From DNI.ru:
Has Sobchak found herself a new gigolo?
Kseniya Sobchak has made the State Duma MP Ilya Ponomarev her new dependant. The notorious TV host paid the ten thousand rouble [£200, 250€] registration fee to run for the elections to the coordinating council of the opposition on behalf of the MP. In doing so, Sobchak admitted that this was the second time she has paid for a man, the first payment being for a strip-dancer called Daniel. In response, Ponomarev said he didn’t need Sobchak’s “dirty money.”
Ten thousand for an MP
Veterans of the opposition were right when they feared Sobchak joining their ranks. They knew this would turn the protest movement into a circus. No matter how seriously the scandalous TV presenter tries to get involved in politics, the result is always “Dom-2” [a reality show with undisguised sexual and scandalous content, of which Sobchak was the host].
On October 21 and 22 the opposition is planning the election of its governing body, the coordinating council. Forty-five people will be elected to the council. Aspiring candidates have to pay ten thousand roubles (which will be spent on organizing the election) and submit the necessary documentation.
Sobchak has written in her blog that her opposition colleague
Ilya Ponomarev allegedly “refused to pay the organization fee.” She added that this surprised her: Sobchak does not think Ponomarev is a needy man. She writes that Ponomarev “hardly leads a frugal life,” “benefiting from the 150,000 [£3,000, 3,750€] monthly salary and a multi-million rouble income from some business enterprise.”
Having dug up the dirt on Ponomarev, Sobchak ostentatiously paid the ten thousand roubles for the MP, following up the payment with the words: “Mr Ponomarev, treat yourself to a good dinner in a restaurant on the money you’ve saved. Order some oysters for yourself.”
Although Ponomarev has refused to take the money, the chief of the election committee who registers candidates from the opposition, Leonid Volkov, has confirmed Sobchak’s version of the story. According to Volkov, Ponomarev missed all payment deadlines and only Sobchak’s “extraordinary act … ensured Ponomarev’s participation in the election.”
These squabbles within the opposition serve as a confirmation of a popular opinion that, for all the slogans these candidates have taken out to the squares, the current government is not their main rival. It is, rather, other opposition candidates. These opposition figures fight with each other for popularity, for a place in the pecking order of speakers at demonstrations, and the chance to represent the whole protest movement in the media.
Comments from DNI.ru:
Зоя Писарева:
Ksyusha [Kseniya] is not wanted in the opposition. She is against bloodshed, blackmail, revolution. I hope the opposition does not make her its next victim, as was the case with [Anna] Politkovskaya…
юлай халилов:
I personally wouldn’t say no if given a chance to be Sobchak’s gigolo. After all, you’re paid for the pleasure. She’s not that ugly, you know, and at night you don’t see her face anyway, and for the daytime you have vodka. It will be something to remember when you’re old!
владимир евтушенко:
Well done Sobchak! She has shown the absolute pettiness of unworthy politicians such as Ponomarev, as well as the unworthiness of the opposition as a whole, the opposition that is scrambling for some, at least virtual, significance. And I find myself wondering whether Ksyusha in fact is not a skilfully concealed agent of the government?
Пётр Хлусов
The more Ksyusha tries, the more she helps President Putin and his party. It’s a paradox, but a pleasant one!
александр пушкин:
Sobchak, go back to your roots and do something worthy, I mean Dom-2 – they are left like orphans without you now.
Comments from Izvestia.ru:
Atomkom:
And what prevented Ponomarev to give the money back to Ksyusha? She has rescued the servant of the people. Despite the fact that she herself was robbed of one and a half million. And this pauper even dares to refuse?
Амина Рамазанова:
This Ponomarev is a slimy individual. He is much worse than Sobchak.
Bonifatsy Ptiburdukov:
This is not a fight of the equals – Ponomarev will easily beat Kseniya. Despite all her popularity, she is not powerful enough to confront a wily politician.
Николай Алехин:
Ponomarev is confusing the private with the public. Sobchak has done well in helping “the loser,” while the latter is refusing it, allegedly because it is “dirty money”. But does he himself have a clear conscience to talk about dirty money before the verdict of Putin’s court. Why were his own accounts frozen, if the money in them wasn’t dirty?
Александр Пушкин:
Putin has screwed up again – the opposition is alive and well!