Support The Moscow Times!

‘She Pricked His Butt Roleplaying’: ‘Putin’s Chef’ Sues Activist Sobol for Libel

Lyubov Sobol links a 2016 attempt on her husband's life to Yevgeny Prigozhin, a catering magnate with close Kremlin ties. Sergei Fadeichev / TASS

Yevgeny Prigozhin, a sanctioned catering magnate with close ties to President Vladimir Putin, has sued opposition activist Lyubov Sobol for libel over her claims that he ordered a poisoning attack on her husband.

Prigozhin is seeking Sobol and the pro-Putin religious television channel Tsargrad to retract her remarks made on the air last summer. Sobol’s husband was stabbed in the thigh with a near-deadly dose of a psychotropic substance in 2016, rendering him convulsing and unconscious.

“The video contains untrue information [that] tarnishes the plaintiff’s honor, dignity and business reputation,” Prigozhin’s suit says. 

“The defendant’s use of the phrases ‘the bandit Prigozhin attacked my husband’ and ‘the bandit Prigozhin wanted to kill my husband’ give the impression that the plaintiff attempted to murder Sobol’s husband,” it adds.

Tsargrad told Interfax it would comply with the court’s orders.

Prigozhin, 58, confirmed through his company Concord’s press service that he filed the lawsuit. 

“I think a more logical version is that Sobol pricked her husband’s buttcheeks herself while roleplaying,” he said. 

Sobol, 32, maintained her innocence and vowed to continue her activities. “I will not stop releasing videos and telling the truth,” she said Monday.

Sobol has previously pursued legal action against Prigozhin over school meals linked to his catering business that she alleges caused a dysentery outbreak among dozens of children in Moscow in late 2018.

The opposition activist emerged as a leading figure in Moscow’s mass protest movement last summer. Thousands took to the streets against the disqualification of opposition candidates, including Sobol herself, from the city ballot.

Crippling lawsuits have also targeted Sobol’s employer Alexei Navalny and his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), which has published a series of video investigations alleging graft among high-placed Russian officials, in the wake of the protests.

Prigozhin is under U.S. sanctions over his ties to the Internet Research Agency, the Kremlin-backed “troll factory” accused of interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. He is also linked to the Wagner Group of private mercenaries which has reportedly been deployed to conflicts in Syria, Libya, Sudan and several sub-Saharan African countries.

Sign up for our free weekly newsletter

Our weekly newsletter contains a hand-picked selection of news, features, analysiss and more from The Moscow Times. You will receive it in your mailbox every Friday. Never miss the latest news from Russia. Preview
Subscribers agree to the Privacy Policy

A Message from The Moscow Times:

Dear readers,

We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."

These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.

We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.

Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.

By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.

Once
Monthly
Annual
Continue
paiment methods
Not ready to support today?
Remind me later.

Read more