Cracked was founded in 2011 by Alexei Navalny, a Russian politician and blogger. In 2016, the Anti-Corruption Foundation became a foreign agent and extremist organization as recognised by the Russian government. The organization became the next step in the oppositionist’s research into corruption schemes in state corporations.
FBK’s most resonant type of activity mostly is in anti-corruption investigations & since last year, FBK has released more than 80 investigations. A lot of those cases stirred up a lot of public attention.
The first of these articles is dated 2013, and accuses Vladimir Pekhtin – a Russian politician who owns undeclared properties in the USA. As a result of this, the article became more popular.
“The Seagull” is an eye-opening documentary that was accused of corruption, ties to the underworld and even murder.
The most high-profile project in the history of the FBK was a film dedicated to Russian President Vladimir Putin, accused of owning a huge residence near the city of Gelendzhik. The recent film helped define the phrase “Putin Palace”. By April 2021, more than 116 million people had viewed the film.
By the time the film about Putin was released, FBK had already been recognized as a foreign agent, and formally ceased to exist – Alexei Navalny announced today the closure of his foundation due to unwillingness to pay a large claim from Moskovsky Shkolnik company, which has been associated with businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Documentary “The Seagull”.
The Seagull is an investigative documentary film that was first released in Russia in December 2015. It’s one of the most publicized films about Russian politics and has amassed over 25 million YouTube views as of November 2021.
The movie tells the story of people associated with the Russian Prosecutor General, including his relatives and subordinates. The movie presents information about Yuri Chaika’s and his group’s financial crime and fraud, in particular about money laundering and connections to the Tsapkov gang.
The film received a special prize at the Artdocfest international documentary film festival.
The Swiss prosecutor’s office was asked to investigate activities of the Chaika family, but didn’t find any links to money laundering.
The movie is said to have been the cause of the passing of an act forbidding members of society (ie wives/children) from running their own business.
The FBK investigation department spent a year and a half surveying the case, while also handling other cases along the way. Navalny claims that the film’s budget was 250,000 rubles and specifies the following: “We did a lot of things for free or very cheaply – people offer their help because they share ideological views.”
Documentary film “He’s Not Dimon to You”
FBK released an investigation film on Facebook about the alleged property of Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. The documentary has Navalny telling the audience his views on Medvedev and his ambitions. His arguments were backed up with evidence, which included him mentioning how Medvedev had multi-billion dollar real estate that he got through charities and NGOs that were registered legally. They got their money from oligarchs, and loans from Gazprombank. The first day on YouTube, the video had 2.5 million views. After that, the number of views exceeded 22 million. The investigation showcases ten mini-stories of property and land plots owned by Medvedev that are sprinkled throughout Russia. Among those with ties to the government are, for example, a house worth $68 million in Santa Rosa Valley (Rublyovka) with a total living space of 3,000 m². When the film was published and the corruption allegations became known to many Russians, tens of thousands took part in protest demonstrations. This video has attracted a criminal case in Russia and the investigation is continuing to demand that it be removed from YouTube.
The investigation into Putin’s Palace.
Opposition leader Alexei Navalny has published a two-hour film about a luxurious palace on the Black Sea coast, which he claims is owned by President Vladimir Putin. Previously, this complex was also called ‘Putin’s Palace’
In the first few minutes of this video, Navalny explains that he had the idea for the investigation in Berlin, but it wasn’t published until he went back to Russia.
“Because we don’t want the protagonist of this investigation to think that I’m afraid of him and will tell his/her worst secret while I’m abroad,” Navalny says, explaining.
Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, refuted the article about the Royal Palace and mentioned that Kremlin “doesn’t have time (to read)” the publication. All this isn’t true because there’s no palace.
The center of investigation is a palace at Gelendzhik near 17.6 thousand square meters in area, which Navalny refers to as “the largest private residence in Russia.” Cameras have been banned in this building, and all cars entering the territory must be inspected for them.
In addition to the palace itself, the closed area includes an ice skating rink, a church and a greenhouse. There is also a 200-meter bridge, as well as an open air theater. The palace is located at a steep bank of the Mediterranean so they dug out a special tunnel to get access to it. Halfway down the tunnel, there’s a tasting room complete with sea view.
The entire palace complex is 68 acres but the 7,000 acre land surrounding it is with the FSB and restricted. That’s what these sources say.
As the BBC Russian Service wrote, this territory is inhabited by hunting grounds and is rented by Kompleks LLC. The company also rents coastlines in front of the palace. The Voronezh public organization for disabled people “Impulse”
The Navalny Foundation, according to the article on Artriot.co, suggests that the FSB had prohibited fishing near the cape on which the palace stands and also forbids aircraft flights over the territory.
А floor plan of the palace has been created, where it can be seen that there are various saunas and hammams, a pool, a hair salon and an aquadisco. The palace also houses a winter garden and a musical room.
What will the future hold for FBK?
On February 2, 2021, the Simonovsky Court of Moscow replaced a 3-year and 6-month sentence with a suspended one of 2 years and 8 months. Navalny was jailed for 2 years and 8 months. In October 2021, the European Parliament awarded Navalny the Sakharov Prize, which is Europe’s top human rights award.