This is just me talkin’, but it must be rough being an oligarch’s kid. Spending the whole day taking selfies, shopping, horseback riding, vomiting after meals… I simply don’t know how they do it.
They must be made of sterner stuff than me, and here I am just a retired US Marine who’s beaten cancer… twice.
Now that I’m done being sarcastic (I hope you can tell, ‘cuz I was laying it on pretty thick), there are at least a handful of the children of Russia’s hyper-rich essentially calling Putin a big ol’ meanie.
As noted in the New York Post;
They’re hoping to bring about world peace — one influential Instagram post at a time.
While thousands of Russians have been bravely taking to the streets to protest Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, a group of elite social media influencers are hoping to “like” and “swipe” their way out of the conflict.
In recent days, Russia’s rich kids of the ‘Gram have suspended sharing snaps of their private yachts and bikini bodies — and are instead posting anti-war messages, blasting Putin and praying for peace. (And perhaps a return to jet-setting influencing?)
These glam Russian rebels include the daughter of oligarch Roman Abramovich, as well as the child of Putin’s political mentor and the offspring of a government spokesperson.
Sofia Abramovich is leading the charge, personally calling out Putin in an Instagram Story shared with her 60,000 Instagram followers.
The 27-year-old dirty blond is the daughter of Roman Abramovich, a Russian oligarch and owner of the Chelsea Premier League Football Club, who has a reported net worth of $12 billion USD. Abramovich Sr. is widely considered a close “confidant” of Putin — but his daughter doesn’t seem to care.
Maria Yumasheva, 19, is the daughter of wealthy real estate developer Valentin Yumashev and his wife Tatyana Borisovna. (Her mom is the daughter former Russian president, Boris Yeltsin.)
Last week, Yumasheva shared a photo of the Ukrainian flag with her 10,000 followers, accompanied by a caption which read “No war.”
Of course she added a heartbroken emoji to fully express her sentiments.
View this post on Instagram
But on a more serious note, Fox News is reporting of a somewhat sizeable exodus of Russians leaving the Motherland;
Russian citizens have reportedly started to flee the country ahead of President Vladimir Putin’s rumored announcement of martial law.
Tikhon Dzyadko, the overnight chief editor of Dozhd, wrote on Telegram on Wednesday that he was fleeing the country over fear for his life, saying that it is “obvious that the personal safety of some of us is now under threat.”
The crackdown on press has spooked even foreign reporters: Alec Luhn, who has reported on the ground in Russia for VICE wrote on social media that he was heading for the border along with so many people that plane tickets are “mostly sold out” and flights are “packed.”
“Other passengers said they were afraid to be trapped in Russia, arrested or conscripted to fight a war they don’t support,” Luhn wrote. “Don’t know if they’ll be able to return.”
But wait… there’s more! FNC is also citing that the Moscow government is shutting-down independent news organizations (emphasis mine);
Earlier this week, Russia’s official censorship body issued guidance telling news networks to use only “trusted” sources under penalty of closure, which led to the shutdown of two independent news networks, including Dozhd TV – known in English as Rain TV.
Sound familiar? But please don’t leave this article just yet.
Fox is also noting that Russia’s version of our Congress, the Duma, just may give Putin the authority to essentially draft into the Russian Army those who’ve been arrested at anti-war protests (emphasis mine);
And Russian citizens have broadly started to panic as the Duma, Russia’s governing body, meets Thursday to lay out new legislation that may allow it to conscript anyone arrested for protesting the invasion – a number that stood at over 8000 as of Thursday evening, according to independent watchdog OVD-info.
Golly gee. Knowing the history of Russian Penal Battalions, what could go wrong?