The Russian defense minister, the YouTuber & the porn star
Meet Alexey Stolyarov, the father of Sergei Shoigu's granddaughter
I like a good bit of gossip. But family gossip that involves Russia’s comically evil defense minister and a famous porn star who condemns war? That I absolutely love.
I’ve written about porn consumption and porn trends in Russia over the course of my career — it’s a topic that many serious experts won’t cover, even though it can teach you a lot about modern Russian society — so I was thrilled when my friend, academic Kirill Shamiev, pointed out a curious family connection between gorgeous Russian porn star Eva Elfie and despicable Sergei Shoigu.
Shoigu is astronomically corrupt. So corrupt, that his daughter Ksenia once had to deny that her dad had luxurious properties which he put in her name (the denial doesn’t strike me as convincing, but what do I know, I’ve only been writing about Russia for over a decade). Shoigu is also known for the way in which his mistresses can suddenly become very rich (though I’m sure that’s just a coincidence, lol).
The are many other things wrong with Shoigu, not the least of which is him presiding over a genocidal invasion of Ukraine. But what is particularly salient to our discussion, is that like all of Vladimir Putin’s henchmen, Shoigu is outwardly a traditionalist.
Here he is with the equally corrupt Russian Orthodox spiritual leader Patriarch Kirill (who lived with his own mistress a few blocks away from me when I first got to Moscow in 2010 — at the time, mealy-mouthed church spokespeople tried to claim the mistress was a “distant relative”), at the opening of the bizarrely evil-looking Main Cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces:
Traditionalism is the fig leaf that Russia’s so-called elites wear as they buy concubines, rob their fellow countrymen blind, and otherwise act like a cancer on humanity. This investigation into an exclusive “medical center” connected to one of Putin’s daughters, for example, pointed to STD tests and “virginity tests” for escorts that appear to service Putin’s buddies, some of these escorts being underage. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The real depths of these people’s cynical debauchery will likely never be known for certain.
In light of all this, the father of one of Sergei Shoigu’s granddaughters is an especially interesting character. His name is Alexey Stolyarov and he is a popular fitness blogger and influencer.
Here is a family photo of Shoigu, the child, Ksenia Shoigu, and Stolyarov, taken during the 2021-2022 holiday season, just a few months before Russia’s horrific invasion of my native country:
I’m not blocking out Ksenia’s face, because she is an active supporter of her father’s so-called work. Here she is acting as a tour guide and taking a well-publicized stroll in a historic park with her dad and with Putin in July of 2022, while Russians are slaughtering people in Mariupol and elsewhere:
Ksenia and Stolyarov are apparently not officially married. I don’t judge them for that. I judge them for being soulless ticks on the monstrous body of the genocidal Russian regime.
Recently, Russian ultra-nationalists have hysterically criticized Stolyarov for liking some anti-war content on Instagram. This doesn’t mean Stolyarov is secretly a dissident. In fact, he denied he “liked” anything of the sort and claimed the screenshots were faked (according to digital forensics experts I know, this was a lie).
In the aftermath of the Instagram scandal, noted war criminal and owner of PMC Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin — a man who looks like an angry cabbage and loves to troll Shoigu and other people within the Russian defense establishment — offered to train Stolyarov and send him to the front. Oddly enough, Stolyarov didn’t seem thrilled. In fact, he became angry, saying that Prigozhin loves to “whine” and implying he’s not a real man.
Stolyarov has also been criticized for taking a lavish vacation with Ksenia Shoigu in Dubai while Russian men who aren’t as well-connected continued to get drafted and dropped into a vicious meat grinder. Here’s a still from a vacation video:
But what’s especially interesting to me is Stolyarov’s connection to the appropriately elfin Russian porn star Eva Elfie.
While I am not aware that the two have made any explicit content, they have appeared in flirtatious YouTube videos together. Here’s one Stolyarov published a year ago, in March of 2022, while Ksenia Shoigu was about six months postpartum (the little girl was born in September of 2021):
The video is called “Eva Elfie Says ‘Yes’ to Me for 24 Hours” and its highlights include:
Stolyarov using the euphemism “huge talents” to describe Elfie’s ample bosoms.
Stolyarov asking Elfie to say “yes, sir” to him every time.
Stolyarov asking Elfie to suck a lollipop “harder”
Elfie teasing Stolyarov about never visiting a sex shop in his life
And other wholesome innuendo! (Honestly, I got bored watching it after a while)
Around the same time, Stolyarov also made content with Elfie on her own YouTube channel. Gosh, so nice of him to help Eva pump up that peach:
These videos present somewhat of a contrast to the sappy interview Stolyarov gave to Gazeta.ru in March of this year.
In the interview, Stolyarov refers to Ksenia Shoigu as his wife, and gushes about how motherhood is a lot of work for Ksenia, so much work that the happy family has hired a “wonderful nanny.” It’s great that the happy couple is able to afford that while other Russians have to sacrifice their sons at war just to afford a crappy Lada.
Stolyarov’s sensually humorous videos with Elfie are also a contrast to this piece from 2021, in which Stolyarov is quoted as saying that he asked the formidable Russian defense minister for his daughter’s hand in marriage and that he was nervous, but that he wants to “spend the rest of his life” with Ksenia.
I am not going to sit here and speculate about what kind of a relationship Stolyarov and Ksenia Shoigu have, and how a famous porn star figures into it. People can have all sorts of relationships, including ethically non-monogamous ones.
What I am going to point out is that wealthy Russians like Ksenia Shoigu and Alexey Stolyarov are carrying on making their sexy little videos and sappy made-for-Instagram declarations of love while being directly supported by one of Russia’s top war criminals who styles himself as some sort of defender of “traditional values” while his orc-like troops have raped and killed people.
Also, Eva Elfie has been on my radar for a few years, and here’s why:
Back in the day, Elfie went by Tieny Mieny, and participated in a video that could be considered disturbing, as it was one of those fake Russian “defloration” videos that are meant to appeal to viewers who enjoy a woman’s shyness, confusion, and pain. I’m not going to link to the video, this isn’t that kind of newsletter, but here’s a SFW screenshot:
I won’t claim that Eva Elfie, a.k.a. Tieny Mieny, was abused or hurt for the purposes of this specific video. And let’s remember one thing: Porn stars are actors. I do not judge them for doing their jobs, and I hope you don’t either.
Furthermore, people have their kinks and fantasies and at the end of the day, who am I to judge that either. Maybe someone else can investigate the production of Russian “defloration” videos and the producers behind them; I honestly can’t watch them without feeling extremely stressed and weirded out. I do think that content like this points to the fact that Elfie had to really work her way up to stardom, and has likely worked with sketchy people to get where she is today. She certainly presents a contrast to privileged Ksenia Shoigu in that sense.
And say what you want about Elfie, her Instagram content actually has an anti-war position, which makes her braver than Stolyarov. Here is the first Instagram post she made following Russia’s mass-scale invasion of Ukraine:
An anti-war theme is visible in her more recent posts as well:
As a porn actress, Elfie has much less protection in Russia than someone like Stolyarov, her family even less so. Yet she is capable of taking a stance and even explicitly referencing the fact that draconian new Russian laws make pacifism illegal. Good for you, Eva Elfie! You are more principled than many so-called Russian “men.”
So why did I really tell you this story? Here’s why:
When right-wing personalities such as Tucker Carlson tell you that Russia is some kind of bastion of Christian values and traditions or whatever — THEY ARE LYING TO YOU.
RUSSIA IS NOT A TRADITIONAL COUNTRY. RUSSIA IS A SCREWED UP COUNTRY, PROPPED UP BY MASS HYPOCRISY.
People like Alexey Stolyarov and Ksenia Shoigu are just a vey obvious example of this hypocrisy. They don’t have to worry about mobilization, or other dangers. They don’t even have to cosplay as patriotic “traditionalists.” They’re just enjoying their wealthy lives under the protection of Ksenia’s doting, murderous father.
There are tragedies to be written about Russia’s barbarous war. Sometimes, those tragedies will overlap with farce. And the story of the defense minister, the smarmy YouTube influencer, and the principled porn star is a fascinating piece of this ugly puzzle that is modern day Russia.
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Fascinating! And deliciously salacious.😉