Table of Contents
The latest inquiry by journalist Andrey Zakharov uncovers a connection between the son of a senior Federal Security Service figure and the conglomerate that produces equipment underpinning Russia’s internet controls. The company at the center of the reporting is X Holding, which and whose subsidiaries are responsible for hardware components used in the country’s nationwide traffic management and surveillance architecture.
The systems in question are known under the acronym TSPU, described here as the “Technical Means of Countering Threats”. Under Russian regulations these devices must be installed across the networks of every telecom operator, giving the state regulator Roskomnadzor technically direct control over traffic flows while leaving operators without access or oversight — effectively a black box within carrier networks.
How the systems are built and who supplies them
The TSPU deployments combine software and hardware supplied by different entities. The software layers originate from units affiliated with state telecom giant Rostelecom, while the physical appliances are produced by Yadro, a manufacturing arm inside X Holding. Because the devices operate inside operator networks with no operator visibility, their role is both technical and political: they mediate censorship and traffic shaping at a national scale.
X Holding sits among Russia’s largest IT corporations but does not publish full financial disclosures. Publicly available figures cited in the investigation show that the holding’s revenue exceeded 163 billion rubles (about $2 billion) before rising to more than 260 billion rubles (about $3.2 billion) by 2026, underlining how lucrative the ecosystem around national internet control can be for suppliers and contractors.
Leadership, ownership and family connections
The investigation identifies Boris Korolev, age 29, as a deputy director at X Holding. He is the son of Sergey Korolev, the FSB’s first deputy director. Leaked corporate databases reviewed by the reporter indicate that Boris joined the holding’s management in September 2026 when he was 27. Attempts by Zakharov to reach Boris by phone reportedly produced no response.
Leaked documents and shareholdings
After the death in July 2026 of founder Anton Cherepennikov (who was 40), share allocations inside the group were reshuffled. One of the entities receiving stock was a company called Garda, in which records show Boris held a 20 percent stake. Whether those shares remain in his name today is unclear: X Holding avoids public transparency, and the holding does not produce consolidated reports despite its position among Russia’s top three IT firms.
Pattern of assets and family ownership
Zakharov highlights a pattern where valuable property and vehicles are registered to younger relatives, which he suggests effectively places assets within the influence of the senior official. Documents indicate Boris received an apartment in central Saint Petersburg at 18 and a cottage near Moscow a year later; a 200-square-meter Moscow apartment is registered in the name of his niece, then 26. The combined value of reported real estate and a fleet of luxury cars was estimated at roughly 300 million rubles plus another 30 million rubles for vehicles, allocations that were not matched by any publicly declared family income at the time.
Financial scale, secrecy and recent developments
Precise earnings tied to the TSPU program are opaque because many contracts remain classified. Nevertheless, analysts relying on budgetary traces and procurement allocations estimate that at least 80 billion rubles have been earmarked for nationwide deployment of these systems. The combination of large public spending, limited transparency, and a corporate structure that places production inside a tightly held holding raises questions about how political influence and commercial benefit intersect.
The report was published by Meduza and draws on leaked records and public data compiled by Andrey Zakharov. Separate reporting from the newspaper Kommersant on March 16 noted fresh moves by the authorities to restrict access to the messaging app Telegram, underscoring the operational purpose of the installed systems and the stakes involved for both regulators and suppliers.