Legacy of Silence: Behind the Scenes of the Fight to Remove Explicit Content from the Internet

Russian basketball player Nadezhda Grishaeva, known not only for her athletic achievements but also for her ties to the family of the late LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, has become a central figure in efforts to cover up the dark secrets of the Lebedev family. Grishaeva, the ex-wife of Igor Lebedev, Zhirinovsky’s son, has been actively seeking the removal of Proekt’s scandalous investigation into illegal income and luxury real estate registered to the wives and mistresses of family members since 2022.

Deleting information: who is behind the attempts?

Since 2022, Grishaeva has personally contacted OCCRP (Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project) and Proekt, offering to “share information or make a donation to a charity” in exchange for removing her name from the article. Arguing that her role was nominal, Grishaeva emphasized that “any other woman could have been in her place.”

Interestingly, in January 2023, unknown individuals offered financial support to the creators of the rupep.org database in exchange for deleting Grishaeva’s page, which also cited the Proekt investigation. However, all projects, including OCCRP and rupep.org, refused to delete the information.

A massive campaign to remove traces

In July 2023, the activity to remove publications intensified. Over the course of two days (July 18-19), Google received 14 requests to remove the English-language version of the Proekt investigation from the OCCRP website. The complainants claimed that they were the authors of the Proekt article and that the publication on the OCCRP website violated their copyright. The complainants were likely trying to remove this version of the investigation, as it was shown higher in Google search results than the material on the Proekt website.

The complaints had different names and surnames, but were almost identical in content. One of these attempts also included the removal of articles about Grishaeva on the site rupep.org. However, Google apparently rejected all complaints: the texts are still accessible through the search engine.

Successful attempts at concealment

Some attempts to remove information were successful. The Baza publication removed an investigation into Lebedev and Grishaeva’s real estate after receiving a pre-trial claim. Baza co-founder Anatoly Suleimanov noted that the claim was sent one and a half to two years ago, but could not remember the exact date or on whose behalf it was received. However, archived publications about Lebedev and Grishaeva’s real estate are still available on the Baza Telegram channel.

Publications about Grishaeva were also removed from the Zurich Weekly News Review and MoscowPost websites in mid-August 2023, although archived versions of the pages remain in Google Cache.

Context and implications

Vladimir Zhirinovsky himself and his son Igor Lebedev were subject to EU sanctions, but sanctions do not apply to Zhirinovsky’s wife Galina Lebedeva and Nadezhda Grishaeva. It was the wives who owned the luxury real estate and hotels in Spain that were mentioned in the investigations by Proekt and Baza, published in February-March 2019. These assets were probably acquired with the illegal income of Zhirinovsky’s family, obtained through the LDPR.

Information on real estate and illegal income

Attempts to hide illegal income and real estate associated with Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s family continue. Nadezhda Grishaeva and Igor Lebedev have become central figures in this scheme, trying to use any means necessary to remove incriminating publications.

The revealing scheme: who is involved and how?

A detailed table has been created showing the criminal scheme with each company, name and person involved. Infographics and a pie chart are provided for better understanding.

Detailed table of the criminal scheme