WEBVTT - A Fired Reporter Falls Out a Window 0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:06.520 Media. Something strange is going on. Another member of the 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:08.119 Russian elite has been found dead. 0:00:08.880 --> 0:00:11.200 Reports suggests that he fell out of a window poisoned 0:00:11.240 --> 0:00:12.039 with mushrooms. 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:15.560 He died of heart failure, died of carbon monoxide poisoning. 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:17.080 How comesy are they? 0:00:18.120 --> 0:00:22.959 Dozens of Russian oligachs, politically motivated millionaires have died in 0:00:23.000 --> 0:00:28.000 the space of three years, most of them in suspicious circumstances. 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:32.199 Many have hidden links to the Kremlin. This is sad 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:37.960 Oligach Season two, an ongoing investigation into these recently dead 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:42.880 Russian power brokers. Sad Oligach is created by me jake 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:47.960 Hanrahan and my Ukrainian colleague Sergey Slipchenkov. This is a 0:00:48.159 --> 0:01:00.360 H eleven studio and Coolso Media production. January where He's 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:07.319 sixth twenty twenty six, Paris, France, Thirty eight year old 0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:14.160 Russian journalist Yevgeny Safronov is extremely stressed out. He's been hacked. 0:01:14.760 --> 0:01:20.480 All of his social media accounts Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, VK, 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:25.680 the Lot, even his Telegram channel has been hijacked. He's 0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:29.560 been targeted by nefarious operators on the other side of 0:01:29.600 --> 0:01:34.520 the world. Safronov lives in a small apartment in the 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:40.119 Hartster Scene suburb in Paris. It's a nice area, mostly clean, 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:45.480 accessible and with a generally low crime rate. He's here 0:01:45.560 --> 0:01:50.560 because he's in a self induced exile. The newspaper he 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:53.640 worked for back in Russia was deemed to be a 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:58.800 traitorous publication. In twenty twenty one, it was slaped with 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:03.120 the Foreign Act designation by the Kremlin, essentially classing it 0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:07.000 as an enemy of the state. The paper was critical 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:10.320 of Putin's regime, and at this stage we all know 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:15.639 what happens when you cross the dictator's red line. It's 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:18.960 at this stage that Safronov took the wire's decision to flee. 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:23.280 He left Russia for good, taking himself into exile for 0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:27.360 fear of being arrested and sent to prison. He'd basically 0:02:27.720 --> 0:02:30.240 just been doing his job, but as a real journalist 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:35.600 in Russia, that's a very dangerous activity. At first, Safronov 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:38.560 stayed with his newspaper and relocated with most of the 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:43.079 other staff members. This provided him continued income and a 0:02:43.200 --> 0:02:46.840 visa to live elsewhere. He was doing okay and learning 0:02:46.840 --> 0:02:49.239 to adapt to a life outside of his home country, 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:53.079 but for reasons currently unknown, he was fired in late 0:02:53.120 --> 0:03:00.400 twenty twenty four. After all that, Safronov was let go, evil, 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:03.960 the threats from the Russian government, the fear, all of 0:03:04.000 --> 0:03:07.720 it was seemingly for nothing. He had to move on 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:13.400 once again and spent his time drifting through India and Turkey. Eventually, 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:16.880 Safronov managed to secure himself a visa to live in France. 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:21.200 Considering the area he moved to, it's safe to say 0:03:21.240 --> 0:03:23.720 that he either had some cash left over, had a 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:26.919 trust fund like many journalists, or had found a new 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:32.120 work pretty quickly. Back in his apartment, Safronov is pacing 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:36.320 up and down. Anxiety grips him. He's in a terrible state. 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:40.920 He lost his job, his reputation, and his safety inside 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:44.800 his own country. He's depressed, to say the least. He's 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:50.320 popping pills medication. What he's taken exactly is currently unknown, 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:55.080 but it's worth noting he's on something. He sits at 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:59.160 his desk and begins at writing letters. One of them 0:03:59.360 --> 0:04:03.360 is a suicide note. Scrawling across the page. In Russian, 0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:07.680 he writes, quote, all my accounts have been hacked. My 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:11.120 Telegram account has been stolen, all my mobile phones and 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:15.160 applications have been cloned. My text messages and phone conversations 0:04:15.160 --> 0:04:19.160 have been intercepted. My phone has been infected by hackers. 0:04:20.080 --> 0:04:22.200 I am the only one to blame for my death. 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:25.560 You can also blame my negligence. I understand that I 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:30.080 have disappointed many people. I have no excuses except that 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:33.240 I didn't want to hurt anyone. I have never worked 0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:36.960 for Russia's interests, and I have never been recruited by anyone. 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:41.680 End quote. He finishes this letter and leaves it for 0:04:41.720 --> 0:04:42.760 his roommate to find. 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:43.760 It. 0:04:43.800 --> 0:04:48.400 Seems his final will and testament is strangely mostly about 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:52.599 getting hacked. With this, Safronov pulls a chair to the 0:04:52.600 --> 0:04:56.520 window of his apartment. He's on the seventh floor, a 0:04:56.640 --> 0:05:00.880 solid sixty feet up, maybe more. At this site, you've 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:04.000 got an eighty percent chance of death if you hit 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:09.600 the asphalt below. Safronov is about to test these odds. 0:05:10.600 --> 0:05:16.960 His paranoia, his stress, his depression, it's all hit fever, pitch. Sadly, 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:19.800 he doesn't feel as if there's any other way out 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:23.960 of this nightmare he's going through. Safronov steps up onto 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:30.240 the chair and positions himself at the open window below him. 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:33.160 The ground is finished with a thin layer of French tarmac. 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:38.039 Older stone cobbles separate the road from the pavement. What 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:40.920 goes through his mind at this point is between him 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:49.200 and his god. Safronov jumps. He hurtles to the floor 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:53.960 of forty miles per hour. It takes him almost two seconds, 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:58.239 but he hits the road flat out. Instantly his body 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:06.840 meets ground. Safronov is dead, lights out. That is the 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:10.920 official story. We only know about this recent death due 0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:13.719 to sparse reporting on it in French and a little 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:18.640 bit in Russian. As is strangely with all sad Oligarch cases, 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:24.120 there are conflicting reports on what happened, even basic details. 0:06:25.640 --> 0:06:29.320 For example, it's still not known if Safronov's housemate was 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:32.800 at the apartment when he jumped or not. He could 0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:35.000 have come by afterwards, or he could have been in 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:39.400 his own room. We don't know. It's reported that the 0:06:39.520 --> 0:06:43.160 housemate was apparently in so much shock that he couldn't 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:48.039 even give a statement to police. Some reports say it 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:51.000 wasn't the shock though, it was more the language barrier, 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:55.680 as he only spoke Russian. But that makes no sense 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:59.320 to me, as any police force in any capital city 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:04.440 has dozens and dozens of translators on tap. They could 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:07.600 have gotten hold of a Russian speaking translator very easily. 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:13.200 There are estimated fifty thousand Russian speakers living in Paris alone, 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:18.480 many more across France who have phones. Now this doesn't 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:21.520 speak to any kind of grand conspiracy or anything, but 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:24.239 I do still find it quite unusual how this hasn't 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:28.040 been treated as something a bit more newsworthy in France, 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:34.320 especially considering current geopolitical events. Think about it, a Russian 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:37.800 dissident jumped from a window to his death on the 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:40.680 street in the middle of Paris, after saying all of 0:07:40.720 --> 0:07:44.280 his devices and social medias were hacked, and yet the 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:47.720 event seems to have come and gone already. This happened 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:50.880 this month. In fact, the way that we found out 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:54.800 that Yevgeny Safronov died was not from reporting in the news. 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:58.440 He wasn't actually named at first. It was just a 0:07:58.520 --> 0:08:03.880 Russian freelance journalist has committed suicide, that was it. He 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:07.240 was actually another Russian journalist who first broke the news 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:13.800 that it was Safronov who died. This other reporter, Dennis Balashov, 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:17.960 also based in Paris, posted a photo of Safronov on 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:22.160 his telegram channel in January with the following caption quote. 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:25.800 At the end of twenty twenty four, Safronov suffered as 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:29.280 he claimed an unfair dismissal from his media outlet that 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:33.360 had relocated to Europe. As a result, he was unable 0:08:33.360 --> 0:08:36.000 to renew his documents and was forced to leave his 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:39.679 country of residence and wander through India and Istanbul until 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:43.120 he received a French visa. Six months ago. He moved 0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:46.679 to Paris and tried to settle here. He was depressed. 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:50.800 End quote. Now, I don't know about you, but that 0:08:50.960 --> 0:08:55.000 is one of the most blunt and coldest eulogies I 0:08:55.080 --> 0:09:00.200 have ever read. Now to understand that Safronov's situation a 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:03.840 little clearer, let's take a look into the media company 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:07.520 he was working for that had apparently fired him not 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:13.119 that long ago. This company is called Open Media, and surprise, 0:09:13.720 --> 0:09:22.040 it's owned by a big Russian oligarch. It's called Open Media, 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:24.680 and the company fell out of favor with Putin when 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:29.880 the oligach did. Let's talk to Sergey to find out. 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:36.320 More him working for Open Media founded by Michael Kodowski, 0:09:36.480 --> 0:09:39.680 who was he was an Alger himself, but he fell 0:09:39.720 --> 0:09:42.600 out with Putin way back in like the early two thousands, 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:45.440 like the photos of him being with Putin, working with Putin, 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:48.000 So he was like in his circle at some point, 0:09:48.480 --> 0:09:50.920 and then he fell out of favor and he founded 0:09:50.920 --> 0:09:53.200 this news media. Now he's kind of labeled as a 0:09:53.240 --> 0:09:55.320 Putin critic, but it seems like he was, you know, 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:57.680 from ninety from the nineties to the early two thousands, 0:09:57.720 --> 0:09:59.800 he was kind of, if not buddy buddy with him, 0:09:59.840 --> 0:10:02.200 he was involved with Putin somehow. So I don't know 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:03.400 how big of a critic he. 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:15.679 Is, Okay now with time for a quick outbreak, right, 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:18.240 not for that. Now back to the show. 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:24.360 It kind of seems one of those situations where well, 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:26.880 now he's kind of like on the bad side of Putin, 0:10:26.960 --> 0:10:29.680 so he's so he's now criticizing him, you know, But 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:32.280 when he was kind of benefiting from that relationship, he 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:33.080 was completely. 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:35.320 Fine with it. Do we know what he was criticizing, That. 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:38.160 It's not a democracy and that Puttin is like a dictator. 0:10:39.000 --> 0:10:41.040 I didn't see anything too specific, but it seems like 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:46.480 the publication itself is kind of like openly anti Putin regime. 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:51.440 Now, this situation with open media where it's being run 0:10:51.640 --> 0:10:55.720 by an oligarch that is suddenly anti Putin is actually 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:59.120 quite a common thing in Russia. Many of the so 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:02.760 called this an outlet, well, once upon a time friends 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:06.040 with the regime. They eventually fell out, and the publication 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:10.839 then turncoats as the oligarch that owns it does. Now 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:13.960 that's not to say that all of Russian dissident media 0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:16.880 is like that, not at all. There are several outlets 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:20.960 that genuinely are against the regime, against the Kremlin based 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:25.200 on their own want for freedom, morals and ethics. But 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:29.520 many a time so called opposition leaders, particularly ones that 0:11:29.559 --> 0:11:33.560 are lauded in the West, often have a tricky, if 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:41.800 not murky background. Anyway, let's get back to the conversation 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:47.480 with Sergey. So this guy I was working for a 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:50.320 oligarch newspaper essentially. 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:52.840 Yeah, so it's like, even though it's kind of reporting 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:56.520 more of like his corruption and things that are against Puttin, right, So, like, 0:11:56.559 --> 0:11:58.440 I think most people will see that as a good thing, 0:11:58.760 --> 0:12:02.199 it's still definitely influenced and it's owned by an oligarch, right, 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:07.080 So like, yeah, it's reporting the kind of the bad 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:10.440 side of Russian government, but also like there's definitely gonna 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:13.240 be a bias in that right, Even if you agree 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:16.080 with it and you kind of support, like yeah, fuck Russia, 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:18.480 you still have to realize that there is a bias 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:21.800 where it's again a Russian oligarch that owns this project 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:25.040 and is running it. It sounds like funding it as well. Yeah, 0:12:25.320 --> 0:12:27.319 it's owned by him. It's kind of influenced by him 0:12:27.320 --> 0:12:27.800 to some degree. 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:32.640 I'm sure. Now let's just pause for a second here 0:12:33.120 --> 0:12:37.559 to talk about how media is influenced by oligarchy. Lots 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:42.000 of media. Well, I'm about to say I have said 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:46.079 since episode one of season one of Sad Oligarch, and 0:12:46.120 --> 0:12:49.079 I've tried to dump it into people's heads where appropriate. 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:55.360 Our so called Western superpowers are run by oligarchs as 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:59.800 much as Russia. It's you might not call them that, 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:02.719 and perhaps they're a little more crafty in how they 0:13:02.800 --> 0:13:06.959 influence our day to day lives. But Western oligarchs are 0:13:07.120 --> 0:13:11.880 fucking us as much as our politicians are, particularly when 0:13:11.880 --> 0:13:18.120 it comes to the open and free media of the West. Often, 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:23.520 our media, particularly the big publications, is structurally biased because 0:13:23.720 --> 0:13:30.400 big outlets sit inside big power networks, billionaires, influential families, 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:35.880 private equity, and politically connected executive thoughts. These are a 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:41.000 menace for truly free journalism. Now, control might not look 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:45.359 the same as it sometimes does in Russia, where for example, 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:48.760 a Kremlin stooge might call up a paper, tell them 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:51.800 to shut up, or even send the police to raid them, 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:58.040 but it's still often very, very corrupt. Usually it's more 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:02.200 of a deceptive control dog a little more behind the scenes. 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:07.160 The owners of a publication might hire editors who share 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:11.920 their beliefs in political propaganda. They might spike investigations that 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:15.240 could be awkward for their friends, or they simply might 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:18.959 support a genocidal rogue state and as sure to dampen 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:23.680 any criticism against said rogue state as it murders children 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:29.840 with bombs paid for by a rapidly declining superpower. Then 0:14:29.880 --> 0:14:35.280 there's the soft control via access. Notice, these days you 0:14:35.320 --> 0:14:38.920 will not see as many reporters taking politicians to task 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:44.240 properly in interviews or when scuttling over to the ridiculous 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:49.040 government press briefings. Why well, if they ruffle too many feathers, 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:52.080 they will lose access, and they might even lose their 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:58.320 beat at whichever publication they're at. So anyway, billionaire influence 0:14:58.600 --> 0:15:03.560 is rife. Take The Washington Post, for example, it's now 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:09.240 owned by the possible demon Jeff Bezos, after he bought 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:13.640 it for two hundred and fifty million dollars. When the 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:18.320 owner is a megawealthy corporate figure Bezos is worth around 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:22.600 two hundred and fifty four billion, there's an obvious incentive 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:27.960 to avoid any serious investigations that threaten the owner's network 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:33.240 of goons. And of course, due to horrible work practices 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:36.880 at Amazon. Listen to my series A Megacorp to hear 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:41.080 all about that. Bezos does not want his reporters focused 0:15:41.160 --> 0:15:48.120 too heavily on regulation, antitrust, label organizing, defense contracting, stuff 0:15:48.200 --> 0:15:54.320 like that. In the UK, the daily Male titles sit 0:15:54.480 --> 0:15:59.880 under the ownership of the Rothmere family. They control it all. 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:03.840 So I want to purchase the very popular conservative newspaper, 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:10.600 The Telegraph. Government documents discussing this proposed deal explicitly note 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:16.560 plurality concerns. They're worried that one family's consolidation of media 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:22.040 means consolidation of influence. Of course this is obvious, but 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:24.840 that's what our tax pays for. In the UK, for 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:28.280 politicians to sit around writing up papers, they can be 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:34.800 deeply concerned with then you've got the worst of the worst, 0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:41.640 the nightmarish demon hell that is the Murdoch Empire news court, 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:46.040 publisher of The Wall Street Journal, The Times, The New 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:50.360 York Post, The Sun and many more. They also control 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:55.600 Fox Corporation, as I'm sure you're aware, Fox's opinion programming 0:16:56.040 --> 0:17:01.240 and Murdoch's politics are so intertwined. Basically now a case 0:17:01.280 --> 0:17:08.760 study in partisan media power, influential political bias, and unfortunately 0:17:09.000 --> 0:17:14.320 they are very successful. The Murdoch family can and have 0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:20.480 literally influenced elections at the drop of a hat. I 0:17:20.520 --> 0:17:23.000 could go on and on about this sort of thing 0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:25.480 in the media, but you get the gist by now. 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:29.560 A point being let's just remember that here in the West, 0:17:29.600 --> 0:17:33.800 we are not holier than thou. We suffer very similar 0:17:33.800 --> 0:17:39.000 problems with corruption and oligarchy, even if our media often 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:44.480 chooses to sugarcoat it because that will benefit their owners. 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:50.000 Now let's get back to Yevgeny Safronov. It's worth noting 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:53.440 that before he had to go into exile from Russia, 0:17:53.680 --> 0:17:58.440 he was actually detained. In twenty twenty one, authorities brought 0:17:58.520 --> 0:18:02.920 him in for reporting on Novalni's court trial and criminal 0:18:03.000 --> 0:18:07.280 case in Russia. Now if you don't remember, Alexi Navalni 0:18:07.600 --> 0:18:12.919 was Russia's most prominent anti corruption campaigner and opposition figure 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:17.720 to Putin. He was known for exposing shenanigans at the 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:21.320 elite level in the Kremlin, to put it lightly, and 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:25.359 he survived a twenty twenty nerve agent poisoning, which is 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:29.720 very clearly an act of the Russian regime. Navalny was 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:32.359 lauded as a hero in the West, but if you 0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:35.159 dig in a little deeper, he did have a pretty 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:38.320 checkered past. But that's not to say he deserved anything 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:42.120 that the Kremlin did to him. He eventually died in 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:47.720 February twenty twenty four in a very remote Arctic prison colony, 0:18:48.080 --> 0:18:52.560 while serving a hefty sentence widely viewed internationally as a 0:18:52.880 --> 0:18:57.920 politically motivated punishment dished out by a Putin for Novalni's 0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:02.840 outspoken opposition to him. During the trial, Saffronov got caught 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:06.960 up in the mix and was arrested. He was released, 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:10.280 and there's not a lot of details on why. Surgery 0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:11.159 has a theory. 0:19:11.400 --> 0:19:13.760 I think again it might have been more to do 0:19:13.840 --> 0:19:16.600 with the publication that he was working for. I couldn't 0:19:16.600 --> 0:19:20.000 see that he did anything like specifically like out there 0:19:20.119 --> 0:19:22.679 that would have him targeted. They were pretty adamant in 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:25.359 reporting on it, calling out the government and stuff, and 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:28.000 I think maybe just being the publication that it was 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:30.800 was enough for him to be kind of targeted. And 0:19:30.840 --> 0:19:33.439 again the entire publication got labeled as a foreign agent, 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:37.040 which essentially lets Russia do pretty much anything with it, 0:19:37.200 --> 0:19:41.200 you know, kind of arrest arrest there reporters. I mean, 0:19:41.200 --> 0:19:44.080 I think just for propaganda purposes. It's like, oh, this 0:19:44.200 --> 0:19:47.840 publication's influenced, is owned by the West, their foreigners. They're 0:19:47.880 --> 0:19:50.600 trying to like disablize Russia. They're trying to say Russia 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:52.760 is bad. That's kind of their go to to this 0:19:52.840 --> 0:19:53.600 crediting media. 0:19:57.080 --> 0:20:05.080 Okay, now it's time for a quick break. All right, 0:20:05.200 --> 0:20:07.720 enough for that. Now back to the shot. 0:20:10.359 --> 0:20:12.840 You see this even more often now with the war 0:20:12.840 --> 0:20:15.159 in Ukraine. I think at this point most publications have 0:20:15.240 --> 0:20:17.480 left Russia. But at the beginning of the war, the 0:20:17.560 --> 0:20:21.040 foreign agent thing was easily thrown around to just be like, oh, 0:20:21.080 --> 0:20:23.640 they're reporting that we're doing well in the war. That's 0:20:23.720 --> 0:20:25.600 because they're supporting Western propaganda. 0:20:29.240 --> 0:20:32.840 So what do we know. We know that Yevgeny Safronov 0:20:32.960 --> 0:20:35.960 had several marks on his name as far as the 0:20:36.040 --> 0:20:39.560 Kremlin was concerned. One, he used to work for an 0:20:39.560 --> 0:20:43.280 opposition news outlet whose rich and powerful owner was a 0:20:43.320 --> 0:20:47.600 former friend turned foe of Putin. Two he reported on 0:20:47.640 --> 0:20:50.639 the Navoni trial, pointing out the trumped up charges and 0:20:50.680 --> 0:20:55.000 political motivations of the case. Three he was detained by 0:20:55.119 --> 0:20:59.240 authorities in twenty twenty one for what is essentially wrong speak. 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:03.440 Four fled Russia as it was at war with Ukraine, 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:08.160 a big no no. And five he lived in exile 0:21:08.480 --> 0:21:12.879 where he continued to report on Putin's crimes. But is 0:21:12.920 --> 0:21:17.320 this enough to get him killed outside of Russia? Honestly, 0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:22.480 I just don't think so. No disrespect to the Ladyevgeny Saffronov, 0:21:22.920 --> 0:21:26.560 not at all. But he was not a huge influential reporter. 0:21:27.440 --> 0:21:29.960 His work was sure and steady, But it's not like 0:21:30.040 --> 0:21:33.159 he was known for dismantling the Russian regime with his reportage. 0:21:34.800 --> 0:21:39.200 But what about his claims of being hacked. There's two 0:21:39.240 --> 0:21:44.480 sides to this. Notably, the Russians around him say that 0:21:44.600 --> 0:21:49.720 he was becoming paranoid, he was thinking things aren't real. Essentially, 0:21:49.840 --> 0:21:53.600 he was losing the plot a bit. However, the French 0:21:53.680 --> 0:21:58.879 police have a different view. The investigation is, of course 0:21:59.040 --> 0:22:02.520 quietly on go. The cops haven't said much, believe me, 0:22:02.600 --> 0:22:05.040 We've tried to talk to them, but the little they 0:22:05.080 --> 0:22:10.000 did say cast the paranoia claims into doubt. According to 0:22:10.040 --> 0:22:16.120 the French newspaper Laparisian police investigators believe Saffronov had been 0:22:16.200 --> 0:22:21.440 at the target of death threats, real ones, not paranoia. 0:22:22.680 --> 0:22:25.719 At the time of recording these French police have not 0:22:25.840 --> 0:22:29.640 stated a final conclusion to what went on in Paris. 0:22:31.160 --> 0:22:34.639 Russian media, though, seems to have already decided. 0:22:35.720 --> 0:22:39.600 Interestingly, Russian reports on this death label it as like, yep, 0:22:39.680 --> 0:22:42.160 the police said it's a suicide, I need to look further, 0:22:42.400 --> 0:22:46.320 whereas French autists clearly state that the investigation is ongoing 0:22:46.600 --> 0:22:48.679 and they're looking into this, and then they're treating this 0:22:48.800 --> 0:22:50.760 as I don't think they went as far as to 0:22:50.760 --> 0:22:54.080 say suspicious, but they said that, like, while suicide is 0:22:54.680 --> 0:22:57.879 being considered, other things are being investigated. Maybe we'll hear 0:22:57.920 --> 0:23:00.399 something about it in a few weeks, who knows, maybe months. 0:23:02.200 --> 0:23:06.359 The alleged hacking also becomes more interesting when we dig 0:23:06.440 --> 0:23:12.960 a bit deeper. Safronov strangely, in my opinion, spoke about 0:23:12.960 --> 0:23:15.960 his social media being hacked and his simcards cloned in 0:23:16.000 --> 0:23:20.480 a suicide note. Honestly, it's really not that difficult to 0:23:20.560 --> 0:23:27.480 do in this day and age, simswapping, key loggers, social engineering, whatever. 0:23:27.720 --> 0:23:31.399 There are teenagers in their bedrooms doing this every single day, 0:23:31.760 --> 0:23:34.399 and they make money while they're at it. But it 0:23:34.440 --> 0:23:37.200 wasn't just the phones and the socials that got hacked. 0:23:37.880 --> 0:23:43.399 Safronov's Russian citizen Gateway was also taken over. This is 0:23:43.440 --> 0:23:47.359 an online government portal in Russia that allows its people 0:23:47.359 --> 0:23:52.600 to log in and access municipal services. Basically an all 0:23:52.640 --> 0:23:57.639 in one digital hub for accessing official systems. This is 0:23:57.760 --> 0:24:01.800 not easy to hack into. Have to be seriously skilled 0:24:02.080 --> 0:24:06.520 to break Russian government cyber security. Either that or you'd 0:24:06.560 --> 0:24:10.800 have to be Russian cybersecurity. I don't think it's too 0:24:10.920 --> 0:24:15.560 crazy to theorize that maybe someone working for the Kremlin 0:24:16.080 --> 0:24:21.360 was tasked with making Saffronov's life hell from afar. After all, 0:24:21.440 --> 0:24:26.600 Russia's relationship with computer hackers is pretty cozy. The state 0:24:26.680 --> 0:24:30.760 basically tolerates serious hacking so long as they don't target 0:24:30.880 --> 0:24:34.200 anything Russian. There are cases where hackers that have been 0:24:34.240 --> 0:24:38.000 caught doing so are given a choice. Either you face 0:24:38.080 --> 0:24:41.280 the consequences in court and got to prison, or you 0:24:41.359 --> 0:24:45.320 get to continue hacking, but now you work for the Kremlin. 0:24:46.040 --> 0:24:51.000 At the center of this ecosystem the security services, specifically 0:24:51.040 --> 0:24:56.280 the FSB and the GIU. These agencies have long understood 0:24:56.520 --> 0:25:01.280 that their country produces a deep pool of technically gifted programmers, 0:25:01.760 --> 0:25:07.119 many of whom drift quickly into cybercrime. Rather than wiping 0:25:07.160 --> 0:25:11.920 that scene out, the state applies pressure selectively. This creates 0:25:12.000 --> 0:25:16.320 a grazon. Some groups operate as criminals for profits, others 0:25:16.359 --> 0:25:21.000 as patriotic volunteers, and some shift roles depending on the job. 0:25:21.520 --> 0:25:28.480 They're fluid. For example, during geopolitical flare ups, criminal groups 0:25:28.640 --> 0:25:34.320 suddenly pivot to politically useful targets. During quieter periods, they 0:25:34.359 --> 0:25:37.879 return to ransomware and frauds and whatever else it is 0:25:37.960 --> 0:25:42.200 they do. This setup gives the Kremlin ap plausible deniability. 0:25:43.000 --> 0:25:47.280 Attacks can be framed as independent criminal hits even when 0:25:47.280 --> 0:25:51.280 they line up neatly with Russia's strategic interests, which they 0:25:51.320 --> 0:26:00.320 often do. It's cheap, flexible, deniable. The trade off is control. Then, 0:26:00.520 --> 0:26:03.760 Saffronov was pushed out of the window, but in a 0:26:03.800 --> 0:26:07.280 different way. It wasn't the hands of Putin henchmen that 0:26:07.359 --> 0:26:11.320 shoved him, but a targeted hacking campaign that sent him 0:26:11.440 --> 0:26:16.600 over the edge. As far as psychological pressure operations go, 0:26:17.280 --> 0:26:20.680 this is not at all implausible. Just take a look 0:26:20.680 --> 0:26:23.000 at what the CIA and the FBI were up to 0:26:23.040 --> 0:26:28.720 in America in the seventies and eighties and onward. None 0:26:28.760 --> 0:26:32.359 of this ever truly ceased, and no governments are immune 0:26:32.359 --> 0:26:40.480 to attacking their own citizens, especially not Russia. This has 0:26:40.560 --> 0:26:46.760 been sad Oligarch season two. Honestly, it's been absolute chaos. 0:26:47.640 --> 0:26:51.879 Sergei Slipchenko, Victor Mihail and myself have never had to 0:26:51.880 --> 0:26:56.680 dig so deep for so few leads. One thing that's 0:26:56.720 --> 0:27:00.680 clear after doing this series is that unfortunately the Kremlin's 0:27:00.760 --> 0:27:05.199 violent tactics are working. People are much more scared to 0:27:05.240 --> 0:27:09.600 speak out. The strange deaths become more brazen, the threat 0:27:09.680 --> 0:27:15.200 becomes more apparent. What's more, Putin is still murdering people 0:27:15.280 --> 0:27:18.439 across the world, and no one who can is willing 0:27:18.640 --> 0:27:22.840 to stop him. It's sad to say, but we're in 0:27:22.920 --> 0:27:29.000 for some very hard times ahead. I would like to 0:27:29.040 --> 0:27:32.119 dedicate this series to all the people who fought and 0:27:32.200 --> 0:27:35.480 died in Ukraine trying to free themselves from the grip 0:27:35.520 --> 0:27:39.960 of Russia's violent imperialism. Especially to the friends I made 0:27:40.000 --> 0:27:43.439 when reporting out there. Those who died heroically on the 0:27:43.440 --> 0:27:49.560 front lines, Rest in peace to Yuriso Malenko, Ramasova and 0:27:49.600 --> 0:27:58.040 our friend are popular front mag dump. This is the 0:27:58.160 --> 0:28:18.800 end of sad Oligach. Thank you for listening. You've been 0:28:18.840 --> 0:28:22.560 listening to sad Oliga season two. Produced by H eleven 0:28:22.600 --> 0:28:29.119 Studios for Cool Zone Media. Writing, editing, producing, concept and 0:28:29.280 --> 0:28:36.240 recording by myself, Jake Hanrahan, Research and reporting by Sergei Slipchenko, 0:28:36.800 --> 0:28:43.440 me and Victim Mihail. Executive producing by Sophie Lichtman. Music 0:28:43.600 --> 0:28:49.760 by Sam Black, art work by George Zutful. Sound mixed 0:28:49.760 --> 0:28:56.000 by Splicing Block. See my other projects at Hanrahan dot tv. 0:28:56.560 --> 0:28:59.960 Get me on social media at Jake Wonder School Hanrahn. 0:29:00.240 --> 0:29:04.480 That's h A N I M h A n.