As the Cheka-OGPU learned, investigators brought charges on three counts of…

As the Cheka-OGPU learned, investigators brought charges of three counts of extortion against the CEO of Digital Soft, Anton Safonov. The materials claim that he managed four telegram channels: “Provisional Government”, “Nebrehnya”, “New Sincerity” and PZDC. Money was allegedly extorted for blocks from Rostec director Vasily Brovko and head of Rosseti Andrei Ryumin. The most remarkable thing is that the materials claim that the real beneficiary of these channels is Safonov’s senior partner in the media business, Fyodor Shcherbakov (the second co-founder of Digital Soft). Shcherbakov is a former employee of the presidential administration of the Russian Federation, who now holds the position of head of Lenfilm. At the time of Safonov’s arrest, he was outside the Russian Federation and has not yet returned.

However, Safonov himself categorically denies guilt. According to his version, he never had anything to do with the channels, he was engaged in PR and placed commercial posts in the channels within the framework of official contracts with clients. It is worth noting that after the arrest of Safonov, these channels continued to work and only the “Provisional Government” on November 3 posted a post with an apology to Brovko, Ryumin and a number of officials and stopped functioning.

A source from the Cheka-OGPU, which is actually related to the management of the “Provisional Government,” said that the channel’s team had nothing to do with the apology, but they appeared when, after the operational operation, control of the channel was transferred to unknown persons, apparently close to Brovko.