Since we’re seeing an intensification of propaganda work online today, this post is especially for you, dear little helpers of the Kremlin crooks on social media.
This short ACF investigation is dedicated to you—the ones churning out “patriotic” comments, boosting lying Russia Today videos, and “pushing to the top” posts claiming that the graves of paratroopers were printed on a printer.
We’re going to tell you about your “daddy” — the chief militant internet patriot and fan of V.V. Putin.
Of course, you all know Konstantin Rykov.
Konstantin dearly loves ~~money~~ the Motherland. His résumé includes: State Duma deputy from United Russia, head of Channel One’s internet department, one of the founders of the “For Putin” movement, and so on and so forth.
People involved in the internet industry also know Konstantin Rykov well for his high-profile, very expensive, and invariably failed online projects.
For example, Konstantin Rykov promised us a “Russian Huffington Post” in the form of the project “Russia.ru” (the site was not updated in 2014).
The failure of the Vzglyad.ru project, whose promotion was funded with fantastical sums from obvious sources, is practically a legend of the Russian internet. The money for buying traffic ran out, and in a single day “Vzglyad” fell from 1st to 200th place in the media category.
But Konstantin doesn’t get discouraged. He knows that patriotism, Putin-style, pays very well in our country. As I understand it, it is Rykov’s team that runs all the “Crimean” Twitter accounts: the cutesy prosecutor Poklonskaya, Prime Minister Aksyonov, and so on.
If you don’t have a clear picture of Konstantin, just visit his Twitter.
A steely gaze fixed on the horizon, the tricolor, rockets launching in the background, aggressively patriotic polls — that’s Konstantin for you.
Every minute of every day he wants to die for Russia. He dreams of ending up in a trench. He boldly argues with Yankees and Gay-ropeans. He is the chief promoter of the hashtag #RussianSpring. There are tears in his eyes.
So, my dear Kremlin internet operatives, typing comments for a little cash — and those of you who fell for it for free. Your boss really does have tears in his eyes. But they’re from laughter.
Laughter at you, and at how readily you take his version of #RussianSpring at face value.
The flag in Konstantin Rykov’s userpic, of course, ought to look like this:
France. Cannes. The French Riviera. Cap d’Antibes. The most glamorous resort area in the world. The epicenter of everything that Kremlin patriots claim to find so disgusting.
It is from here, sparing neither himself nor his computer keyboard, that our Konstantin bangs out his tweets about the Russian Spring and dying in a trench.
There, in a gated community with a guard and a barrier gate, we found our hero’s beautiful luxury villa. In the French corporate registry, one can easily find a company called SCITRINITY M, owned by Konstantin Rykov and both of his parents.
An attentive reader will already recognize this magic abbreviation, SCI — Société civile immobilière. Companies of this type are registered exclusively to own and manage real estate. Indeed, the company’s charter immediately shows that the company authorizes Monsieur Igor Rykov to acquire a property at 21 Allée de la Begerie for 2 million euros.
But Rykov’s ownership of one-third of a villa on the French Riviera looks like less of a sensation than the legal status listed for him in the documents. Rykov senior, Igor, is described in the charter as follows:
And our Rykov, Konstantin, like this:
ACF’s collectively meager French is enough to read that, unlike his father, Kostya Rykov is a fiscal (tax) resident of France. French tax residency is defined in the French Tax Code, Article 4B. That’s beyond our French, so let’s look at it in English.
From here In other words, to be considered a fiscal resident, Konstantin must either live permanently in France, work there, or have his main economic interest there.
Each of these conditions is shockingly unpatriotic for the organizer of the “For Putin” movement, but all the same, we are very curious to know under which of the three criteria — or which combination of them — Monsieur Rykov became a resident. What is especially interesting is that French residents pay taxes not only on their French income, but on all of their income, period. It would be interesting to know how many Kremlin rubles Konstantin Rykov has presumably paid into the French treasury. The property address is written directly into the charter, and on a Google Maps satellite image you can get a pretty good look:
We cross-check it with the land registry, find the plot, and send an agent there.
We see the villa’s name in the list of properties on the grounds:
There it is: Villa Trinity.
We very much wanted to get inside and made several attempts, but there was security, a fence, and nothing could be seen from the road. Even our super-qualified landing party couldn’t handle a mission like that. But then bonne chance and a simple Google search of the Rykovs’ address led us to a website with an old listing for the sale of the house (priced at 3 million euros). And there the details start pouring in — photos of the interiors, 9 rooms, a heated pool, a jacuzzi, and a tropical garden. In short, enjoy:
A detailed comparison of the Google satellite image with the photos on the website leaves no doubt whatsoever. I hope Konstantin appreciates this kind of analysis. With arrows and little pictures like these, he often “fights the Ukrops” (a derogatory Russian slur for Ukrainians) on the internet.
Konstantin Igorevich Rykov is not an official or a civil servant. We acknowledge that he has every right to invest any amount of his money in any number of villas in any country.
He may be a tax resident of any country and pay taxes wherever he sees fit.
Tweeting about the joys of dying in a trench from the French Riviera is Konstantin Rykov’s inalienable right.
I have fairly serious suspicions that K.I. Rykov’s income comes from simply stealing the off-the-books cash allocated by the Kremlin for “counter-propaganda on the internet,” but those are only suspicions.
We cannot make any claims against Monsieur Rykov.
This is simply a story for those who spread all this hypocritical, lying Rykov filth across the internet. You have no idea how gleefully he and his accomplices wink at each other and laugh at you every time you write about the rule of thieves in Russia as if it were #RussianSpring.
If you like what ACF does, you can support us here — https://donate.fbk.info/. The foundation exists on donations from citizens.