Russia disciplines officials, children for flashy wartime holidays in Mexico, Dubai

Russian officials, Denis Dolzhenko, Maxim Vasilyev and the Defence Minister's daughter Ksenia Shoigu were exposed for flashy wartime holidays. Photo / VK.ru

Russian officials have faced public backlash over images showing them taking flashy international holidays while the country is at war.

At least two regional officials for the Russian government were pictured taking luxury vacations in Dubai and Mexico on Tuesday, in national daily newspaper Kommersant.

Regional deputies have been chastised for taking foreign holidays after Vologda politician Denis Dolzhenko and Kursk duma representative Maxim Vasilyev had images from their social media leaked to the press.

Officials for the country’s leading party United Russia and regional Dumas have now advised members not to take leisure trips abroad.  While they cannot restrict the right for citizens to leave the country, some regional Dumas have “strongly recommended” representatives not to travel in response to these recent embarrassing incidents.

Last week Maxim Vasilyev, a politician for the Kursk region which borders Ukraine, was exposed in a leaked video message - raising a cocktail and sending his “greetings” from a beach resort in Mexico.

Vasilyev, who sits as an independent and not a member of United Russia, said that the video had not been intended for the public and resisted calls to resign.

According to The Moscow Times the politician blamed a “representative of Western Ukraine” for leaking the video. He claimed to know the identity of this individual, saying it was a social contact and a friend he had known from before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Last week Ksenia Shoigu, the daughter of Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, was criticised for spending New Years in the Arab Emirates.

Ksenia, a triathlete and events organiser, appeared in photos of a friend at the Dubai Mall, posted to social media site VK over the new year.

Both Ksenia and husband Aleksey Stoliarov have since set their social media to private.

Denis Dolzhenko defended his trip to Dubai over the New Year. Photo / VK.ru

Oligarch kids of instagram

Denis Dolzhenko who appeared in the photos made no pretence of his holiday to the UAE.

In a separate social media post, a selfie from the Dubai Marina, the deputy drew criticism from Russian citizens. It was a bad look and unpopular with those at home who said Dolzhenko did “not understand the full responsibility of [his] position.”

In a statement to Gazeta that he had done nothing wrong was using approved leave from the Legislative Assembly “in order to take his child to the seaside, as recommended by doctors”.

St Petersburg Legislative Assembly has since urged to think of taking foreign vacations as an “ethical question”.

“The problem is not someone’s trips, it’s immoral to boast about your vacation in a public setting,” speaker Pavel Krupnik of United Russia told Kommersant.

“There’s no ban on travelling abroad, but you need to behave decently,” he said.

Children of Russian leaders live it up abroad: The daughter-in-law of Valentina Matviyenko, Alexander Zhukov's son and FSB's Sergei Naryshkin's daughter Veronica were spotted in Bali and the Seychelles this winter, according to Insider.ru. Photo / Instagram

Last week independent Russian Language website Insider.ru published an expose revealing the jet-set lifestyles of the families of Kremlin Officials.

The article claimed that the children of sanctioned officials had been taking exotic holidays in Bali, the Maldives and Seychelles. In a dump of social media screenshots, the report said that luxury islands were “popular holiday destinations for travellers whose fathers are at war with Ukraine.”