On June 22, it became known that the director Alexander Sokurov was not missed across the Russian-Finnish border. On the same day, the Telegram channel “General of the SVR (Reserve)” said: the deputy head of the presidential administration Sergei Kiriyenko ordered the maximum information about the incident, so that everyone, and especially “sewing the intelligentsia”, knew about the existence of exit visas in the country. We decided to check if this is so.

In June 2022, Alexander Sokurov was refused the right to cross the Russian border towards Finland, explaining this with coronavirus restrictions. About this reported The director himself. In the evening of the same day, telegram “General of the SVR (Reserve)” (105 thousand subscribers at the time of publication) reacted To this news by his own insider, quoting from Kiriyenko: "Schitting the intelligentsia must know that there are outdoor visas in the country."

After the incident on the border, Alexander Sokurov sent a letter to the Human Rights Council under the President with a description of the details of the incident. This letter also ended up in disposal Many media. The director said that the employees of the border post “Torfyanovka” in the Leningrad Region explained their actions by order of the Prime Minister of Russia Mikhail Mishustin. What exactly, Sokurov did not specify.

On the eve of June 20, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Finland reported On the abolition of all coronavirus restrictions from June 30. Before that, enter the ground way into the territory of the republic It was possible Only certain categories of citizens. However, there are restrictions on the Russian side. March 27, 2020 was accepted order The governments of the Russian Federation on the rules for crossing the border of Russia through road, rail, pedestrian, river and mixed checkpoints. For this document, exceptions can be Made In the following cases: death abroad a close relative; Departure for treatment; Visiting family members; exit to work (if there is a labor contract); residence permit (if there is a residence permit); Obtaining education. June 20, immediately after the Finnish authorities declared restrictions, the Russian Foreign Ministry explainedthat on the Russian side the rules remain the same - those that were indicated at the disposal of the Government of March 27, 2020. It is obvious that it was precisely to this order of Mishustin that the employees of the Border Company “Torfyanovka” referred to Sokurov in a conversation with Sokurov.

Nevertheless, June 22 at 19:54 Moscow time Popular Telegram channel "General of the SVR (Reserve)" reportedthat this decision is political. The full text of the message looks like this: “The First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration, Sergei Kiriyenko, instructed to highlight the news in the information space that the director Alexander Sokurov was not released from Russia to Finland. The argument of Kiriyenko is literally: "Seeing the intelligentsia should know that there are outdoor visas in the country."

This Telegram channel is an addition to The main channel “General of the SVR” (286,000 subscribers at the time of publication) and, as a rule, announces his messages. The main channel Repostitis Reserve messages, which allows us to conclude about the proximity of these two media and their mutual recognition. The Telegram channel "General of the SVR" was created in September 2020. Its author (or authors) claims that the information for the channel is provided by former and current employees of the foreign intelligence service. The channel specializes in messages dedicated to personal life, health And private conversations President Putin. In addition, there are regularly found forecasts, presented as already made decisions.

Typically, messages are formulated in such a way that they can be neither prove or refuted, since this information (if it is true) is available to the most limited circle of persons. For example, in December 2021 "General of the SVR" reportedHow exactly the military operation in Ukraine will begin: the former and current leaders of unrecognized DPR and the LPR will be killed, Putin will demand to give involved, and after the refusal will strike at Ukrainian cities. The first part of the “plan”, as is now known, did not take place, which calls the whole message. Other news was dedicated to Putin's health, his numerous operations and close death, as well as conversations, where Putin, according to General of the SVR, came up with Offective nicknames their close associates and leaders of other states. These messages can hardly be checked, like an oral disposal, which Kiriyenko allegedly gave after the story with Sokurov.

But the main thing is the personality of the “General of the SVR” himself. The doubts that this is a person who really has insides surrounded by Putin, arose from the moment the channel was created, but only in January 2021 appeared An investigation that made it possible to determine who is leading the channel. This turned out thanks to the data of the WebMoney wallet posted in the description of the channel. The owner of the wallet was Viktor Ermolaev, a lawyer from Kharkov. Ermolaev’s voice, in turn, is similar to the degree of mixing even to the changed voice of the “General of the SVR”, who had managed to give an interview to many media and bloggers by that time. The author of the "General of the SVR" then declaredthat the YouTube channel was hacked and unknown placed fake wallet data there. WebMoney wallet data were then removed from all posts. Viktor Ermolaev himself in a conversation with Medusa categorically rejected your connection with the channel.

Nevertheless, from time to time, the "General of the SVR" continued to be invited to the air - for example, he He became a participant The program "Full Albats" on the Radio "Echo of Moscow", where the presenter Evgenia Albats represented him as Viktor Mikhailovich, a former General of the SVR. No evidence of the work of the author of the channel in intelligence services, however, was not presented to the present. Thus, any information posted in the channels (mainly and backup) is still doubtful, especially since almost any of their forecasts has come true for the entire existence, with the exception of military operations in Ukraine. But about that at the same time They wrote And many large media.

Image on the cover: kremlin.ru