpublished photographs from official and informal events. Informal work correspondence. Coordination of materials, communication with journalists, monitoring of various issues, reports,” - .
Materials on Prokopenko hackers in December 2014. Then the group published a photograph of Kristina Potupchik (former press secretary of the Nashi movement) with a bag full of money. The photograph, according to Shaltai-Boltai, was taken in Prokopenko’s office. Materials about the official appeared over the next few months. From them it could be concluded that Prokopenko was responsible for posting materials about all criminal cases related to the founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, Alexei Navalny.
Kiselev's email was hacked in the spring of 2016. “The bulk of the correspondence is occupied by letters related to Kiselev’s professional activities - the TV project “Russia Today” and everything connected with it, information about finances and assets, both personal and related to VGTRK television projects, is also provided,” the hackers noted.
The curator of “Shaltai-Boltai” was FSB Colonel, Deputy Head of the Information Security Center (CIS) of the intelligence service Sergei Mikhailov. He, as well as the senior detective of the 2nd operational management department of the CIB, former hacker Dmitry Dokuchaev, head of the computer incident investigation department at Kaspersky Lab Ruslan Stoyanov and Internet businessman Georgy Fomchenkov are being charged with treason (Article 275 of the Criminal Code).
Novaya Gazeta noted that Mikhailov came to the attention of his colleagues after the United States suspected the owner of King Servers, Vladimir Fomenko, of a cyber attack on election systems in the states of Arizona and Illinois. Sources of Novaya Gazeta claimed that the American intelligence services received this information from Mikhailov.
True biography of Timur Prokopenko
Sender: Mikhail Kitaytsev 13:08:56 10/03/2011 :The appointment of Timur Prokopenko, the press secretary of the State Duma speaker, as the new leader of the pro-Kremlin youth organization “Young Guard” was completely unexpected even for the most sophisticated experts in the youth political backstage.
Dozens of MGER activists, who have proven themselves dedicated to the party’s cause as builders of the future Russia, applied for this post, abandoned by the Federation Council senator from the Chelyabinsk region Ruslan Gattarov. Numerous youth leaders, including parliamentarians of the Federal Assembly, were considered as potential leaders of the United Russia youth wing.” However, it turned out that the all-seeing eye of Kremlin ideology made its choice in favor of Timur Valentinovich Prokopenko, a young man who was extremely far from youth politics.
What did Timur Prokopenko do before his historical appointment? The official media provide very little information on this matter.
It is known that Prokopenko studied at the Military University, that he worked as a special correspondent for ITAR-TASS, and then headed a structural unit of the apparatus of the Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative in the Far Eastern Federal District. The last position of Timur Prokopenko, announced by the official media, is press secretary of State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov.For a 30-year-old graduate of a military university, his biography is, of course, eventful. At the same time, Prokopenko himself, before his appointment to the leadership of MGER, had never appeared in news stories, and there is surprisingly little information about his person on the Internet. What allowed this young man to “come out of the darkness” and immediately enter the political “queens”?
Let's try to figure it out...To unearth the past of Timur Prokopenko, our correspondent had to spend quite a lot of time. Nevertheless, there were many people who knew Prokopenko at different times and in different places. Journalists accredited in the State Duma, where Timur Prokopenko worked for several years, also contributed behind-the-scenes information. Little by little the picture began to emerge. Anyway, let's start...
First of all, we note that Prokopenko’s entry into the security forces was not accidental. Timur is the son of a high-ranking officer of the State Bureau of the USSR, then the FSB of Russia. Little is known about Timur Prokopenko’s school years - he lived with his family abroad, then studied at a Moscow school in the Polezhaevskaya area.
From the few interviews with Prokopenko, it is known that he was seriously involved in hockey and was even a member of the youth team of the capital's Dynamo. Then his friends with sticks and pucks made careers in the NHL and KHL, and Timur went to study at the Military University, which previously bore the name of the Military-Political Academy. Lenin.It is not known exactly what they do with the children of security officers at the Military University for five years. However, we can conclude that they are being prepared for precisely the goals that were outlined in the Soviet name of the famous university - for political work. Work within your country for the benefit of the current political system. Therefore, this university has always been among the most prestigious military educational institutions.
Children of high ranks of the army and other law enforcement agencies studied here. The professions of military lawyers, translators, journalists and psychologists were considered prestigious both in Soviet times and in the troubled 90s. Among the cadets of the Military University there were always many people from high-ranking families. It is known, for example, that the son of the then deputy director of the FSB German Ugryumov, the grandson of USSR Marshal Oleg Losik, and other general’s offspring studied in the same platoon with Timur Prokopenko.
It was not possible to find out where Timur Prokopenko served after graduating from the Military University. Perhaps he was trained in one of the secret educational institutions of the security forces, or took his first steps in the field of state security. The position of ITAR-TASS special correspondent was probably just a cover for other, more secretive activities. By the way, “arms baron” Viktor Bout studied at the same military university as Prokopenko, only ten years earlier, and was sent to Africa as a military translator.
Prokopenko himself said in one of his interviews that during his time at TASS he visited all the hot spots in the country and some abroad. Whether he has since removed his shoulder straps or is still an active officer is unknown.
In the middle of the fourth convocation of the State Duma, Timur Prokopenko “surfaced” in the lower house of parliament. Now - as press secretary of the then vice-speaker Vladimir Pekhtin, known for his direct participation in the internal politics of the Far Eastern regions of Russia. In this capacity, Timur Prokopenko is well remembered by experienced parliamentary journalists. However, the young man soon moved to the Presidential Administration, becoming the head of one of the departments in the office of the Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative for the Far Eastern Federal District Oleg Safonov.
Let us recall that Colonel General Oleg Safonov belongs to the “St. Petersburg” security forces, and in the 90s he worked together with Vladimir Putin in the Committee for External Relations of the St. Petersburg City Hall. From 2007 to 2009, he held the post of Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Far Eastern Federal District, and is currently Deputy Director of the Federal Service of the Russian Federation for Drug Control (FSKN).
Being a subordinate of Plenipotentiary Representative Safonov, Timur Prokopenko gained fame in the Far East, primarily as a specialist in underground political technologies. He participated in a number of campaigns to change power in the regions of the Far Eastern Federal District, working on behalf of the federal center in close cooperation with regional state security agencies. Photos from three years ago were found in the photo bank of one of the Far Eastern news agencies. They give an objective idea of the environment where the current leader of the Kremlin youth worked.
His work in the Far East was associated with several high-profile scandals related to the corruption activities of the local elite.
After Plenipotentiary Representative Safonov returned to the security forces, Timur Prokopenko reappeared in the State Duma, now in the high post of press secretary of State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov. For a year and a half, Prokopenko dealt with PR issues for the speaker, and to his credit, after his departure to MGER, there was much less of the chairman of the lower house on TV.The question is - why does the Young Guard need the absolutely encrypted Kremlin security official Timur Prokopenko? Maybe to carry out a pre-election “cleansing” of this youth organization? Within a few months of its leadership, several key figures in MGER lost their posts. The other day, Prokopenko removed the head of the MGER Central Headquarters, Roman Teryushkov, and the chairman of the MGER Public Council, Alexander Borisov, from their positions. According to rumors - for financial fraud.
In 2010-2012 he led the Young Guard of United Russia. In December 2011, he was elected to the State Duma of the VI convocation from the United Russia party as a representative of the Saratov region.
He resigned his parliamentary powers ahead of schedule, moving in February 2012 to work in the Internal Policy Department (IDP) of the Russian Presidential Administration. As deputy head of the Department of Internal Affairs until December 2014, he was involved in youth and information policy, then began to supervise federal parties and elections. At the end of 2014 - beginning of 2015, he became involved in a number of scandalous publications carried out by the Anonymous International group, which posted on the Internet “materials allegedly obtained as a result of hacking Prokopenko’s mail and phone.” According to RBC, this information attack prevented Prokopenko from heading the UVP instead of Oleg Morozov, who resigned in March 2015 [
The personality of Timur Valentinovich Prokopenko is known thanks to his place of work, which is the administration of the President of the Russian Federation. He is a former State Duma deputy and former leader of the MGER party. Now he is deputy head of the internal policy department of the AP.
Journalist
Timur Prokopenko was born in the small town of Staraya Kupavna, which is located in the Moscow region. He graduated from the Faculty of Journalism at the Military University of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in 2002. His father was an FSB colonel.
Who is Timur Prokopenko? His professional biography begins with working for ITAR-TASS as a correspondent. He has covered news both regionally and internationally. The scope of his work was extensive. The future politician visited many countries, covered terrorist attacks and high-profile events, and soon became involved in the parliamentary pool. It covered the activities of the highest representative authorities, and Prokopenko’s work as a correspondent now became connected with the legislative framework.
Further training
After training to become a journalist, in 2004 he completed his studies at the Moscow State Linguistic University. Soon he receives a diploma from another educational institution - the Russian Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation (2006). The Civil Registry Office provides professional training and retraining of specialists for further public service.
Political career
2005 is the starting point of the formation of Timur Valentinovich Prokopenko as a politician. He begins working in the State Duma as the press secretary of the vice-speaker of parliament from United Russia, Vladimir Pekhtin. Two years later he was appointed to the Far Eastern District. This happened in 2007.
After a couple of years, Timur returns to the State Duma again as a press secretary, only now he no longer works for Pekhtin, but for the Speaker of Parliament
In 2010, Prokopenko became the head of the Coordination Council of the Young Guard of United Russia. Almost at the same time, he began to participate in the activities of the All-Russian Popular Front. Timur Valentinovich spent a year as a deputy of the State Duma. In 2012, he resigned early. During the same period, Prokopenko ceased to hold the position of chairman of the Young Guard Constitutional Court. He is a member of the United Russia faction. He has been the head of the department for work with youth organizations since 2012. He holds the post of deputy chairman of the committee on physical education, sports and youth affairs.
Leader of the Young Guard
The very fact that the young aspiring politician Prokopenko, far from this sphere, was given the post of leader of the MGER, stunned the other candidates who were left behind. Despite his initial lack of experience in this matter, he successfully worked in this position for two years.
The objectives of this youth organization, which was once headed by Timur Prokopenko, are mainly the following: involving talented and active youth in politics and solving social problems. MGER provides activists with the necessary basis for realizing themselves in the sphere of social activities and politics. During Prokopenko’s work in this position, more than 10,000 members of the Young Guard received the opportunity to put their abilities into practice and join this field. From among them, candidates for deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation were nominated. MGER’s work is also aimed at solving social issues and helping those in need.
Timur Prokopenko: Presidential Administration
Now he serves in the internal policy department of the Russian Federation Administration. Timur Valentinovich Prokopenko is the deputy head of the Department of Internal Affairs, and his place of work is now the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation. Previously, the scope of his activities covered youth and information policy, but currently he deals with issues that relate to federal parties and elections. Timur was appointed to this post in February 2012.
A department for work with youth was created in the Presidential Administration. Prokopenko was appointed head of this department. Due to the fact that he was appointed to a new position, he had to leave the Young Guard and his place as a State Duma deputy. Now his responsibility is to work with youth organizations, as well as to formulate the ideology of youth policy in the country. The creation of this department and the appointment of the former head of MGER to the position of head means the end of Rosmolodezh’s dominance in youth policy.
Personal life
Little is known about the politician’s family life. Prokopenko Timur Valentinovich is married and has one child - a daughter. It should be noted that this person does not like to talk about his personal life.
Timur Prokopenko: correspondence and scandal
A high-profile story is associated with his name, which received resonance in 2014-2015. Allegedly, a group of hackers hacked Prokopenko’s email and phone, and then posted personal correspondence on the Internet for public access, which covered the lives of politicians and some compromising information affecting their activities. This information shed light on a number of high-profile cases and touched on the details of these stories.
The publication of these messages (not from the best side) showed the state of affairs in politics. This revealed the Kremlin’s pressure on the media and methods of combating the opposition. But the scandal was soon forgotten, and no one needed the numerous revealing information. As many claimed, the fact of the disclosure of this correspondence was soon simply forgotten, because, in fact, no serious actions followed from anyone’s side. As some politicians said, if this had happened in another country, such a publication would have caused a huge scandal that dragged on for many years, with all the ensuing consequences. In our country, this high-profile case took place mainly only in the context of its discussion in blogs.
The correspondence contains information regarding how meetings are held with the participation of general directors of various television channels and what pressure is exerted on the media by the state apparatus. There is also correspondence between the politician and famous colleagues and actors regarding professional activities and personal issues.
Who needed to leak information from Prokopenko’s correspondence?
It is impossible to give a definite answer on this matter. In the posted SMS correspondence there is no particularly serious incriminating evidence on Timur Prokopenko himself. There are many theories regarding the email hacker. In essence, this correspondence consists of messages on work issues and some information from Prokopenko’s personal life. There are different options for who actually benefits from making this information widely available.
There is even an assumption that Prokopenko himself leaked the information, and there is also an opinion about Kremlin intrigues and the intervention of Russian and foreign intelligence services. Be that as it may, the main harm due to the fact of information leakage was caused not by the content of the confidential information itself, but by the fact that this incident occurred as such.
Prokopenko could head the UVP, since the head of the department, Oleg Morozov, resigned in the spring of 2015. But it was almost at this time that a sensational incident occurred with the disclosure of personal correspondence. This fact prevented Timur Prokopenko from taking a high position.
). The Insider's series of publications is entitled "The modern history of Russian politics, told in SMS." This is not an exaggeration: from Prokopenko’s correspondence one can glean information about the background of political scandals and reshuffles in the media, as well as the manipulation of information, the Kremlin’s cooperation with Duma deputies, the leadership of Roskomnadzor, journalists and cultural figures. Of particular interest are the SMS messages that Prokopenko exchanged with Mikhail Galustyan. The popular comedian, as follows from messages published by Anonymous International, published texts about the war in Ukraine on his blog, participated in the presentation of T-shirts with Putin, and for loyalty asked a Kremlin official for the title of Honored Artist of Russia. Another interesting story involves actor Mickey Rourke, who received a generous reward for appearing in a T-shirt with a picture of Putin, whom the Kremlin official’s interlocutor Aram Ashotovich (the name and patronymic of the head of LifeNews and Izvestia A.A. Gabrelyanov) obsequiously calls Pope.
Other stories include: correspondence with the deputy head of Roskomnadzor Maxim Ksenzov about a fake interview with astrologer Pavel Globa, a discussion about the possible blocking of the BBC website (they did not block it, fearing retaliatory sanctions against Russia Today), unrest in connection with the appearance of the website “Putin is Dead” ", an inflated scandal due to a survey by the Dozhd TV channel about the blockade, approval of guests of Vladimir Solovyov's TV show, instructions to famous TV journalists and heads of online publications.
Timur Prokopenko's career is dizzying. He is 34 years old, he is the son of a KGB general, he worked for ITAR-TASS, and in 2010-2012 he led the Young Guard of United Russia. In December 2011, he became a State Duma deputy, but resigned early, going to work in the AP. According to RBC, the appearance of letters and SMS in the public domain prevented Prokopenko from heading the Department of Internal Policy instead of Oleg Morozov, who resigned in March 2015. Many commentators come to the conclusion that the Anonymous International, which declared itself in 2013, publishes incriminating evidence on officials (such publications already more than 70) in the interests of one of the Kremlin groups.
In a normal country, the publication of this correspondence would have caused a huge political scandal.
Politician Leonid Volkov, who studied Prokopenko’s correspondence, draws attention to how the presidential administration fought the Coordination Council of the Russian Opposition and organized a campaign against Alexei Navalny and his associates. In particular, some details of a surprising criminal case initiated in connection with the “kidnapping” of the painting “Bad and Good Man” by Vladimir artist Sergei Sotov have become clear. Anti-Corruption Foundation employee Georgy Alburov, who is now on trial in Vladimir for “theft” of a painting hanging on a fence, wrote on Twitter: “Everyone was waiting for us to have our own Watergate. Here it is.” However, in an interview with Radio Liberty, Alburov said that although Prokopenko’s correspondence stuns even people who know the Kremlin cuisine well, there will be no Russian Watergate:
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Pop-out player– In a normal country, where there is normal justice, normal elections, the publication of this correspondence would cause a huge multi-year political scandal, but now in Russia it is simply discussed in blogs. But there are actually dozens of crimes there. We see how they put pressure on the media, how they introduce censorship, how they influence reputation policy, how they remove videos that encourage people to come to opposition rallies. This is something absolutely fantastic. Because these people are really slackers who spend 95% of their time littering Twitter with pictures about Navalny and disrupting the next opposition march. We call these people the authorities and they live off our taxes. This is outrageous, and it contains dozens of crimes.
– Your name is also mentioned there. You will agree with the conclusions of "Insider" that a possible reason for initiating a criminal case against you is your tweet that MP Irina Yarovaya is a “drug addict of the day” ?
- It is amazing. In fact, it was a completely passable tweet that was thought up in two seconds and was published in the next two seconds and forgotten in another two seconds. As it turned out, it caused a heated discussion in the presidential administration, Yarovaya was shown this tweet, some lawyers, senior officials from the Department of Internal Policy discussed it. This is precisely the question of what these people are doing, what they are spending our taxes on. As for the reasons for initiating my criminal case, this, of course, also had an impact, but the main one, naturally, was the investigation into the Sosny cooperative. This is the cooperative where Vyacheslav Volodin, Sergei Neverov and several other major functionaries from United Russia live. It was precisely this story that also served as the reason for the persecution of the Dozhd TV channel, when it was kicked out of cable channels. I am absolutely sure that this investigation and the reaction of the presidential administration and the very painful reaction of Vyacheslav Volodin and Sergei Neverov to these publications served as the reason for the initiation of my criminal case. Unfortunately, the correspondence that was published lacks many points, in particular, the reaction of the presidential administration to this publication. But what we saw from other sources and from indirect evidence was a complete tornado inside the presidential administration.
– Are you continuing the investigation into the Sosny cooperative?
It's disgusting to watch this young man run the media in Russia
– The investigation was very simple. An investigation into where these officials live, how they bought this land and who owns this land. It was published in November 2013, and in the summer of 2014, thanks to the same “Anonymous International,” we learned that these United Russia officials bought super-elite land, which costs tens of thousands of dollars per hundred square meters, at a thousand rubles per hundred square meters. This is obviously corrupt in nature and is a form of bribe. We published it. And now we have learned everything we wanted to know about the Sosny cooperative: who owns it, how it was registered, how much it was bought for. So far this investigation is complete and successful. But we have no doubt that over time new facts will be made public and the investigation will be supplemented and developed.
– What kind of investigation are you doing now?
– Two weeks ago we published information about three Cypriot offshore companies of Senator Vyacheslav Fetisov. Interestingly, he himself passed a law according to which he must leave his post for owning foreign companies and offshore companies. Speaker of the Federation Council, former governor of St. Petersburg Valentina Matvienko responded to this publication and said that yes, a special commission will consider all this. But in general, Vyacheslav Aleksandrovich was deceived by his partners, to whom he supposedly transferred these three offshores, but they did not formalize anything, which, of course, is obvious nonsense, because the re-registration of offshores should be carried out by the owner, and not by the one who receives them. There are no traces that Fetisov transferred these offshore companies or began to transfer them. Therefore, of course, we will insist on the immediate removal of Vyacheslav Fetisov from his post; we have sent relevant requests to the prosecutor’s office, the Investigative Committee, the Presidential Administration, and the Federation Council and will wait for them to be considered. After some time, in a week or two, a commission will be held in the Federation Council, which will examine the materials that we provided.
– There are many versions of who is behind the Anonymous International, and one of the most popular is that this is an apparatus struggle within the presidential administration or government: officials are baiting each other and laying out incriminating evidence. What do you think?
All of our major news agencies are actually on this boy's leash.
– Of course, I myself am interested in who is doing this, but I don’t have any information. It is likely, as you say, that this is internal intrigue. But if a toad and a viper fight under the carpet, beautiful documents fall out of this carpet that we can use in our investigations, then we are only happy about it. Let the other side publish something and we will use it too. No matter what happens, we will always be in the black and will always receive new documents, and we like it that way. Let’s hope that things will continue to be very bad for them there,” said Radio Liberty.
Prokopenko’s SMS published by Anonymous International sheds light on another high-profile story: the organization of persecution of blogger Rustem Adagamov. The Insider notes that one of the official’s interlocutors was the chairman of the Union of Volunteers of Russia, Yana Lantratova. Sensational statements for the campaign against Adagamov were provided by Irina Bergseth, the author of statements about “raped boys dressed as Putin” and “incest lessons” in Norway. told Radio Liberty that he already knew in general terms how this campaign was organized.
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Pop-out playerWhen you realize who runs the country, you are taken aback
– In the part that concerns me, there was nothing new. Because I knew before, when it all started, that Yana Lantratova took an active part in this. But I was interested to see how Prokopenko worked with news agencies. It's funny to see how all of our largest news agencies are practically on a leash to this boy, the former head of the Young Guard. It is very sad, even disgusting, to watch how this young man controls the media in Russia. This is probably the most surprising thing. The system of working with the media, with journalists, does not even cause surprise, but a disgusting feeling. This is typical behavior of an organized crime group. They are armed with almost all the media, news agencies, television, and their own deputies through whom the stuffing takes place. The Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB, and the Investigative Committee work for them. They can do anything. It's hard to watch.
– At the same time, their pettiness is striking, the fact that they react to some tweets, pictures, that is, they behave not like masters of the situation, but like little bloggers.
– The information field must be cleaned, like a good carpenter, so that there is not a hitch or a hitch. Therefore, such a reaction to any little things, because they can displease the boss, as they call him, the Pope. Such mafia terminology is the Pope. Simply amazing. We are adults, we understand everything perfectly well, but when you come across this in reality and understand who runs the country, who runs politics, when you see the level of this, it takes you aback. It's all monstrous.
– However, a strange force has appeared that exposes these people, the Anonymous International. Is this an intrigue in the presidential administration or are opposition supporters doing this?
– I’m almost sure that this is the same notorious fight between the Kremlin towers, that is, these are not super hackers. This is a solution to some local problems. Morozov left the post of head of the internal policy department, in theory, Prokopenko should have taken his place, but he did not come, because a big uproar began over his SMS. I don’t believe that these are some noble knights, Robin Hoods, who are opening something. I think this is an ordinary fight between spiders in a jar, someone wanted to bait someone with this.
“But it benefited society, which found out about everything.”
“We’ll talk about this for two days and forget about it.” We have a country in which public opinion does not play any role until the Kremlin needs it. When they ran into Dozhd, then public opinion was needed. Some blockade survivors suddenly became indignant. And so we have all the investigations that Navalny, Novaya Gazeta, and revelations are involved in - they last for at most two days, and then they forget about it, there are no conclusions, no one loses either their posts or capital. Here is a deputy whose salary is two million rubles a year, has locks and a whole garage of cars. So what? And nothing. As he was a deputy, so it will be. Just as Fetisov was a senator with his offshore companies, so he will be. Public opinion has no strength, no political life, no opposition, nothing. Everything is decided at the level of people who sit in the bathhouse on Fridays and decide something over a glass of beer. There is no life in the country.
– So there won’t be a Russian Watergate?
– Of course not. Nobody cares.
The so-called hackers from the “Anonymous Humpty Dumpty International” published a text called SMS correspondence of Timur Prokopenko, a subordinate of Vyacheslav Volodin. The legal status of such a publication is unclear. Hackers offer to take the publication “as is”, without additional guarantees of authenticity. So, in essence, what has been published is just a text file that may well be an artistic dramatization, or at least a carefully edited version of the actual correspondence. On the one hand, the authenticity of the correspondence is confirmed by some of its participants. On the other hand, journalist Ekaterina Vinokurova, for example, insists that some of her messages to Prokopenko are fake.
The editing is also supported by the fact that the correspondence excluded most of 2013, that is, the political season in which the scandalous Moscow elections took place with Navalny’s participation, and Vladislav Surkov resigned as deputy prime minister of the government.
Regardless, conspiracy theorists may be disappointed. The powerful presidential administration is mainly busy searching for incorrect tweets from oppositionists and correcting photographs on the websites of news agencies that make the opposition appear too “successful and Hollywood-style.” Prokopenko, an employee of the internal policy department, spends a lot of time coordinating speakers for Vladimir Solovyov’s evening talk shows. There is some irony in this, because Solovyov’s talk show will most likely again be dedicated to Ukraine. So, it turns out that we have no internal policy at all.
Prokopenko’s correspondence is presumably not the last material in the Shaltaya package. More serious figures may be affected in certain circumstances before the 2016 elections. At the same time, the official media, controlled by the presidential administration, ignore the scandal, and, therefore, the “leaks” are focused mainly on use during intra-elite conflicts (traces of hackers should also be looked for there).
The engaged public, in turn, has a unique chance to look beyond the fence, into the holy of holies of Russian statehood, at Old Square, and in the interests of third parties manipulating this curiosity. This is Prokopenko’s worst secret: he has to look behind the fence where there shouldn’t be any fence at all. In a normal society, political issues are discussed publicly, and the presidential administration is a bureaucratic public service, the activities of which are completely transparent to voters. This is not military intelligence, not the NSA, or in general those organizations around which spy scandals like WikiLeaks can arise in democratic countries.
After the scandal, Prokopenko probably concluded that security measures need to be strengthened, and also that they are all now finally in the same boat, awaiting new attacks. This is an extremely superficial understanding of the situation. The problem is not that Prokopenko used poorly protected communication channels. The point is that politics cannot be completely pushed under the carpet.
If you eliminate the discussion of conflicts and political problems from parliament, destroy the media and the institution of elections, then politics will still return - only now in such a barbaric form as “plums”.