*(Lubyanka – FSB headquarter)
The imposition of sanctions and other restrictions in response to Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine has sharply reduced the ability of Russian artists to tour abroad. In Europe, they are despised and it is considered bad taste to attend their performances.
An exception is made only for those who have clearly, unequivocally, and unambiguously condemned Putin’s regime and the barbaric attack on Ukraine. There are only a few of them. The vast majority of Russian artists support the crimes of their country and its criminal regime.
Cyprus, unfortunately, treats artists from Russia very leniently and provides them with ample opportunities for touring. Here they make no distinction between those who openly support Russia’s criminal military aggression against Ukraine and those who oppose it.
Therefore, faced with restrictions that make it impossible for them to perform in other European countries, Russian artists have flocked to Cyprus in droves.
The number and frequency of performances by artists from the country of the eternal gulag (gulag–concentration camp system) is astounding. The entire population of Cyprus is about a million people. Of them one hundred and a little thousand Russian-speaking former Soviet and Russian citizens. But if you look at the sold out tickets website, it would seem that the entire population of the island watches and listens exclusively to Russian artists.
The density and frequency of performances by representatives of the terrorist country is extremely high. Against this background, announcements of Cypriot artists performing in Greek look like rare exotics.
Russian islanders want Russian culture in Cyprus very much. But they do not want to live in the country that created this culture.
They like to weep quietly, heartily, listening to the songs of their distant homeland sitting on an island in the Mediterranean Sea and feel their belonging to a big, formidable, and, as it seems to them, arousing respect of other nations.
They love Mother Russia to the point of frenzy, unconditionally support all its crimes, fully support the war and murder of Ukrainians, sincerely rejoice when another Russian missile blows up an apartment building and kills its inhabitants in some Ukrainian city, deafly despise European values, convincingly hate the European Union, watch Russian television and piously believe the lies spewed by it.
Yet they persist in living in Cyprus, educate their children in European and American universities, keep their money in Swiss and European banks, and hate the West, its values and culture. A person with rational thinking can’t understand this. It can only be explained by mass schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and impaired cognitive functions of the brain. In classical literature, this phenomenon is labeled by the politically correct term «mysterious Russian soul».
In Cyprus, several dozen firms and companies with Russian roots are engaged in organizing concerts of artists from the country sponsoring terrorism. Among them are organizations with obvious ties to the Kremlin and the Russian security services.
One of them is MMI Concert Agency.
According to sources familiar with the activities of this company, it belongs to Sergei Muradov, the son of Putin’s official Georgi Muradov, who is under sanctions by the entire civilized world for his involvement in the crimes of the Putin regime.
Recall — Georgy Muradov, former Russian ambassador to the Republic of Cyprus, who played a key role in the withdrawal of huge sums of money from Russia to offshore accounts in Cypriot banks. He was also involved in the creation and financing of an extensive network of Russian agents of influence in Greece and Cyprus.
Along with Russian money, Russian corruption and Kremlin influence have infiltrated the island. These phenomena always come in one package with Russian money. Georgi Muradov now holds a high position in the occupation government of Crimea, he is the deputy chairman of the council of ministers of Crimea and the permanent representative of the occupied peninsula to the war criminal Putin, who calls himself president of russia.
Sergei Muradov wholeheartedly supports his father’s crimes. He also supports the war against Ukraine, the war crimes of the Russian army, and the war criminal Putin. Nowhere, never, not once has he made a single public statement condemning the war against Ukraine and the mass murder of its citizens. He has not expressed sympathy for the innocent victims of his country’s aggression and has not been seen helping the wounded and maimed civilians of Ukraine. Sergei Muradov has not been seen helping Ukrainian refugees in Cyprus or elsewhere.
Sergei Muradov is worthy of his war criminal father and his KGB grandfather, a friend of KGB General Primakov.
Formally, the MMI Concert Agency company has recently been owned by Sergei Muradov’s childhood friend Evgeny Bayazov, who is also its director. Bayazov, thanks to his friendship with Sergei, became a trusted confidant and, according to several sources, the manager of part of the Muradov family’s capital.
Before him, Panayiotis Maratheftis, a Cypriot citizen, was the sole shareholder and director of the company. It is known from open sources that he is a shareholder and director of dozens of Cypriot, British, Ukrainian, and other companies. According to the Ukrainian press, several Ukrainian companies in which Maratheftis is listed as a shareholder are owned by people from Yanukovych’s close circle who fled to Russia.
The actual owners, for various reasons, hide their involvement in these companies and therefore use the services of Maratheftis and others like him, who are ready to become nominal shareholders and directors for a small sum of money.
Sergey Muradov has a business in Russia and pays taxes to the Russian budget from which the war against Ukraine is financed, which makes him a direct accomplice of Russian war crimes and war criminal Putin.
His friend, Yevgeny Bayazov, openly supports the war and war crimes of Russia in Ukraine and is not ashamed to publicly declare it.
It is not excluded that the money received by the MMI Concert Agency for concerts in Cyprus is also used to finance Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and the West.
A detailed investigation into the activities of MMI Concert Agency and its owners will be published later, but for now, it is worth taking a closer look at another organizer of Russian concerts.
Relatively recently, the organization of Russian artists’ tours in Cyprus was taken up by an agency called Ark Production, which replaced a firm called Premier Media. Both these agencies are owned and managed by the same person named Angelina Ter-Oganova.
In May of this year, Angelina Ter-Oganova was arrested by the Cypriot police on suspicion of complicity in the attempted murder of Cypriot journalist Boris Demash. Only thanks to the intervention of the Russian embassy and high patrons in Moscow was Ter-Oganova able to avoid prosecution, as reported by the German publication STRATERA.
Angelina Arsenovna Ter-Oganova, born in 1971, is the daughter of KGB Colonel Arsen Aramovich Ter-Oganov (real name Ter-Oganyan). She is a graduate of Moscow State University, where she was admitted under the KGB quota, and of the FSB Academy, where she took a one-year course.
Ter-Oganova is distinguished from other organizers of Russian concerts by her open, demonstrative ties with the Russian security services and open support of the Russian embassy, which is the same thing. The main contingent of carriers of Russian culture and spirituality she brings to Cyprus are obvious agents of Russian special services
and outspoken supporters of war and war criminal Putin.
On October 6 in Limassol Ark production organized a concert of Pavel Derevyanko, supporter of war and accomplice of war crimes of Russia, citizen of the aggressor state.
He is going to perform in a pair with another Russian artist Boris Andrianov. Their duet has a very Russian spiritual name — «Hooligans».
According to the Russian press, on August 10, Pavel Derevyanko came to Khartsyzsk Central City Hospital on the territory of the so-called DNR. There he supported wounded Russian war criminals.
Derevyanko told them how much he admired their war crimes, assured the wounded occupants of his support for the genocide of the Ukrainian people, and said that like all Russian citizens, he admires the atrocities committed by them in the occupied territories of Ukraine. He wished them all a speedy recovery, a return to the war, and success in committing even more inhuman war crimes. Does anyone have any doubts that this is the only way in modern Russia that Derevyanko could speak to Russian soldiers in the occupied territory of Ukraine and this is the only way he could wish them?
He said he was prompted to make the trip by «the realization of his civic position,» Russian press quoted the Putinist artist as saying. «It’s time to visit our guys and decide which side I’m on»- Derevyanko continues.
Derevyanko expressed himself clearly — he supports aggressive, unprovoked war, massacres of civilians, and the destruction of an independent European state. He clearly said that he is on the side of murderers, rapists and looters.
His position is directly opposite to the position of the EU authorities in general and the Republic of Cyprus in particular.
What is this man doing on the territory of the European Union? Why is he still not under sanctions? Who allowed him to earn money on the territory of the European Union, part of which he would give in the form of taxes and donations to finance the criminal war?
The diplomatic mission of Russia is openly assisting Ter-Oganova in organizing this concert. So on the fence of the honorary consulate of Russia in Limassol Ter-Oganova stretched a banner advertising the performance of «Hooligans».
This is an unheard of case in the history of the diplomatic authorities in Cyprus. This is a sign of clear, open support of Ter-Oganova and Derevyanko by the Russian embassy. With this, FSB general Zyazikov, who calls himself ambassador of Russia, signals that the concert of «Hooligans», organized by Ark production, is a must-attend pro-Russian propaganda event for supporters of Russian world, where they will be told and shown how they should love Putin and support the war in Ukraine.
This is not an isolated case of Ark production’s cooperation with the diplomatic representation of Russia and other Moscow structures.
In June, Ark production, with the support of the Russian Cultural Center, the Russian Embassy in the Republic of Cyprus, and the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, organized a series of classical music concerts and exhibitions in Cypriot cities as part of a propaganda campaign called «Rachmanin Days in Cyprus», as Ter-Oganova reported on her Facebook page.
The Russian Embassy and the Russian Cultural Center also posted announcements about these events on their social media pages, indicating that Ark Production was the organizer.
In February this year, Ter-Oganova tried to organize in Limassol a performance of the famous KGB-FSB agent provocateur, Vladimir Pozner. At that time, the official organizer of the event was two companies owned by Ter-Oganova-Ark Productions and Premiere Media.
Tickets for this performance were sold out in a matter of days, which illustrates the quality of the Russian-speaking audience on the island. A month or so before the Kremlin propagandist’s performance, the Cyprus Daily News published an article entitled «Pozner and Urgant travel: Kremlin agents to perform in Cyprus on eve of war anniversary».
The article explained who Pozner and Ter-Oganova are and what their goals are. After the publication of this article Pozner’s performance was canceled.
The Cyprus Daily News has at its disposal correspondence from the organizers of the event. In it, they complain about Posner’s cowardice and complain about unfair reproaches against them. They write that Posner was afraid of possible provocation by Ukrainians during his speech in Limassol and therefore preferred to cancel his trip to Cyprus.
This was the reason for canceling Pozner’s planned performance in Dubai after Cyprus.
Quotes from the correspondence: «Pozner decided not to fly to Europe for a tour. This is how canceling one concert in Limassol ruined Pozner’s entire European tour. Now he will sit in the USA. Air tickets were New York — London — Larnaca — Dubai. Canceling a concert in Cyprus ruins all the logistics.»
Further, from the same correspondence:
«He shat from fear of the Ukrainians… The old fucker yelled at Lina (Angelina Ter-Oganova) for allowing negative press coverage.»
It is not possible to name the authors of the quotes and provide screenshots of their correspondence for obvious reasons.
Here it is important to remind readers who Vladimir Pozner is.
Posner is a prominent Soviet/Russian disinformation and propaganda figure who spent most of his life justifying the crimes of the Soviet and Putin regimes and misleading millions of people on behalf of the KGB-FSB.
Vladimir Pozner, Jr., followed in his father’s footsteps and from a young age has been actively working for Soviet and Russian state security.
He holds U.S. and French citizenship and speaks English and French, making him a valuable agent of the Soviet/Russian security services.
His cooperation with the KGB-FSB helped him have a successful career as a journalist in the USSR and modern day Russia. Vladimir Pozner is a propagandist with a huge experience, it is his life’s work, which is inextricably linked to Soviet and Russian state security.
In 1961 in Moscow, Posner joined the Novosti Press Agency (APN) as a commentator in the main editorial office of radio broadcasting to the United States and England.
APN was the disinformation and propaganda arm of the Soviet KGB. He was a full-time state security officer and received a salary from the KGB.
He worked as an editor for the magazine «USSR» («USSR»), which was distributed abroad (mainly in the United States), later renamed «Soviet Life», and opposed bourgeois ideology.
In 1970, he joined the Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting (later Gosteleradio of the USSR) as a commentator in the main radio broadcasting department for the United States and England, where he was simultaneously secretary of the communist Party Committee. In the Soviet era, only a full-time KGB officer could work in this position. Nothing has changed in Russia since then.
Yuri Shvets, a former officer of the First Main Directorate of the Soviet KGB and a Soviet intelligence officer in Washington, D.C., directly identifies Posner as a KGB agent.
FBI Special Agent Kevin Helson also calls Vladimir Pozner a KGB agent.
He wrote about this in his testimony in the case of Russian spy Maria Butina detained in the United States. The document is available on the website of the US Department of Justice.
Helson’s testimony claims that Butina, in correspondence with an unnamed American, called one of the letters «Second Posner.» To clarify this phrase, Helson added a footnote that says: «I [Agent Helson] believe this statement refers to Vladimir Pozner, a propagandist who worked in the Soviet KGB’s disinformation directorate and frequently appeared on Western television stations to explain the views of the Soviet Union during the Cold War.»
Posner remains an active and highly influential agent of the Russian security services. He is intensively used in active activities of the Russian security services both abroad and domestically. At the same time, he pretends to be a man of liberal views and demonstratively fronts the public within the limits of what is allowed.
The Russian intelligentsia, long noticed for its unscrupulousness, has recognized him as its idol.
Posner began to specialize in promoting «democratic values» after 1991. He does it exactly to the extent and in the form in which it is favorable to the Russian authorities and approved by his handlers in the special services.
At the same time, he does not create any ideological meanings; this is done by people from the ideological department of the Russian presidential administration and the second department of the FSB. Posner works as their «voice», a relay of their ideas, and fulfills the role of an ideological «soul catcher» of the Russian liberal intelligentsia.
In Soviet times, Posner presented in the best light the statements and decisions of the USSR leadership regarding various domestic and international issues and justified their most heinous crimes. Among them were the war in Afghanistan and the destruction of the South Korean Boeing in September 1983.
For the last twenty years, Posner has been masterfully justifying the crimes of the Putin regime.
In recent years, Posner has spread the Russian propaganda lie that Crimea itself became part of Russia and that there is no Russian war against Ukraine. He could easily justify the Russian aggression against Ukraine and the occupation of Crimea and parts of Donbas by the «threat of NATO» and the possible «appearance of the U.S. sixth fleet in Crimea.»
When asked by Ukrainian journalist Dmitry Gordon, «Do you consider the annexation of Crimea and the unleashing of war in Donbass a tragic mistake?» Posner replied, «No, I do not.»
After February 24, Posner disappeared from television screens. He was removed from the air without any explanation. This was done so that he would not be associated with the actions of the Russian authorities and current events. It was saved for important purposes and events under extraordinary circumstances. The extraordinary circumstances have come. Against the backdrop of the military defeat in Ukraine and the sanctions imposed, the Kremlin is thinking about the physical survival and preservation of the stolen capital hidden in the West. No one wants to talk to Putin and his entourage and no one will. That’s why we need people like Posner, with the image of a liberal created by Russian propaganda. They will broadcast to the Western public with a smart look and a well-practiced voice the signals from the Kremlin prepared in the administration of the Russian president, which they hope will be listened to in the West.
Recently on the sold out tickets website Pozner’s appearance in Limassol has been announced again. This time it is scheduled for October 27.
The FSB considers it necessary to hold an active event in Cyprus with the participation of its agent Pozner and pressures Ter-Oganova to fulfill the task of her handlers no matter what.
The upcoming performance of the Kremlin propagandist of such high rank in Cyprus, a member state of the European Union, should be extremely interesting. Posner is a very cunning and devious man. It is curious what he will say on stage, how he will justify the crimes of his Kremlin masters, what lies he will use to defend them after twenty months of war they are waging against Ukraine. It will be interesting to watch how he will twist and turn.
We should let him speak and then dissect his lies that he will indoctrinate his listeners. Posner’s performance will give an understanding of what signals the Kremlin wants to convey to Western audiences. There is no doubt that this is why he is going to Cyprus.
How long Cyprus will allow obvious agents of Russian security services to freely spread Kremlin propaganda and disinformation on its territory depends on Brussels and the Ukrainian Armed Forces. To a greater extent on the UAF.
Only a total military defeat of Russia on the battlefield will rid mankind of the cancerous tumor called Russia and its metastases all over the world. Including Cyprus.
Therefore, it is necessary to continue to support Ukraine and to help its Heroic Army in the war against the empire of evil and lies.
Glory to Ukraine! Glory to UAF! Glory to General Zaluzhny! Respect to General Budanov!
Boris Demash, especially for Cyprus Daily News