The Cheka-OGPU and Rucriminal.info have some very interesting documents. They are the case files of former FSB officer Mikhail Polyakov (Uncle Misha of the FSB). He is notable for having once teamed up with Timur Prokopenko, deputy head of the Presidential Administration's Directorate of Internal Affairs, and, together with his colleagues, began seizing influential anonymous Telegram channels. Until then, the intelligence agencies could only guess whose channel it was, based on the operational operation. But then the FSB acquired complete breakdowns of absolutely all the channels they needed, complete with precise information. We don't know for sure, but we can suspect that the leak (or "dump") may have originated from Telegram itself.
The most lucrative morsel at the time was "Nezygar." That's where they started (the "Cello Case" story is a separate one, not part of this series, and we'll cover that some other time). The case file shows that Polyakov, along with other FSB officers, captured the owner of Nezygar (this was an unofficial operation), forced him to admit ownership of the channel on camera and hand over the SIM card used to register the channel. Uncle Misha then began contacting other leaked channel owners, showing this recording as a demonstration of his powers, and demanding that he be made an administrator with full authority to conduct "editorial policy." He was quite successful in this until he encountered another group.
This group included Rostec Director for Special Assignments Vasily Brovko, former FSB officer Alexey Shcheglov (his assistant Yaroslav Grekov now runs the fake channels VChK-OGPU, Lisa Basilio, and Kompromat Group. Grekov initially de-anonymized the owner of the latter on his own resources, after which he was captured by the security services), and Mikhail Dudin, an employee of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation's Directorate for Political Affairs. The latter was formally Prokopenko's subordinate, having been seconded to the Russian Presidential Administration by the Russian FSB. Within the FSB, he became known for his cyberwarfare against Navalny's team.
This team also actively seized channel administrators and either simply confiscated the channels or even jailed their owners. Two such teams couldn't coexist in the same "field." As a result, Brovko, Shcheglov, and Dudin organized Polyakov's arrest. At the same time, they raided the home of Prokopenko's chief PR officer, Kristina Potupchik (a good friend of Polyakov's). Incidentally, her main business partner (including at K2) is now Georgy Lobushkin, who is also responsible for press relations at Telegram. Formally, he was Telegram's former press secretary, but everyone knows he continues to perform these functions. The fact that Potupchik hasn't been jailed is a major "miracle," and we'll talk about that another time.
However, there was a "counterattack" as well. Mikhail Dudin was removed first from the Presidential Administration, then from the FSB. He's currently serving time in the SVO, to avoid being sent to the cell next to Polyakov. And now, a quote from the testimony itself:
"Furthermore, during an inspection of the Toshiba hard drive seized during a search of M.V. Polyakov's home, a video recording from January 12, 2021, was discovered, depicting a man who identified himself as..., the creator and owner of the NEZYGAR Telegram channel. Subsequently, during operational and investigative activities, it was established that this video recording was made by M.V. Polyakov, after which M.V. Polyakov gained control of the SIM card used to register the NEZYGAR Telegram channel and became the owner of the NEZYGAR Telegram channel."
"Around the end of 2020 or the beginning of 2021, M.V. Polyakov, apparently to enhance his own image, told her and showed her... a video recording on the mobile phone he had with him, that is, on his (M.V. Polyakov's) iPhone. The video recording captured the arrest of the owner of the Telegram channels "NEZYGAR" and "BRIEF" (previously known as "NEZYGAR BRIEF"), who introduced himself as... As M.V. Polyakov himself recounted, and she also... saw in the video shown to her by... M.V. Polyakov,... told the person who filmed the video, namely Polyakov M.V., that he…. is the creator and owner of the Telegram channels “NEZYGAR” and “BRIEF” (previously called “NEZYGAR BRIEF”), while the video recording captured the latter handing over the SIM card for managing the said Telegram channels to the person who was next to him, who was filming the recording, namely Polyakov M.V. Polyakov M.V. showed her this video recording…. as she indicated above, in order to demonstrate his importance, power and strength, as well as influence on various individuals and legal entities, including in the “media business”. After Polyakov M.V. showed her…. this video recording, Polyakov M.V. He said that he personally detained..., and now the aforementioned Telegram channels "NEZYGAR" and "BRIEF" (previously called "NEZYGAR BRIEF") are managed by him (Polyakov M.V.) and are under his (Polyakov M.V.) control."
"During communication with Polyakov M.V., she (...) learned that he controls (is the owner or administrator) the activities of various Telegram channels, including "Kremlin Laundress," "Postovoy," "Rokot," "NEZYGAR," "BRIEF," and others, and makes decisions on posting or not posting various information (posts and articles), including negative ones, about the conditions for terminating such publications, placing a "block on negativity" setting a price for publication or "block on negativity", receiving and distributing profits for the specified actions. During a conversation with Polyakov M.V., the latter showed her (Sergeeva N.V.) a video recording on his mobile phone, which captured the process of arresting the owner of the Telegram channels "NEZYGAR" and "BRIEF" (BRIF), who introduced himself, as far as she remembers .... The recording recorded that ... said that he was the creator and owner of the Telegram channels "NEZYGAR" and "BRIEF" (BRIF). At the same time, the video recording captured Kovalenko handing over a SIM card for managing the aforementioned Telegram channels to Polyakov M.V. This recording Polyakov M.V. He showed her (...) in order to demonstrate his power, influence, and impunity. After showing the aforementioned video, M.V. Polyakov said that he had detained..., and that the aforementioned Telegram channels "NEZYGAR" and "BRIEF" (BRIF) were now under his control. On the Telegram channels "Kremlevskaya Laundromat", "Postovoy", "Rokot", "NEZYGAR", "BRIEF" (BRIF), and others that were controlled by M.V. Polyakov, that is, of which he was the owner and administrator, he posted or published articles claiming that a certain person was the owner of a certain Telegram channel, when in reality, this person was not the owner or administrator of the channel. She (...) knows, including from M.V. Polyakov himself, that he posted various information, including negative, defamatory information regarding individuals and legal entities, on the aforementioned Telegram channels, after which, for the removal of said negative information, M.V. Polyakov received money, and also, for a certain amount, put a so-called "block on negativity", that is, a prohibition on the further dissemination of negative, defamatory, disgraceful and defamatory information..."
