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With whom Vladimir Putin's daughters, his press secretary and bodyguards call. And what secrets their phone calls reveal - we studied their billing records
This text was created by the "Point Media" team and published on Explainer — our team's new website.
With whom Vladimir Putin's daughters, his press secretary and bodyguards call. And what secrets their phone calls reveal - we studied their billing records
This spring, one of the aggregators of leaked databases published details of Russians' phone calls, the project “We Can Explain” noticed. The leak covers a fairly large-scale period - from 2018 to 2024 and contains calls from subscribers of the country's largest phone operators: MTS, Megafon, Beeline and T2 (former Tele2). The caller's card contains his phone number and the number of the subscriber he contacted, the date of the call, and the type of call (incoming or outgoing).
We checked about 15 phone numbers of journalists and their acquaintances and were convinced of the authenticity of the leak. At the same time, the database is incomplete, it contains only a small part of phone calls - for example, the card of one of the journalists of “MO” from 2018 to 2024 contains only two calls (of course, there were many more). The database does not contain the content of phone conversations - only special services that wiretap Russians can find out about it, but even without that, we learned a lot of interesting things.
“You mentioned one woman, you mentioned the second, you mentioned their personal stakes, the volume of this business,” was how Vladimir Putin evaded answering a question about his daughters at a press conference in 2019. Despite the abundance of evidence, in all the years of his presidency, the Kremlin master has never called them by name, and his press secretary Dmitry Peskov (we'll talk more about him below) has every time refused to comment on their personalities and businesses. The billing of Katerina Tikhonova and Maria Vorontsova further confirms what Putin never dared to admit by the time he was 72.
According to Tikhonova's phone records, she regularly calls her aunt Olga Tsomaeva, who is the sister of Putin's ex-wife Lyudmila. Tsomaeva was the general director of the firm Interiorservice in the noughties. This company owns Meridian LLC, which leases premises to large state companies - for example, VTB rents offices from it in the Volkonsky House on Vozdvizhenka Street in the center of Moscow. The Koster restaurant is also located there - its co-founder is the same Olga Tsomaeva.
Tsomaeva, as established by “Chronicles”, worked at Gazprom Transgaz Moscow. In 2022, she ordered food to Gazprom's main office in Moscow. It's a skyscraper at 16 Namyotkina Street. Tsomaeva is not lacking in property either. She owns a land plot (10 hectares) and a residential house (379.9 square meters) in the village of Gorki-2 on Rublevo-Uspenskoye highway.
Also Tikhonova often calls colleagues in the scientific shop. For example, in the billing there are calls to Doctor of Biological Sciences and member of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences Maryam Bezrukikh (in 2012 Putin awarded her the Order for Services to the Fatherland II degree), as well as a famous linguist and vice-rector of Moscow State University Tatiana Kortava. In Tikhonova's billing records, we also found calls from MSU Rector Viktor Sadovnichy, who was one of the supervisors of her PhD thesis. Sadovnichy himself called Tikhonova on July 3, 2019. It can be assumed that they discussed one of their joint publications in a scientific journal - that year Sadovnichy and Tikhonova co-authored several articles.
Putin's daughters are believed to have different business interests and spheres of activity, as well as different companions. Tikhonova runs the Innopraktika Foundation, which promotes projects in neuroscience, 3D organ printing and genetics; Vorontsova is co-owner of the New Medical Company, which specializes in nuclear medicine projects. However, their billings prove that Putin's daughters have common business partners.
In the details of Maria Vorontsova's calls, our attention was drawn to the phone number of a subscriber who, according to the NumBuster app, records Putin's eldest daughter as “VIP Maria”. This is Nikolai Ishmetov, director of special projects at the Russian Direct Investment Fund. The CEO of RDIF is Kirill Dmitriev, the husband of Katerina Tikhonova's close friend Natalia Popova, who became one of the main negotiators with the US and Ukraine.
Ishmetov attended the 2024 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum as a speaker on gene therapy. But that's not what's interesting - it's that the man is Vorontsova's business partner.
Ishmetov is a co-founder of Genetic Technologies LLC. This company is one of the owners of Evotech-Mirai Genomics LLC, from which the Moscow City Hall bought 130,000 rapid coronavirus tests during the pandemic. The Sobesednik newspaper wrote at the time that the manufacturer of the tests was linked to Putin's entourage, and named Tikhonova among the beneficiaries. The publication drew this conclusion because the beneficiary of Genetic Technologies is Alexei Kozlov - he simultaneously held the post of managing director of Sibur, and Kirill Shamalov - Tikhonova's ex-husband - was a member of the holding's management (Bloomberg wrote that they separated in 2018). But Vorontsova's connection with Ishmetov, who began calling at least in 2019, indicates that the beneficiary could be not the youngest but Putin's eldest daughter at all. Moreover - in 2024 Vorontsova registered several patents together with Genetic Technologies, and now this company will pay Putin's daughter and her co-authors for their use.
It was a surprise to find calls from Zarina Doguzova, former head of Rostourism and now a member of the government's expert council, in Vorontsova's billing records. Communication between Putin's daughter and Doguzova began earlier - at least since November 2018. At that time, Doguzova worked in the presidential department for public relations and communications and was a protégé of Alexei Gromov, the head of state propaganda.
Billings also confirms Vorontsova has a child. At least since 2019, she began calling regularly on a number that is recorded in the phone books as “senior kindergarten.” Another phone number confirms that Putin's daughter has found herself a new partner - she is now recorded in the phone books as Maria Nagornaya (her husband is Yevgeny Nagornaya, who works as a manager for the gas production company Novatek).
Evgeny Nagorny and Vorontsova
Social Networks
Thanks to billing records, we know when Vorontsova and Nagorny's communication began. In November 2018, they were already actively calling each other, the details show.
From her number, Putin's daughter buys airline tickets for Nagorny and her son from a previous marriage, Roman Faassen. According to the leaked airline reservation database, Putin's 10-year-old grandson spent two weeks in Dubai in December 2022. But in the capital of the UAE Faassen flew not alone, but together with a certain Dmitry Ignatov. In its investigation, FBK pointed out that Ignatov is an FSO officer who has been guarding Vladimir Putin for many years. He was also present at the Kremlin master's direct line.
Dmitry Ignatov on Vladimir Putin's “direct line”
RT
Vorontsova has direct access to officials in the presidential administration. According to billing records, Putin's daughter receives regular calls from Alexander Kolpakov, the Russian president's chief of staff. He is responsible for the construction and management of the head of state's residences. Kolpakov became head of the UDP in 2014.
Judging by Vorontsova's Telegram account, she, like her father, is reverent about the Great Patriotic War - Putin's daughter's avatar features a photo of the Victory Banner over the Reichstag.
Vorontsova's account
Telegram
The leak includes the billing numbers of the Kremlin chief's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov. On the first number Peskov regularly called his children Liza and Mika, wife Tatiana Navka. Among the interlocutors of Putin's spokesman was the director Nikita Mikhalkov.
We also found billionaire Araz Agalarov among his interlocutors. Putin's press secretary called him on March 21, 2020, when the COVID-19 epidemic was beginning in Russia. Just a month later, Agalarov, without any competition, received a contract to build a hospital for coronavirus patients at a cost of almost 2 billion rubles.
But the second number, which turned out to be leaked, turned out to be much more interesting. Peskov used it during the Covid era, several journalists who received Telegram replies from him confirmed. But then Putin's speaker gave the SIM card to FSO employee Yevgeny Oleinik - which is how the number is now recorded in various phone books, according to data from the NumBuster app. That Oleynik is close to the president's body is confirmed by the leak about his second number - he is recorded in friends' phonebooks as “Zhenya FSO”, “Evgeny FSO Putin”. We found his account in the social network “My World”, the date of birth coincides with the data of Putin's guard, but there are no photos in the profile.
It is not known exactly when Peskov's phone number passed to Oleinik, but thanks to the leak about his calls, we were able to learn the names of the FSO employees who guard Putin, as well as some details about their lives.
In the billing records, we again found calls to FSO employee Dmitry Ignatov - the same one who travels to Dubai with Putin's grandson Roman Faassen. One of the calls was on November 2, 2020. The next day, Oleynik called a number that ends in 45. This phone, according to various leaks, belongs to one German Shirokov.
German Shirokov
Telegram
This man, born in 1994, lives in a 62-meter apartment in the village of Lvovsky near Moscow and does not seem to stand out in any particular way. Except for the e-mail KISAPENIS@****.RU, to which his accounts in the Federal Tax Service and the Moscow health care system are registered. Everything becomes clearer, it is worth finding out his places of work and the cities to which Shirokov flies. As follows from the data of the Federal Tax Service, in 2017 the young man received a salary in military unit #38981, which is subordinate to the FSO. His flights surprisingly coincide with the movements of Vladimir Putin. One of the coincidences happened just on November 3, 2020, when Peskov called him - on that day Putin visited St. Petersburg, where he met with Governor Alexander Beglov and inspected the icebreaker Viktor Chernomyrdin.
Shirokov regularly accompanies Putin, according to photos from the Kremlin press service and photo agencies, which we found by matching his avatar in his Telegram account. For example, he was behind the Kremlin chief's back during the opening of the Future Games in February 2024.
German Shirokov behind Vladimir Putin's back
Kremlin
Shirokov also guarded Putin during the Russia-Africa summit in July 2023.
German Shirokov behind Vladimir Putin's back
Kremlin
Being Vladimir Putin's security guard does not always mean flying with him. Often FSO officers arrive in advance at the venues of events involving the first person. And they travel in a large company on commercial airlines, as follows from the same leak of the Sirena-Travel database with information about passengers of Russian airlines. Thus, in April 2023, a group of 8 people booked tickets on the flight “Aeroflot” (the route in the leak for unknown reasons is not specified). In addition to Shirokov, the group included Yaroslav Chubko, one of Putin's guards, who accompanied him on various trips, for example, to Yakutsk (Chubko's name also appeared in the Dossier Center's investigation of the Russian president's guards).
Chubko on the far right
Kremlin
Thanks to the leak about Oleynik's calls, we were able to learn a few more names of FSO officers who guard Russia's top leadership. One of them he called on December 30, 2022, at 11:52 a.m. - a day before Vladimir Putin's most unusual New Year's address, recorded against the backdrop of the military at the headquarters of the Southern Military District. Oleinik's interlocutor was Dmitry Nesterov. In the notebooks of his acquaintances, he is recorded as “Dmitry FSO.”
In WhatsApp Nesterov has a picture with a military man on the background of a big letter Z. And the status: “He who walks will make the road.” Nesterov has an account in the social network “My World”, where he is registered under the pseudonym Dmitry Matveevsky. True the FSO has not gone there since 2017. The last and only photo published there dates back to 2006 - and judging by it, Vladimir Putin's current security guard is fond of basketball.
Дмитрий Нестеров
«Мой Мир»
Nesterov was born in 1981 and lives in house No. 46 on Veernaya Street in Moscow. By an amazing coincidence, Artur Geremeyev, a defendant in the Boris Nemtsov murder case, lived in the neighboring house (46, building 1, Veernaya Street). It was in Geremeyev's apartment that the gang members who killed the opposition politician gathered. In 2015, as Mediazona wrote, Artur worked in the Shelkovsky police department in Chechnya. The day after Nemtsov's murder, he was caught on video cameras in the house as he loaded his belongings into a car and left for Chechnya. The investigation claimed it tried to question Geremeyev but was unable to do so.
Vadim Prokhorov, a lawyer for Nemtsov's family, noted in a conversation with us that there were two places on Veernaya Street where the group that was preparing Nemtsov's murder gathered - the investigation found this out. In the house 46 k. 1 was an apartment registered to Artur Geremeyev, the nephew of Chechen senator Suleiman Geremeyev, a relative and associate of Ramzan Kadyrov. The second apartment, at 3 Veernaya Street, was rented by Zaur Dadayev, Nemtsov's would-be assassin, where his gang lived during the preparation of the crime.
The investigation also considered Geremeyev's apartment as a place where the murder was being prepared, so they arrested it and did not lift the arrest until the beginning of the war (after the arrest it was sold). They were never able to interrogate Arthur.
This apartment was bought less than two months before Nemtsov's murder, at the height of its preparation, for 19 million rubles - the price of luxury housing. Prokhorov believes that it was probably bought by Senator Geremeyev himself, making his nephew the nominal owner. According to him, at the trial he asked one of Kadyrov's family members where the money came from, but received the answer “I don't know”.
It is noteworthy that the Geremeyevs settled next door to Ramzan Kadyrov's own family. Akhmat Kadyrov received a 150-meter apartment from the Presidential Department of Affairs in building 30 on Veernaya Street, midway between the two apartments of the assassination group mentioned above. He was appointed head of Chechnya in 2000, and in 2002 his family received this nomenclature housing. Akhmat Kadyrov, his wife Aimani, daughters Zargan and Zulai, and son Ramzan and his family, wife Medni and daughters Aishat and Karina, took ownership of the apartment and received 1/8 share each, Open Media found out earlier. According to Prokhorov, Ramzan Kadyrov's family was living there at the time of the preparation of the murder.
“Open Media” also noted that the 16-story panel building was built in 1997 by the Russian Presidential Property Management Directorate, and some of the apartments still belonged to the Directorate by the early 2020s. Generals, politicians, civil servants, the deputy chairman of the Central Bank, and the head of the Interior Ministry received apartments in the neighboring building. Thus Veernaya Street in the prestigious southwestern neighborhood of Ochakovo became the street of the elite, including the Chechen elite.
The example of Nesterov shows that the Russian authorities are doing everything they can to classify the identities of the people guarding Putin. He has two TINs at once. Under one he works for the FSO, and the other is listed in documents from the banks where Nesterov's funds are kept (Tinkoff and Sber). This is not quite legal. A person in Russia can have only one TIN, it does not change even in the case of a change of full name. “MO” earlier found out that Patriarch Kirill has two TINs - one belongs to Vladimir Gundyaev himself, the second - to Ivan Prokhorov, whose passport data and date of birth fully coincide with the data of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Another of Vladimir Putin's security guards is named Maxim Gutsenko. He himself called his colleague Oleinik on December 20, 2022 at 14:43, follows from the leak. On that day, Putin presented the highest state awards in the Catherine Hall of the Kremlin Palace. Orders were awarded, among others, to the gauleiters of the occupied Ukrainian territories: Leonid Pasechnik, Denis Pushilin, Vladimir Saldo and Yevgeny Balitsky.
Returning to Oleynik - in some cases, this FSO officer apparently personally solves various organizational issues, including those related to events in which his boss is involved. For example, on January 19, 2022, he called the head of the State Kremlin Palace, Pyotr Shaboltai, and two weeks later the latter received the Order “For Services to the Fatherland” III degree directly from Putin's hands.
At the time of publication of the investigation, Oleynik's phone number was inaccessible, and no messengers are now linked to it. Apparently, he got rid of the SIM card.
This is the first part of a larger investigation into the leaked phone records of high-ranking Russians. We'll continue to look into their billing records.
