On June 22, it became known that director Alexander Sokurov was not allowed to cross the Russian-Finnish border. On the same day, the Telegram channel “General SVR (Reserve)” reported: Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Sergei Kiriyenko ordered that information about the incident be disseminated as much as possible so that everyone, and especially the “lousy intelligentsia,” knew about the existence of exit visas in the country. We decided to check if this is true.

In June 2022, Alexander Sokurov was denied the right to cross the Russian border towards Finland, citing coronavirus restrictions. About this reported the director himself. In the evening of the same day, telegram “General SVR (reserve)” (105 thousand subscribers at the time of publication) reacted to this news with his own insider, citing a quote from Kiriyenko: “The lousy intelligentsia should know that the country has exit visas.”

After the incident at the border, Alexander Sokurov sent a letter to the Human Rights Council under the President describing the details of the incident. This letter also appeared in at the disposal many media. The director said that employees of the Torfyanovka border checkpoint in the Leningrad region explained their actions by order of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. What exactly, Sokurov did not specify.

The day before, June 20, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Finland reported on the lifting of all coronavirus restrictions from June 30. Before this, enter the territory of the republic by land it was possible only to certain categories of citizens. However, there are restrictions on the Russian side as well. March 27, 2020 accepted order Government of the Russian Federation on the rules for crossing the Russian border through road, rail, pedestrian, river and mixed checkpoints. There may be exceptions to this document. done in the following cases: death abroad of a close relative; travel for treatment; visiting family members; going to work (if there is an employment contract); departure for permanent residence (if you have a residence permit); getting an education. On June 20, immediately after the Finnish authorities announced the lifting of restrictions, the Russian Foreign Ministry explainedthat on the Russian side the rules remain the same - those that were specified in the government order dated March 27, 2020. Obviously, it was precisely this order from Mishustin that the employees of the Torfyanovka border point referred to in their conversation with Sokurov.

Nevertheless, on June 22 at 19:54 Moscow time, the popular Telegram channel “General SVR (reserve)” reportedthat this is a political decision. The full text of the message is as follows: “The First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation, Sergei Kiriyenko, gave instructions to give maximum coverage in the information space to the news that director Alexander Sokurov was not released from Russia to Finland. Kiriyenko’s argument is verbatim: “The lousy intelligentsia should know that the country has exit visas.”

This Telegram channel is an addition to main channel “General SVR” (286,000 subscribers at the time of publication) and, as a rule, announces his messages. Main channel reposts backup messages, which allows us to conclude about the proximity of these two media and their mutual recognition. The Telegram channel “General SVR” was created in September 2020. Its author (or authors) claims that 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, they regularly meet there forecasts, presented as already made decisions.

Typically, messages are formulated in such a way that they can neither be proven nor disproved, since this information (assuming it is true) is available to a very limited circle of people. For example, in December 2021, “General SVR” reported, how exactly the military operation will begin on the territory of Ukraine: former and current leaders of the unrecognized DPR and LPR will be killed, Putin will demand the extradition of those involved, and after refusal, he will strike at Ukrainian cities. The first part of the “plan,” as is now known, did not take place, which calls into question the entire message. Other news was dedicated to Putin's health, his numerous operations and near death, as well as conversations where Putin, according to the “General of the SVR,” came up with offensive nicknames to their associates and leaders of other states. These messages can hardly be verified, just like the verbal order that Kiriyenko allegedly gave after the story with Sokurov.

But the main thing is the personality of the “SVR General” himself. Doubts that this is a person who really has inside information in Putin’s entourage have arisen since the creation of the channel, but only in January 2021 appeared investigation that made it possible to determine who runs the channel. This happened thanks to the WebMoney wallet data posted in the channel description. The owner of the wallet turned out to be Viktor Ermolaev, a lawyer from Kharkov. Ermolaev’s voice, in turn, is confusingly similar even to the altered voice of the “General of the SVR”, who by that time had managed to give interviews to many media outlets and bloggers. The author of "General SVR" later statedthat the YouTube channel was hacked and unknown people posted fake wallet data there. WebMoney wallet data was then removed from all posts. Viktor Ermolaev himself, in a conversation with Meduza, categorically rejected your connection to the channel.

Nevertheless, from time to time the “SVR General” continued to be invited on air - for example, he became a member program “Full Albats” on radio “Echo of Moscow”, where presenter Evgenia Albats introduced him as Viktor Mikhailovich, a former general of the SVR. However, no evidence of the channel’s author’s work in the intelligence services has been presented until now. Thus, any information posted in the channels (main and backup) still seems doubtful, especially since during the entire period of their existence, almost none of the forecasts came true, with the exception of military operations on the territory of Ukraine. But about this at the same time wrote and many major media outlets.

Cover image: Kremlin.ru