The Russian opposition has finally found someone who might be able to stand up to Putin, and her name is Victoria Bonya. She recently published several video messages on Instagram directed at the Russian president where she criticizes Putin and the government. Her first post drew almost 30 million views in three days. Western media covering this story describe Victoria as a TV host and socialite, but she rose to fame thanks to her appearance on Dom-2, a reality show that essentially functions as an advertising platform for sex workers. Quite literally - you'll find photos and videos of Victoria Bonya naked and having sex with fellow contestants from the show right alongside screenshots of her appeal to Putin in Russian search engines. The reality show has been running for more than twenty years now on a channel owned by Gazprom-Media, which means it's basically sponsored by the Russian government. But none of this means Victoria Bonya isn't a star - in fact her status as a prostitute hasn't hurt her career one bit. She hosts big TV ceremonies, regularly appears as an expert guest on talk shows, and graces the covers of glossy magazines - it's just that this is the typical kind of celebrity you get in Russia.

Not everyone was a fan of her message, though. Russia's top propagandist, Jewish TV host Vladimir Solovyov, called Bonya an "aging skank." But after a wave of outrage, he was forced to invite her on his show and apologize. Maybe he didn't like the fact that Bonya is competing with his model son in the escort business. In any case, the apology didn't help - following the scandal, Russian lawmakers have already introduced a bill banning "offending women's feelings," so criticizing Bonya's profession will soon be seen as not only inappropriate, but against the law.

African man, who considers himself an Uzbek, is terrorizing residents in the Moscow region and harassing women and children. Residents of Nakhabino report that the Afro-Uzbek is harassing children and women, secretly filming public restrooms, and, for unknown reasons, hanging Uzbek flags throughout the area. Residents complain that this is systematic, and that after each arrest, he is released a few hours later, where he continues to harass the locals.

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Metropolitan Hilarion of the Russian Orthodox Church was detained in Czechia for drug possession - police found four containers of what is believed to be cocaine in his car.

Since 2009, Metropolitan Hilarion has headed the Department for External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church. He was called "the right hand" and a possible successor to Patriarch Kirill. The Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate was created by Stalin as an organ serving as a cover for KGB intelligence activities abroad under the guise of the church after the ROC was restored in a puppet form under the supervision of the Communist Party as a condition for receiving military and humanitarian aid from Western countries during World War II.

During the COVID epidemic, Hilarion was chosen as the spokesperson for the ROC broadcasting the church's position on the issue - he demanded stricter quarantine, mandatory mass vaccination and introduction of QR codes for movement.

In 2014, after Crimea's annexation and Russia's growing isolation, Russian special services and presidential administration chose to bet on ties with right-wing and conservative forces in the West; in a leaked Kremlin memo, Hilarion is listed as one of key figures representing this turn - e.g., he represented ROC at World Congress of Families.

In 2022 he was sent to Hungary as head of Budapest-Hungarian diocese. At that time Hungary opposed adding Patriarch Kirill to sanctions lists. PM Viktor Orban's government established close ties with ROC, and Orban awarded Hilarion Hungarian Order "For Merit" for his work "defending & supporting Christianity".

Orban's party covered up pedophiles, as became internationally known after President Katalin Novak pardoned director of an orphanage involved in child sex crimes. In recent years Orban's circle has been rocked by almost weekly scandals involving pedophilia or homosexual relations among church & political figures. One high-profile case: Gergo Bese (nicknamed as "Fidesz priest") received millions from Orban via his NGO network; later it emerged he participated in gay orgies and was caught on video. Bese supported Russia & may have received money via "Russian Houses" - organizations posing as Russian cultural centers abroad but actually fronts for Russian intelligence.

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