The Russian delegation to deliver the Holy Fire arrived in Jerusalem yesterday morning. It is comprised of disgraced individuals seeking to regain Putin's favor. He usually personally arrives at the Christ the Savior Cathedral for the Easter service with the Holy Fire, so the ceremony has become steeped in rituals and hidden meanings. Security guards may even deny entry to the hall where the ceremony is taking place while Putin is there. He may even refuse to even see the person. Or perhaps the disgraced person will receive a pardon and a career restart. Along the way, the Holy Fire is accompanied by challenging flight attendants who are also hoping for a better future. After all, the example of singer Zivert is right before their eyes.

As usual, the delegation was led by Vladimir Yakunin, former head of Russian Railways and current head of the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation. According to the Cheka-OGPU and http://Rucriminal.info, the delegation included interesting individuals. For example, Moscow City Duma deputy Sabina Tsvetkova, the wife of Anton Tsvetkov, the notorious leader of the "Officers of Russia" organization. Also included was Pavel Astakhov, former children's rights commissioner. His son was convicted of embezzling funds from NVKbank, but his father managed to arrange for him to serve his sentence in a safe location in the SVO. He is also hiding there from a second criminal case – for embezzling funds from APAbank. Astakhov is part of the delegation representing the "Spas" TV channel of Orthodox oligarch Konstantin Malofeev. A group of businessmen facing various problems is also part of the delegation. The delegation included journalists accredited to cover the event, who flew on the same plane provided by the state corporation Roscosmos. Upon arrival and check-in at their hotels, the delegation, along with the Russian Ambassador to Israel, proceeded to an audience with Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem, where an official ceremony took place. During the ceremony, both sides exchanged gifts. A reception followed with informal mingling. The visiting elite raised a glass with Patriarch Theophilos and headed to the Edicule.

As our project reported, at one point, Yakunin and his longtime friend, "Putin's massage therapist" and Croatian citizen Konstantin Goloshchapov, began experiencing problems accessing Vladimir Putin. Because of this, in 2023, for the first time in history, a service attended by the president at the Christ the Savior Cathedral took place without the Holy Fire. This is because the fire was delivered by former Russian Railways CEO Vladimir Yakunin and Konstantin Goloshchapov, both former close associates of the president, but the president's security team prevented them from entering the cathedral along with the fire while Putin was present. He didn't want to see them.

 

In 2025, at the ceremony of the descent of the Holy Fire, along with Patriarch Theophilus of Jerusalem, instead of church representatives, the procession (circling the Edicule three times) was led by Elena Milskaya, the wife of the head of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, Alexander Kurenkov, and her masked guards. One guard looked remarkably like Daniil Martynov, the adviser to the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, a close friend of Ramzan Kadyrov, and the agency's "grey cardinal." The second guard was a dead ringer for Leonid Martynov, an assistant to the Minister of Emergency Situations, whose sole official duty is to protect the spouse of the agency's "top official."

 

Incidentally, the VChK-OGPU channel was the first to report on Milskaya. Milskaya heads the center for the search for missing children, the board of trustees of the St. Basil the Great Foundation, and another foundation associated with the Russian Orthodox Church.

 

In 2004, Milskaya, together with the Archangel Michael Foundation, launched a large-scale project to build churches for the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

 

This foundation is affiliated with the so-called Orthodox oligarch Konstantin Malofeev. As head of the foundation, Milskaya is involved in the construction and renovation of Orthodox churches.

The funds raised and received are used (and the work is carried out) by companies owned by Milskaya and her father.

 

During the journey to Moscow with the Holy Fire, another mandatory ceremony takes place—a photo shoot of priests and business aviation flight attendants. Our project previously discovered that the selected flight attendants have one thing in common: they all attended the "elite flight attendants school." This is a veritable forge of personnel for serving oligarchs, clergy, and other wealthy sectors of society.

 

This is a private educational organization that trains young women to work on special flights, private jets, and even yachts. Typically, the school's "graduates" find employment with airlines that service private aircraft and ships. A select few are allowed to accompany and serve not only representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church but also top officials.

 

According to information from the government procurement website, the company even has "relationships" with the Presidential Property Management Department. For example, the "elite flight attendant school" was a contract supplier for the Special Flight Detachment "Russia" and even the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Strategic Command of the Western Military District."

 

Judging by the constant advertisements, the search for new VIP specialists is ongoing. The company's founder, Irina Yushi, is She regularly solicits potential clients on social media, assuring future flight attendants that experience, job availability, and even age aren't important. She emphasizes, as if to say, "It all depends on you!"

Yushina wrote that her "favorite passenger is Yakunin."

In one interview, Irina Yushina seemed to reveal the true concept behind training women who serve VIP passengers. After discussing the qualities a business jet flight attendant should possess—a knowledge of haute cuisine and "the ability to empathize with the owner"—the company founder answered a question about intimacy.

 

According to the former business aviation flight attendant, whether or not to agree to provide intimate services to a high-status passenger is a personal choice. Irina Yushina doesn't hide the fact that most attend her school only to board a VIP plane and meet an oligarch.

 

As the "air matchmaker" herself boasts, many of her graduates, having left business aviation, became personal assistants, mistresses of wealthy individuals, or simply got a head start on becoming self-sufficient and independent.

 

For example, one of those who traded the Fabergé table setting in the sky for the spotlight and the stage is singer