#kremlin corruption

This investigation from Alexei Navalny had me laughing in sheer disbelief. In it, he exposes Dmitri Peskov’s son, Nikolai Choles, who lives a life of luxury (and splashes it all over social media), despite the fact that he not only has no job and no qualifications-- in fact, he is an ex-convict, who was jailed in Britain for two counts of assault. 

Fortunately, being the son of Putin’s spokesman helped secure him two jobs, but he didn’t stay there for long. In fact, he is on record admitting to FBK that he has no job. Yet he rides fancy cars, horses, yachts, and travels around the world. 

This is so disgustingly unfair and insane that once again, I have to wonder how Russians do not go mad living under such people. As Navalny says in the video, it would take years and years for the ordinary, hardworking Russian to save up for even one of the luxuries that unemployed, unqualified ex-convict Choles enjoys daily. 

While Russians work and pay taxes, Choles’ father, Peskov, lies on behalf of the Kremlin. Recently, he whined that Russia “resents” accusations of poisoning Alexei Navalny with Novichok, tried claiming he had not seen the evidence, avoided explaining why security were tailing Navalny in Siberia, and tried defending his government’s refusal to open an investigation. 

Evidently lacking in parental guidance or morals, Choles lives a self-indulgent lifestyle, while refusing to pay alimony for the child he helped create. 

Monday’s edition of the BBC’s Panorama programme, Richard Bilton’s report on Putin’s Secret Riches, was a surprisingly sloppy and bitterly disappointing piece of mudslinging, at least by the BBC’s generally high standards of reporting, so it’s hardly surprising that spokesmen for Vladimir Putin, Russian’s President, were scornful.

I am no fan of Vladimir Putin. He presides over a government that…