Xenia Anatolyevna Sobchak

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Xenia Sobchak (2017)

Xenija Anatoljewna Sobchak ( Russian Ксения Анатольевна Собчак , scientific transliteration Ksenija Anatol'evna Sobčak ; born  November 5, 1981 in Leningrad ) is a Russian TV presenter , former It girl and political activist of the opposition. In October 2017, she began a campaign as a candidate for the 2018 Russian presidential election .

Life

Origin and education

Xenija Sobchak is the daughter of Anatoly Alexandrovich Sobchak , the former mayor of Saint Petersburg and political foster father of Vladimir Putin , and the historian and former member of the Federation Council Lyudmila Borisovna Narusova. Xenija has an older half-sister, Marija Anatoljewna Sobchak, born in 1965, from the first marriage of Anatoly Sobchaks to Nonna Stepanovna.

In her childhood, Xenija studied ballet at the Mariinsky Theater and art at the Hermitage . She finished school at the school affiliated with the Herzen University . In 1998 she began studying at the Faculty of International Relations at Saint Petersburg State University . In 2001 she moved to Moscow and continued her studies in the same subject at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) . In 2002 she received her bachelor's degree in this subject . In the same year she began a master's degree in political science at MGIMO. That they opposed the request of their parents, for them, following the example of her father, a law school had provided.

Glamor girl and TV star

Xenia Sobchak (2003)

Within two years, Sobchak became very well known on the Moscow scene. Brand-conscious, she marketed herself as an It girl with a local patriotic accent. Known for her fondness for spontaneous solo dances, wild birthday parties and revealing bikini photos, she became a Moscow youth idol on the wings of the rainbow press.

Since 2004, Sobchak has been a relationship therapist for the participants in the reality project Dom dwa (House 2), an adaptation of the TV show Big Brother, for the television channel TNT . The State Duma saw Sobchak as a security risk to public morality. In May 2006 MPs from the Public Health Committee wanted to bring criminal proceedings against her because she was stoking an unhealthy interest in sex on television and was in fact a pimp. In return, Sobchak founded the youth group Wse swobodny (Everyone is free), with which they demonstrated social conscience and at the same time created a catchment basin for the next generation of the elite . The movement, for whose headquarters Xenia Sobchak rented a villa in the center of Moscow, has adopted the minimal ideology, also issued by the Kremlin, that one must love one's homeland and family, but also be tolerant and respect minorities. Critics see in Xenia Sobchak a representative of Russia's nouveau riche elite, who have strayed far from the ideals of the perestroika and glasnost periods . At the end of June 2012, Xenija Sobchak ended her work in the "Dom 2" show after eight years without further comment.

She also worked on the following TV productions. Since 2006 on "Who doesn't want to be a millionaire?", Broadcast by TNT. In 2008, the sixth season of Last Hero , the Russian version of Survivor , was presented on Channel One . 2009 to 2012 the third season of the musical entertainment show "Zwei Sterne" on the First Channel. Furthermore, the show "Blonde in Chocolate", in which essentially everything revolved around her person. In addition, moderations and appearances in other programs.

From February 8, 2008, she hosted the political talk show "Sobchak Live" (Собчак живьём) on the Doschd TV channel .

On March 16, 2015, the Moscow newspaper Kommersant reported that Sobchak allegedly said during a party on March 13 that she would leave Russia for a period the following day. Sobchak's friends claimed this was suggested to her by security services. On March 16, however, Sobchak tweeted that her friends had exaggerated a little about emigration. The occasion of the dinner was that Xenija Sobchak had taken over the post of editor-in-chief of the fashion magazine L'Officiel Russia . In December 2018 she gave up the post of editor-in-chief at L'Officiel.

Political activities

Xenia Sobchak giving a speech during the anti-Putin demonstration in Moscow on December 24, 2011.

Since the end of 2011, Sobchak has been increasingly involved in politics. In October 2011 she made in the Moscow posh restaurant "Mario" with their iPhone video recordings by the chairman of the youth organization Nashi , Vasily Yakemenko . She then posted the 77-second film on the Internet and commented on the footage by saying that although celebrities are expected to sell fresh oysters for 500 rubles ($ 15) each and champagne for 1,300 rubles ($ 40) each Sip glasses, but not with government employees. The video was a sensation. In December 2011, Sobchak led a protest demonstration by around 80,000 demonstrators, at which slogans like Russia without Putin and the like were heard. During a speech she was whistled there because the demonstrators did not want to relieve her of the change of heart.

In February 2012 Xenija Sobchak hosted a new talk show on MTV Rossija with the title "Gosdep s Ksenijei Sobchak" (Ministry of Foreign Affairs with Xenija Sobchak). Participants in the discussion of the first show with the topic “Where is Putin taking us?” Included the coordinator of the “Left Front” Sergei Udaltsov , the “ Solidarity ” member Ilya Yashin and the leader of the movement to defend the Khimki forest, Yevgenia Tschirikova part. Not least thanks to Tschirikowa, the program was very emotional and the number of viewers on the station is said to have been twice as high as usual. A few days after the first broadcast, however, the broadcaster canceled the series on the grounds that the audience interest was too low. There was speculation that the invitation of the nationalist-oriented opposition politician and sharp Putin critic Alexei Navalny might have influenced the decision. Sobchak then produced the program in cooperation with the magazine "Snob", which belongs to the empire of the billionaire, Kremlin opponent and presidential candidate Mikhail Prokhorov , where the show ran on the magazine's website on February 27, 2012 under the title "Gosdep 2". The opposition leaders Alexei Navalny and Boris Nemtsov appeared in this program .

Parallel to "Gosdep" Sobchak had 8 February 2012 at the transmitter dozhd started TV with the one-hour talk show "Sobchak Live", and it would continue and where they, among other diverse leader of the opposition as Sergei Mironov of the party Fair Russia , Gennadi Zyuganov from the Communist Party and far-right politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky from the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia .

Xeniya Sobchak on the rally stage during the opposition protest demonstration on March 10, 2012 in Moscow.

In March 2012, shortly after Vladimir Putin's election as president, she again took part in an opposition protest demonstration in Moscow, where she was the most prominent speaker. She urged the demonstrators not only to show what they are against, but also what they stand for. In June 2012, the Sledkom federal investigative agency searched her home . The politician of the extra-parliamentary opposition Ilya Yashin, whom Sobchak met at the demonstration in December 2011 and with whom she had then become friends, was also staying there at the time. The anti-corruption authorities confiscated cash in the amount of around 1.1 million euros, 522,000 dollars and 485,000 rubles in Sobchak's apartment, which were found in 121 envelopes in their safe and whose origin Sobchak was initially unable to explain. It was said that the presenter was threatened with tax evasion proceedings . But in September 2012 the entire sum was returned to Sobchak. She had insisted that the money was honestly earned.

On December 15, 2012, Xenija Sobchak took part in an unauthorized demonstration in Moscow, the number of participants ranged from 700 (police information) to 7,000 demonstrators (organizers information). Sobchak was arrested along with Alexei Navalny, Ilya Yashin and Sergei Udaltsov . She tweeted a picture of herself in the police car with white roses in her arms. Xenija Sobchak was a member of the now defunct Coordination Council of the Russian opposition from October 22, 2012 to October 19, 2013.

Xenia Sobchak during the press conference on December 18, 2014

On Thursday, December 18, 2014, Sobchak took part in Vladimir Putin's annual press conference for the anti-government and opposition TV broadcaster Doschd and, contrary to custom, asked a second question after the first. Sobchak's first question was about Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov and his negative attitude towards the validity of the laws and constitution of the Russian Federation in the Autonomous Republic of Chechnya. It was about burning down the houses of militant opponents of Kadyrov. The second question concerned the dissemination of false reports in pro-government media which, according to Sobchak, create a climate of hatred and incite against opposition members. President Putin denied any official influence: "No official person, nobody from the state organs, is trying to stigmatize people." However, he also pointed out that people from the opposition who would make serious allegations against the government should expect that equally grave allegations could be made against them. In a victory speech in mid-March after Crimea's accession, President Putin personally warned of possible enemies inside who were controlled from outside.

During her campaign for the presidential election she was accompanied by Dmitri Gudkow at the end , whereby the citizens' initiative, which she had also supported, would enable the establishment of a new party with her existing license, since an opposition party "in today's Russia would hardly get a new license "wrote the Novaya Gazeta. Gudkow explained that it was about building normal institutions in the country and that whether the new party was social democratic or liberal would not play a role for the time being, because for the time being it was a matter of steadily increasing the state's quota in the economy and squandering state assets to stop a wrong foreign policy.

2018 presidential candidate campaign

On October 18, 2017, Sobchak opened the campaign "Xenia Sobchak - against all" as a candidate for the 2018 presidential election . In programmatic statements she found that people "had enough of corruption, propaganda and international isolation". She declared herself that she wanted to be the candidate for citizens who wanted to show their position, "but whose candidate was not allowed to participate in the elections". If Alexei Navalny were allowed to vote, she said she would stand back. Even then, this possibility was considered unlikely.

Oppositionists complained that they would - if necessary on behalf of the Kremlin - “spice up” Putin's re-election by increasing the voter turnout for his certain re-election, as well as dividing the opposition. The role of such spoiler candidates, which are known as tactics in Russia, serves not only to shift the votes of the opponents, but is also an occasion to stir up polemics against candidates. Grigori Votesow saw the intention behind this to prevent the election from becoming a farce due to a lack of candidates . According to Kirill Rogov's assessment at the beginning of the campaign, it would even have been possible that Sobchak's candidacy would have been withdrawn if it became apparent that it would achieve "too many" percentages and thus act contrary to the obvious goal of greater legitimacy for the election. Rostislaw Turovsky called the candidacy a matter agreed with the authorities.
The discussion about backroom agreements is very typical of the political and social conditions in Russia.

Sobchak appointed Igor Malashenko - formerly head of the NTW television station - who is considered to be well connected and who had already headed the presidential campaign for Boris Yeltsin in 1996 as the campaign manager . Sobchak, whose press conference was also broadcast by state broadcasters, avoided criticizing Putin directly: “Of course, for some, Putin is a tyrant and dictator. Others see him as Russia's keeper. ”A taboo break was the statement that the annexed Crimea belongs to Ukraine. Later she also emphasized that she had expressed her support for the human rights movement of Mikhail Khodorkovsky , "Open Russia", "always and everywhere" and declared: "We will do everything with the team so that Open Russia is not destroyed!" Sobchak's campaign provoked, in its case, “passive resistance” from the authorities by failing to issue permits, not following up criminal charges or canceling room rents. It was made clear to the state-dependent teachers or administrative employees not to support Sobchak. The western media also described the dichotomy of a figure who, at the instigation or at least without resistance of the power elite around Putin, had been led into the field of presidential candidates in order to provide the election with a “touch of opposition” and a democratic alibi - as apparent, genuine opposition members that in reality has no chance and is largely dependent on President Putin behind the scenes. Others were more cautious in their judgment and referred to Sobchak's surprisingly openly oppositional statements and taboo breaches and her open attacks against allegedly corrupt Putin favorites. Liberal journalists, economists and political scientists had collaborated on their program with 123 points, which also reduced the number of voices that they suspected of supporting the electoral theater, even if they themselves with a serious candidacy the prevailing order by pretending that according to NZZ “not existing open political discourse ”.

She would have needed 300,000 signatures to run as an independent presidential candidate. However, since November 2017 Sobchak has been supported by the “Citizens' Initiative” party of the former Minister of Economic Affairs Andrei Nechayev . This reduced the number of required signatures to 100,000.

1.2 million voters cast their vote for Sobchak.

Private

Xenija Sobchak (right) together with her mother and Vladimir Putin at the funeral service for their deceased father on February 24, 2000 in Saint Petersburg

Xenija Sobchak described the death of her father in 2000 as a decisive experience. In 2001 she moved from Saint Petersburg to Moscow, where she was mainly known as a glamor girl over the next ten years. After Sobchak became increasingly politically active from 2011 and was in a relationship with the opposition politician Ilya Yashin for some time , she married the actor Maxim Witorgan in Moscow on February 1, 2013 . The celebration took place in the Fitil cinema in Moscow . The couple invited best friends and close family to an alleged Witorgan film premiere. Instead of a film, the two surprisingly announced their marriage.

Xenia stayed away from the laying of flowers on the 15th anniversary of Anatoly Sobchak's death on February 20, 2015 at the memorial on Vasilyevsky Island in Saint Petersburg, which was attended by Lyudmila Narusova and Vladimir Putin. According to her mother, she was sick. In the spring of 2018, the production of a film about the father was finished.

On November 18, 2016, Sobchak gave birth to a boy. At the end of 2018, the separation of Sobchak and Witorgan became known. On September 13, 2019, she married the theater director Konstantin Bogomolow .

Filmography (selection)

  • 2004 thieves and prostitutes
  • 2008 The best film
  • 2008 Hitler breaks down
  • 2009 The Golden Key (Musical)
  • 2012 Rschewski against Napoleon
  • 2012 entropy

Web links

Commons : Kseniya Sobchak  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Анатолий Собчак , sobchak.org (Russian)
  2. ↑ Людмила Борисовна Нарусова , sobchak.org (Russian)
  3. ↑ НЕИЗВЕСТНЫЙ СОБЧАК , sobchak.org (Russian)
  4. ↑ Sobchak Quits 'Dom 2' , themoscowtimes.com, July 1, 2012
  5. ↑ Кто не хочет стать миллионером , narod.ru
  6. ↑ СМОТРИТЕ КРУГЛОСУТОЧНЫЙ КАНАЛ "ПОСЛЕДНИЙ ГЕРОЙ" ( Memento from August 21, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), 1tv.ru
  7. ↑ Две_звезды ( Memento of April 3, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), 1tv.ru
  8. ↑ a b Собчак живьём , tvrain.ru
  9. ↑ Ксения Собчак исполнила прощальный номер , kommersant.ru, March 16, 2015
  10. ↑ Russian journalist Ksenia Sobchak Reported to Have Fled Russia , themoscowtimes.com, March 16, 2015
  11. ↑ Официально: друзья немного преувеличили про иммиграцию, ужин L'officiel действитело был душевным и с хорошим вином :) , twitter.com/xenia_sobchak
  12. ↑ 'Ksenia Sobchak:' My departure from Russia is not associated with any risk ' ( Memento from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), ru-facts.com, March 16, 2015
  13. ↑ Xenia Sobchak resigned as editor-in-chief of L'Officiel , Novaya Gazeta, December 11, 2018
  14. ↑ President stops the deforestation of the Khimki forest ( memento from March 15, 2015 in the web archive archive.today ), sputniknews.com, August 27, 2010
  15. ↑ MTV объясняет появление "Госдепа с Ксенией Собчак" запросом аудитории , RIA Novosti , February 8, 2012
  16. ↑ Телеканал MTV приостановил ток-шоу "Госдеп с Ксенией Собчак" , ria.ru, February 14, 2012 (Russian)
  17. ↑ MTV назвал воровством проект "Госдеп-2" на "Снобе" , March 1, 2012 (Russian)
  18. ↑ Ksenia Sobchak Strikes Again , Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, February 22, 2012
  19. ↑ Ksenia Sobchak, Russia's Paris Hilton, fired for criticizing Putin on Gosdep , whatsontianjin.com, February 22, 2012
  20. ↑ Ellen Barry: Russia's Scandalous 'It Girl' Remakes Herself as an Unlikely Face of Protest. In: New York Times . March 17, 2012, accessed December 28, 2017 .
  21. ↑ Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Website of the Russian federal investigative authority Sledkom (English)
  22. ↑ Unruly blonde under suspicion of an agent , Die Welt, June 19, 2012
  23. ↑ Собчак обвиняют в занижении доходов в 10 раз , izvestia.ru, June 18, 2012 (Russian)
  24. ^ Sobchak to Get Her Money Back , russialist.org, September 30, 2012
  25. ↑ "Xenia Sobchak arrested" , Bild.de, December 15, 2012
  26. ↑ Координационный совет оппозиции прекратил свое существование , lenta.ru, October 19, 2013 (Russian)
  27. ↑ Literal English translation of the dialogue between Xenija Sobchak and Vladimir Putin at the press conference on December 18, 2014: News conference of Vladimir Putin , kremlin.ru, December 18, 2014; Putin asked his press spokesman: " Why did you give her the floor? " (Why did you give her the floor?)
  28. ↑ Questions by Xenija Sobchak to Vladimir Putin at the press conference in December 2014: Владимир Путин - Вопрос Ксении Собчак (Кадыров, Бандерлоги) (Пресферконцир-2014)
  29. ↑ 6 standout moments from Putin's marathon speech , mashable.com, December 18, 2014
  30. ↑ Russia: Agitation against the opposition , info.arte.tv, September 26, 2014
  31. ↑ Putin's loyal informers , Die Zeit, September 11, 2014
  32. ↑ Ukraine: Ukrainian broadcaster attacked , fr-online.de, January 4, 2015
  33. ↑ Literal English translation of the dialogue between Xenija Sobchak and Vladimir Putin at the press conference on December 18, 2014: News conference of Vladimir Putin - KSENIA SOBCHAK, DOZHD TV CHANNEL , kremlin.ru, December 18, 2014
  34. ↑ Beauty and the President , FAZ, December 18, 2014
  35. ^ Opposition members fear Putin's thumbscrews , Deutschlandfunk, April 10, 2014
  36. ↑ Ksenia Sobchak and Dmitri Gudkow officially announced the formation of a party , Novaya Gazeta, March 15, 2018
  37. ↑ a b INTERVIEWS "I'm used to believing people" , Novaya Gazeta, March 21, 2018
  38. ↑ NZZ: A salon lioness wants to challenge Putin, October 20, 2017, page 3
  39. ↑ Xsenija Sobchak announced participation in the presidential elections in Russia , Vedomosti, October 18, 2017
  40. ↑ Xenia Sobchak, the spoiler candidate , die Welt, October 19, 2017
  41. ^ Candidate "against all" , Novaya Gazeta, October 18, 2017
  42. ↑ a b c Xenias Metamorphosis (title of the print edition) , NZZ, March 12, 2018
  43. ↑ Christina Hebel: Die wolkige Frau Sobtschak , Spiegel Online from October 24, 2017
  44. ↑ Crimea belongs to Ukraine's opposition light for Putin? , ZDF, October 27, 2017
  45. ↑ a b The day Putin cried. BBC News, March 5, 2018, accessed March 5, 2018 .
  46. ↑ Yes, Vladimir Vladimirovich, we want that! , on Echo Moskvy , December 15, 2017
  47. ↑ The Reds also vote for Putin , NZZ, March 15, 2018
  48. ^ Party for Sobchak , Novaya Gazeta, November 16, 2017
  49. ↑ "Xenija Sobchak married Maksim Vitorgan - Ксения Собчак вышла замуж за Максима Виторгана" , Komsomolskaya Pravda.
  50. ↑ Собчак проигнорировала годовщину смерти своего отца pravda.ru, February 20, 2015 (Russian)
  51. ↑ Dmitry Bykov - on the film "The Fall of Sobchak" by Ksenia Sobchak and Vera Krichevskaya , Novaya Gazeta, May 22, 2018
  52. ↑ Собчак опубликовала первые фото со свадьбы. RIA Novosti, September 13, 2019 (Russian)
personal data
SURNAME Sobchak, Xenia Anatolyevna
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Собчак, Ксения Анатольевна; Sobchak, Kseniya
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian TV presenter, former It girl and political activist
DATE OF BIRTH 5th November 1981
PLACE OF BIRTH Leningrad , Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , Soviet Union