Since Sunday, discussions in some global media have revolved around Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, alleging that "he has a secret mistress whom he lavished with expensive gifts and took on private jets for vacations." This claim comes from a report published last week on a media site that publishes content in both Russian and English, which is described by the Kremlin as a foreign agent. However, IStories, staffed by investigative journalists, published the report exclusively in Russian in cooperation with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).
A new development is the emergence of a video featuring the mistress, Svetlana Polyakova, who was described by the site as an amateur actress and restaurant owner. From her features and the age of her 26-year-old daughter, she appears to be in her late forties, as seen at minute 5:08 of the video presented below by "Al Arabiya." The speaker mentions information about her, including that "she often accompanies Lavrov on trips to meetings and summits with world leaders, and she obtained a low-ranking position in the ministry due to her close relationship with her 71-year-old boss."
Regarding the mistress, IStories claims to have analyzed property records in Russia and the UK, discovering that they are in her name and that of some relatives, with an estimated value of around 14 million dollars, as well as a fleet of luxury cars worth over 550,000 dollars. Their evidence for discovering those properties came from an unexpected source: Polina, the mistress's daughter. They utilized analyses of her Instagram background images conducted by a team from opposition leader Alexei Navalny, along with satellite images to locate the properties. The team broadcast a video last Thursday, which also appeared on IStories, displaying the results of their background image analysis along with information about the mistress. They summarized that she has used Lavrov's official plane more than 60 times over the past seven years, particularly to Japan, Singapore, and various countries in Western Europe, and that some of her relatives accompanied her on some of those trips.
As soon as the report surfaced on the news site and was circulated by Western media, Maria Zakharova, Lavrov's spokesperson, responded to the allegations, stating: "These claims are the work of enemies guided by Western intelligence agencies, and the creators of these claims do not hide their goal of destruction and dismantling... Lavrov's authority is unshakeable," as she expressed regarding his 17-year tenure as Russia's chief diplomat.
Lavrov is "biologically" Armenian and has no connection to Russia other than being born in its capital to an Armenian father and a Georgian mother, according to a report published by "Al Arabiya" eight years ago. The report indicated that he is a passionate fisherman, enjoys rowing, plays the guitar, and smokes more than 20 cigarettes daily. He is also a poet and a famous songwriter, married to "Maria Alexandrovna," and they have a single daughter, Ekaterina, born 37 years ago in New York, where he worked for seven years as the head of the Soviet mission's advisors at the United Nations.
