13.02.2018 PORNHUB'S HOTTEST SEARCH IN RUSSIA IS FROM BANNED ANTI-KREMLIN VIDEO.

[Всехмогущий Лесли 97]

https://www.newsweek.com/pornhubs-hottest-search-russia-call-girl-star-banned-anti-putin-video-805257

PORNHUB'S HOTTEST SEARCH IN RUSSIA IS FROM BANNED ANTI-KREMLIN VIDEO.

A still image taken from AFPTV footage shows opposition leader Alexei Navalny taking a selfie photograph during a rally calling for a boycott of the March 18 presidential elections, in Moscow, on January 28. A video made by Navalny has caused huge controversy in Russia.ALEXANDRA DALSBAEK/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

A model at the center of extraordinary revelations made by President Vladimir Putin's biggest rival has become the most searched name by Russian users on the adult site Pornhub.

Different spellings of Nastya Rybka's name have become the four most popular search terms in Russia on the world's biggest pornography website, digital news site TJournal reported on Tuesday. (Rybka is reportedly a pseudonym for a model named Anastasia Vashukevich, according to the Guardian.)

Rybka rocketed to internet fame last week after she became the focus of a scandal involving a wealthy oligarch, top politicians and allegations of bribery. Russian authorities have ordered the man who first blew the whistle on the scandal, Putin-critic Alexei Navalny, to take down online posts about it, after his video went viral in Russia.

Why Rybka's name is attracting so much attention on the adult video site is not clear, and there is no evidence that she has appeared in any movies. Russians have also used Pornhub as a backup hosting site for Navalny's videos on previous occasions when authorities have tried to take them down.

Rybka describes herself as a model on her Instagram account, though the Guardian referred to her as an escort and the Washington Post described a book she has written as being "about her escort work."

Navalny's latest scoop is, by his own admission, "the strangest investigation" he has carried out, but it is also very popular, surpassing 4 million views within days of going live.

Related: Pornhub users may now have to use passports to log in from Russia

The video examines a number of Rybka's social media posts and past claims about seducing a wealthy oligarch. Navalny concludes from the posts that she was present at a real meeting between a magnate and a Russian minister aboard a lavish private yacht.

The explosive exposé prompted the state watchdog to demand the video's removal. It threatened to block YouTube entirely if the clip is not removed soon.

Photographs posted to Rybka's Instagram account show her on a yacht with a man who bears a striking resemblance to a billionaire named Oleg Deripaska, who is close to Putin and was once close to President Donald Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort.

In other photographs apparently taken the same day, the man who looks like Deripaska is seen with a man who closely resembles Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Prikhodko.

Navalny found further evidence of the meeting in a sound clip purportedly recorded on the yacht in which Prikhodko's first and middle names are mentioned. Navalny also points to a chapter in Rybka's book that appears to detail the encounter, though the characters have pseudonyms.

Deripaska has denied allegations that he partook in any unlawful actions as "the fruit of the imagination of a group of people and the result of a planned campaign aiming to damage my reputation."

 

He wrote on Instagram: "I want to warn the media against the dissemination of these mendacious accusations. I will severely suppress any attempts to create and disseminate false information flow, using all legal measures and will defend my honor and dignity in court."