"Russia, which we love so sincerely, has found itself in clutches of some fools": alleged conversation of Russian businessmen was "leaked" on network
The alleged conversation between Russian billionaire Roman Trotsenko and businessman Mykola Matushevsky was leaked to the network. There they complain about the state of things in Russia and expect that soon people will start "slaughtering each other in the streets of Moscow."
This is reported by Censor.NET with reference to the Russian publication "Nastoyastchee vremya".
"Sistema" (an investigative project of "Nastoyaschego Vremena" and "Radio Svoboda") received by mail a link to a publicly available audio recording of a conversation, allegedly by billionaire Roman Trotsenko. His interlocutor was not specified in the letter, but judging by the conversation, he may be businessman Mykola Matushevsky," the publication reported.
The interlocutors noted that the economy will halve in Russia in ten years, and the country itself will be "in the clutches of fools, who profess some strange compositions of the 19th century."
"This cannot end in anything good, it will end in hell. People will kill each other in the streets, butcher each other, there, on the streets of Moscow. It's just a matter of time. It can happen in 5, 7, 10 years. But it will definitely be - it's a one-way street," said Trotsenko.
In addition, they called Putin a "jerk" and said that the current government of the Russian Federation has no plan for the future.
"It will simply be a scorched desert. Then it will reach everyone and it will become clear that it is too late. People cannot withdraw money, cannot leave, their children are called to war. Horror, in short," lamented Trotsenko.
In response, Matushevsky said that 2023 is the last year "when you can leave and start doing something."
Nastoyastchee vremya reminded that Trotsenko is the former president of the United Shipbuilding Corporation and ex-advisor of the president of Rosneft, Igor Sechin, one of the businessmen relatively close to Vladimir Putin. Matushevsky - an old friend of Trotsenko and the creator of the Moscow design factory "Flakon" - publicly sympathizes with the opposition, for example, he posted on Instagram a video of protests in Moscow in 2021.
After the "Sistema" journalist contacted Matushevsky, he said that he did not know what it was about and asked for a link to the recording. After about 40 minutes (the recording lasts for the same amount of time - ed.), Matushevsky said, "This conversation did not take place." He added that the last time he spoke with Trotsenko was in 2022 and he definitely never discussed politics.
"I think it's a fake or someone's silly joke with the use of AI [artificial intelligence]," Matushevsky added.
In favor of the fact that the record may be genuine, several facts testify at once. First, during the conversation, Matushevsky claims that he is in Bali, which is confirmed by photos from his Instagram. Secondly, the phone number from which Roman allegedly called (a source provided it to "Sistema" - ed.) corresponds to Trotsenko's number, which is at the disposal of the editorial office. Thirdly, the details in the conversation match the information about the businessmen. So, Roman calls himself "Roman Viktorovich" and says that he will be 62 years old in ten years. In addition, Mykola repeatedly talks about the "Flakon" projects, which he owned until 2021.
However, no one has officially confirmed the authenticity of this audio recording, and it would be possible to say with relative certainty that the men's voices belong to Trotsenko and Matushevsky only as a result of professional audio expertise.
