Let’s play a game. We tell you this: in just a few days, Moscow will hold its mayoral election. Not some minor local vote, but the election for the mayor of the capital — one of the most important and influential officials in the country. And you answer: who’s running in it besides Sobyanin?
Leonid Zyuganov (Zyuganov’s grandson), the most informed among you will say. Fine, that’s one.
Who else? Come on, don’t feel too uninformed or out of the loop. To be honest, we had to google it ourselves. For example, there’s candidate Dmitry Gusev (who even is that?!).
And here’s another one — Vladislav Davankov (maybe at least someone knows who he is?)
You don’t need a PhD in political science to see it: this is some kind of sham, not an election. Even in the capital, even in Moscow, where they usually pretend everything is democratic and liberal, they didn’t dare.
During wartime, Putin didn’t dare allow even some pathetic spoiler candidate; some new Ksenia Sobchak. Sure, she might have gotten one and three-quarters percent, but at least there would have been the appearance of competition. It would have looked less embarrassing in front of people.
And in fact, this sterile setup (we’ll see exactly the same thing in Putin’s election soon) shows just how shaky and fragile Putin’s system really is. Any unrest, any protest, any unexpected situation — all of it is already too dangerous.
Think back to 2019, around this same time of year. Remember what Moscow looked like? Like this:
And those were elections only for the city legislature.
A crushing election, by the way. Every third United Russia candidate, thanks to “Smart Voting,” lost their seat.
Including the head of United Russia in Moscow — Metelsky.
And those who didn’t lose got into the Moscow City Duma largely through luck or accident. Like today’s hero, the deputy representing the districts of Sviblovo, Yuzhnoye Medvedkovo, and Severnoye Medvedkovo, and at the same time the chairman of the Moscow City Duma — Alexei Shaposhnikov.
A lot has changed in the time since those events — exactly four years. A lot… actually, everything has changed! These days, Shaposhnikov is not just an arrogant United Russia politician from the capital and Sobyanin’s servant (that, of course, has remained), but also Moscow’s chief Z-deputy, an ardent supporter of the war.
The places where the head of the capital’s parliament lives have changed too. The places he ties his future to. You can probably already guess: we’re not talking about the United Russia family’s new little house in Berdyansk, or even the penthouse in Severnoye Medvedkovo. We’re taking you on a short trip to somewhere much calmer and more prosperous. Where to? You’re about to find out.
We absolutely love following up on the subjects of our investigations after the investigations are published. How are their lives going? What happens to them next? We’ve already done several investigations on Shaposhnikov before, so go back and watch them if you’ve forgotten.
For this modest deputy from Severnoye Medvedkovo, we found a 270-square-meter penthouse in central Moscow.
And a mysterious 870 million rubles that the deputy personally contributed to the charter capital of his company.
Back then, during the election, heavy artillery was brought in to shield Shaposhnikov. Shaposhnikov lied, squirmed, and behaved like a true United Russia politician — being rude and saying he didn’t owe anyone any explanations.
Basically: look at my disclosure, all the answers are there, end of discussion. Of course, there were no answers there.
Speaking of disclosures. Do you know how deputies reveal their income now, during the war? They don’t! Here’s an example of a recent disclosure from Moscow City Duma deputies:
Instead of information about income and real estate, there’s now just the number 45 — that’s how many deputies filed disclosures, but you won’t get to see them. The old disclosures show very clearly how things used to be and what they’ve become:
In general, publishing second and third installments about old investigation subjects is very important too. It’s a vivid illustration of what happens when you don’t fight corruption. It answers all those arguments like, well, whatever, those officials have already stolen enough. They haven’t stolen enough — they’ve barely even started!
Today, we’re leaving familiar Severnoye Medvedkovo for somewhere warmer — Barcelona.
What are we doing here, and what does Moscow City Duma chairman Shaposhnikov have to do with it? Excellent question — we’ve been asking ourselves the same thing. At first glance, nothing connects Shaposhnikov to Spain. And nothing should!
Shaposhnikov is a full-on turbo-patriot, especially by Moscow standards. In Moscow, all officials pretend there is no war and that they have nothing to do with it. But he’s not like that!
In the very first days of the war, he immediately goes all in: a patriotic image, the hashtag “we don’t abandon our own,” and a slogan saying that Russia does not start wars, it ends them — with the word written using the Latin letter Z:
Right inside the Moscow City Duma, he organized a headquarters from which gear, body armor, and humanitarian aid are sent to the front. The boxes are marked with a huge Z and the name of the United Russia party.
He personally, with his own hands, bravely loads bags into an SUV with a giant letter V on the door.
And he has clearly memorized the mantra about Nazis and fascists in Ukraine and repeats it like a parrot at every opportunity.
But Shaposhnikov has one particular favorite topic, practically the cause of his life. Unexpectedly enough, that topic is the Moscow militia of 1941.
At the time, Stalin made a radio address and announced the voluntary mobilization of Moscow residents. Around 300,000 people went to defend the capital, and most of them were killed.
And Shaposhnikov has become literally obsessed with this story. He attends conferences, takes part in book presentations,
unveils monuments, and talks about the militia nonstop.
And he draws a very clear parallel: there was mobilization then, in 1941, and there is mobilization now — as if it were the same thing, and Muscovites once again must sacrifice themselves to defeat fascists. There is, however, one obvious difference.
This obsession has gone so far that the chairman of the Moscow City Duma is now either directing or producing a patriotic film called By the Call of the Heart. He’s fulfilling his big dream, as he himself says.
Helping him with this are director Igor Ugolnikov and the Voenfilm studio (funded by state grants, naturally).
Of course, Shaposhnikov couldn’t resist and also appeared in the film himself. Even though the film hasn’t been released yet (and there will also be a series), we have photos from the shoot. Let’s take a look at Shaposhnikov in costume:
He’s not playing just some random nobody, but the second secretary of the city party committee! Clearly drawing a parallel with his present-day self. Very dignified — in a suit and a Stalin-era cap.
But we’re more interested in this photo:
In it, Shaposhnikov is lightly embracing two girls, also in costume. You might not notice and assume they’re just actresses, but in fact they are his real daughters: 23-year-old Dana Shaposhnikova and 14-year-old Mirra Shaposhnikova. They also appeared in this patriotic Z-masterpiece.
The older daughter, Dana, is clearly his favorite and frequent companion. He constantly takes her with him to cultural events. Here they are at one film festival:
Then at another one:
They go to theaters and concerts of wartime songs:
Our deputy has raised a true patriot!
But here’s the irony: it was Shaposhnikov’s patriotically minded daughter, Dana, who led us to Barcelona.
There are special dog breeds trained to help find weapons, drugs, and explosives — but how great would it be to breed one that could help find the property of Russian corrupt officials...
They too would walk up to some house or apartment bought with money stolen from Russians and point with a paw: “This is where you need to look! A crook lives here!”
Well, we’ve almost done exactly that! Helping us find the Shaposhnikov family’s secret property in Barcelona is this wonderful dog, Roni:
We found him on the Instagram of Shaposhnikov’s daughter’s mother — Adel Rustam-Zade. There was even a little clue there: Trafalgar Street, Barcelona.
We look around the street and quickly find a balcony with the same view. The video was filmed right here, on this balcony. Thanks, Roni!
Let’s double-check everything one more time, super precisely — in the video, there’s a building opposite with narrow window-balconies, and large balconies are visible on the corner of the building. This is that building, directly opposite.
On the balcony itself, from which the dog is being filmed, there are flower pots and straight railings with a knot-like detail in the middle. Here is the exact same balcony.
The dog was also filmed from another balcony with this decorative patterned grille. We find that balcony on the other side of the building.
So the Shaposhnikovs’ apartment is a corner unit.
We thank the dog and pull a record from the property registry. We see that on February 23, 2022 — literally just hours before the war began — the new owner became 22-year-old Dana Shaposhnikova. Despite being a student, she somehow miraculously found €1 million for the apartment.
And not just for any apartment, but for a huge 200-square-meter place right in the center of Barcelona.
The city’s central square is eight minutes from the apartment, the legendary Sagrada Família is a little farther away, and the beach is a 15-minute drive from the building.
At such a young age, Dana didn’t sell some startup to Google and make a fortune. Her income is fairly modest: she teaches Russian to foreigners and earns 15-20 euros an hour tutoring.
To buy this apartment, she would have had to explain declensions and grammatical cases nonstop for 7.5 years without ever sleeping. So obviously, her deputy father helped her buy it.
For some reason, Dana didn’t take to heart her father’s words when he said that studying in Russia’s capital is pure happiness. She has been living here for quite a long time, at least since 2014: first she studied at a French lycée,
and then enrolled in university to study psychology (and graduated this summer).
We’d stop by, but unfortunately the owner isn’t home right now. Judging by Instagram, Dana and her mother, Adel, are vacationing in the resort town of Amalfi in southwestern Italy. They’re swimming in a pool overlooking the Mediterranean, going to lavish dinners, riding on a yacht, and simply enjoying the beautiful scenery of Italy.
Sanctions? War? Visa and Mastercard being blocked? All of that affects you, while the family of United Russia politician and Moscow City Duma chairman Shaposhnikov is doing just fine — they live in Europe.
Let’s compare once again and appreciate the contrast. Here is Shaposhnikov, a mega-patriot, a man who has devoted his life to serving Putin and Sobyanin. An arrogant, thieving United Russia politician who, supposedly, is busy with patriotic education and making films about the Moscow militia. And why aren’t you in the militia yourself, defender?
But Shaposhnikov has a different front: delivering pseudo-patriotic speeches on camera, getting Sobyanin smoothly re-elected — that’s his front. And the only people he really protects are his own children, by moving them as far away from Putin as possible.
And the most astonishing thing is that he isn’t even under sanctions! An official who has built his career on the war theme, throws around Z-symbolism, falsifies elections, and has spent years warming a deputy’s seat in the Duma. Effectively Sobyanin’s right-hand man, yet Europe is still open to him. Please, come right in!
Right now, this whole gang of crooks will fabricate a huge vote share for Sobyanin in the election. They’ll present it as consolidated support for the eternal strong mayor. Then they’ll run around pointing to it, saying that all Muscovites adore Sobyanin and support him, Putin, and the war. Just look at the election results, they’ll say.
Completely fabricated and falsified with the help of electronic voting.
And while they swagger around, wage war, and loot Moscow and the whole country under Putin’s wing, the very least we are obliged to do is not let them live comfortably in Europe.
It cannot be acceptable that people who spent years building Putin’s regime, who unleashed and support the war, can simply flee to the West whenever they feel like it. They must be held accountable for the crimes they have committed and continue to commit.
We will demand that the Spanish authorities impose sanctions on Shaposhnikov and his family. If they like Sobyanin and Putin so much, then let them live with them in Moscow, not in Europe.
And you — please support our work. Investigations like this, and the legal work that follows them, are impossible without your support. You can make a donation — monthly or one-time — by following this link.
Freedom for Alexei Navalny!