Star appeal for Russia's mink revolution

Society heiress becomes an unlikely figurehead for political protests against family friend Putin

TV host Ksenia Sobchak, once derided as a society heiress, has become a leading voice in the Russian opposition.

She is an unlikely figurehead for the political protests that have rocked the country over the past few months.

Sobchak, 30, is a family friend of Vladimir Putin and the host of a reality TV show known for its scandalous scenes. But it is her new political talkshow that has caused a real stir - and which has just been ordered off Russian television.

Sobchak was once dubbed the Paris Hilton of Russia because of her similarity to the American hotel heiress. She used to be just a rich society girl: thin, blond, with a sharp tongue and a reputation for being spoilt.

She has written books on how to be a success and hosts Dom-2, the longest-running reality show in the world, which has been described as the worst thing to hit Russian culture since the Mongols.

The daughter of Anatoly Sobchak, mayor of St Petersburg in the 1990s when Putin was his deputy, she is close to the Prime Minister - Putin is said to have cried when he attended Anatoly Sobchak's funeral in 2000 - while her mother is a loyal senator.

"[Putin] is not a bad person," she said recently on Russian TV.

Nevertheless, on Christmas Eve she walked on stage in front of 100,000 protesters in Moscow and said: "My name is Ksenia Sobchak and I have something to lose, but nevertheless I am here."

Most of the crowd booed - the person rather than the sentiment - for Sobchak had decided to join the biggest outburst of popular protest in Russia since the early 1990s, sparked by the December parliamentary elections and reports of fraud.

The internet helped fan the flames of the protest. Russia now has the most internet users in Europe and mass demonstrations followed, with the well-connected carrying satirical banners and wearing white ribbons, the symbol of the movement. The demos included people like Sobchak, who had never been to a protest before.

"How come in just a few weeks people I have known for years, who never went to meetings, suddenly joined a crowd of strangers - and, let's be honest, not even always pleasant people - in really bad weather?" she wrote in a column for Russian Tatler.

She was referring to the people who had done well under Putin, and who have ripped up the unspoken pact under which the Russian Government provides economic progress in return for limited democratic accountability.

This month lawyer Oksana Talaeva, 41, dressed in a luxurious fur coat and hat, carried a sign at a protest that read "Freedom for Lyudmila Putina", referring to the Prime Minister's wife, who has not been seen for months.

"I think if we go out on to the streets, then he will go," she said of Putin.

Society columnist Bozhena Rynska, also in a fur coat, was later arrested by riot police. A video of her arrest spread rapidly on the internet.

Afterwards, in a sign that she has not yet lost her caustic side, Sobchak wrote in her Tatler column: "Bozhena equally suffers for the fate of her motherland as for the fate of her fur coats."

Dubbed the "mink revolution" by opponents, the opposition is far from being dominated by the wealthy, but corruption and the thought of Putin winning another six, or possibly 12, years in power has pushed them to protest.

Sobchak first stuck her head above the parapet in a video she posted on Twitter last year of her confronting Vasily Yakemenko, the founder of the pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi, known for its fanatical harassment of people it deems enemies of Russia. After spotting Yakemenko at a fancy Moscow restaurant, Sobchak filmed herself poking fun at the civil servant for his expensive tastes. After it, too, spread across the internet, Nashi responded by calling Sobchak a "cheap prostitute".

The past few months have seen Sobchak move further into the opposition camp, a decision that has surprised her as much as everyone else.

"Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin] still has a chance," she wrote in December. "A chance for dialogue, a gradual move to a different system, free elections, honest judges, media, and most important, non-corrupt bureaucrats." Two months later, it does not seem she still believes that.

There are many people who will never like Sobchak, but she is earning respect from other opposition leaders. Yevgenia Chirikova, a former businesswoman and now leader of a campaign to save Khimki forest from being bulldozed by a new road development, has watched her transformation.

"We are from different planets," said Chirikova. "I was in business and bringing up my children. I didn't even have a television set."

Chirikova, who says she is aware of "the horrible Dom-2", has noticed Sobchak going through the same process that she did when she started campaigning. At first she believed she could persuade the Government of her position and negotiate with it - before realising she had no chance.

"It has been interesting to watch her change. When she came to the first meeting, she said we need to talk [with the Government]. Now she is radicalising in front of our eyes."

Meanwhile, the Kremlin has been pulling out all the stops to find its own backers among the wealthy and creative classes. Chulpan Khamatova, an actress and charity worker who has done a huge amount to restore the reputation of a charitable sector damaged by scams, backed Putin last week.

But in a video announcing her support, Khamatova looked as if she was speaking under duress, and within a few hours somebody in her entourage told the Russian website gazeta.ru she had been warned that, if she did not support Putin, the charity she founded would be destroyed.

Khamatova refused to comment and the Kremlin denied the allegation, but there have been rumours about other supporters who have had their arms twisted.

It is unlikely anyone will do the same to Sobchak. She wrote in her blog after the cancellation of the political show she hosted that she used to think it was possible to negotiate with the authorities, but now she knew it was impossible.

"Cowardice is one of our biggest problems, but she is brave," said Chirikova.

- Observer