Another development in the FBK vs. Nevzlin saga, which has captivated the Russian intelligentsia in exile but probably means virtually nothing to most outsiders: Team Navalny member Lyubov Sobol says Nevzlin provided funding to keep the Navalny Live YouTube channel afloat for two months (presumably in 2022) during an admin/financing dispute with Volkov (her team was in Tallinn, the rest of the FBK gang was in Vilnius).

There’s lingering bad blood here: Sobol describes Volkov as refusing to provide “a single ruble” to help the staff, while Volkov says FBK offered to move the team to Vilnius and reunite the depts, but “it was more important to Lyuba to maintain her autonomy.” Volkov says the channel ultimately reunited with FBK in the summer of 2023 (with Sobol’s consent), and the team “settled all outstanding salary debts,” transferring management from Sobol to Ruslan Shaveddinov.

A correction to my previous (now deleted) post: Sobol says she separately accepted $56k from Nevzlin after she says she was poisoned (and couldn’t work). This money was a personal, zero-interest loan. (I mistakenly thought that this was the money transferred for the YouTube staff, but that money, however much it was, appears to have been a pure donation.)

More importantly, Nevzlin recently ranted to her in a conversation about Pevchikh (“a whore, I can prove it”), Volkov (“a double agent, I have evidence”), and others. Sobol fell back on religious rhetoric to defend Volkov (it sounds like she’s not a big fan), but Nevzlin went full Old Testament, raving about “punishment” and “revenge” for Volkov.

Honestly, it sounds like Leonid Nevzlin is a full-on nutjob.

Sobol’s tweet:
https://x.com/SobolLubov/status/1835539085248594093

Volkov’s Telegram post:
https://t.me/leonid_volkov/4754