On June 9, 2024, the Khodorkovsky Live Telegram channel released a video titled "Rebellion of the Kremlin Heirs. Deputies' Children Against Their Fathers." One of the persons featured in this video is Diana Isakova, the daughter of a senator from the oil-rich Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. We decided to tell you about Diana in detail. Below is a translation of an article published by the BBC Russian Service in August 2022.

 "The Dictatorship Will Fall Sooner or Later": The Daughter of a Russian Senator Spoke Out Against the War and Left the Country

“I AM AGAINST this war! NO WAR! You could say that I didn't choose this government, but I condoned it with my silence, inaction, and fear for my life, even though I knew about its cruelty and immorality. And so we condoned, we feared. Now, because of our government, not only our people are suffering, but also our neighbors."

This post was written on Instagram by the then-25-year-old Diana Isakova, daughter of Federation Council member Eduard Isakov.

"Everything was in quiet mode"

On August 18, 2022, Diana Isakova recorded a story at the airport, promising to talk about her experiences over the past five months. "I couldn't say what I think in our country," she added. Early in the morning on August 19, she landed in a new country.

"On February 24, the war started. It's very difficult to convey the emotions I felt. It was a horrific protest and a huge burst of empathy," Isakova said in an interview with the BBC. "How can this be? A person kills another person, and this is Russia, the country I live in. I cried a lot in the first couple of days, it felt like mourning, as if someone, like a relative, had died."

Isakova's father, Eduard Isakov, is the current senator from the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. He is on the sanctions lists of the UK, the European Union, and Canada. At Federation Council sessions, Isakov now wears a jacket with a large letter "Z." In July 2022, Isakov visited the family of a Russian intelligence officer killed in Ukraine. "I am proud that such young guys are defending our country and fighting Nazis," he said at the time.

In April, Isakov proposed sending people who spoke out against the war in Ukraine to rebuild Donbas. "They shouldn't pay fines but should do something for their country with their own hands, the hands they use to write vile posts on social media. Let them go clean the streets of garbage, and paint fences. Instead of 10-15 days in detention, send them to the DPR and LPR to help rebuild cities and small settlements," he said.

Diana is Isakov's daughter from his first marriage. She is a yoga, vocal, and meditation instructor. As she told the BBC, she had long been subscribed "to Navalny and Meduza" (recognized in Russia as a "foreign agent"), "but it was all in such a quiet mode."

Isakova also revealed that in 2020, she secretly attended a rally in Sochi after Navalny's poisoning. "Kitchen discussions with my ex-husband on this topic were always there too. When Navalny was poisoned, we were very worried if he would survive," she added.

Another disagreement with her father, she says, was related to LGBT rights: "There was a moment when gays were being killed in Chechnya, it affected me very much. I tried to speak out, to show up on this topic. And he could call me and say: 'Delete [the post], and it was clear that if I didn't delete it, then goodbye."

Diana Isakova herself is bisexual, as evidenced by her Instagram and as she confirmed in a conversation with the BBC.

Diana Isakova

"Terrifying fear of my father"

In March 2022, Diana Isakova attended an anti-war rally in Sochi – "Navalny, among others, wrote that everyone should go out on that day," but there were very few people there, so she decided to come up with her action.

Diana says that on April 17, she, wearing inconspicuous clothing, a medical mask, and gloves, went to distribute anti-war leaflets of her design. According to her, she was quickly detained by plainclothes officers. During a six-hour police interrogation, she refused to answer questions out of fear of her father: "Terrifying fear of my father, such non-separation. I put his feelings and needs above my own. My father is a tough man, and I was afraid of him, afraid of his judgment, his rejection," Diana explains. "Well, that's non-separation, a child's position when the child looks back at the parent, even though he or she is already an adult in age."

When the police realized they had detained a senator's daughter, they tried to manipulate her: “We won't tell your father, just cooperate with us,” they said. According to Diana, she eventually signed the protocol without reading it, but when she later asked acquaintances to check if any case had been opened against her, they found nothing. “I think they hushed it up because of my father,” she speculates.

The next day, according to her, she was summoned for an FSB interrogation, and by the evening, information about her action had reached her father. “I found out that not only did he learn about it, but an incredible number of officials called him, and in the end, [Federation Council Chairperson Valentina] Matviyenko told him about it.”

“I had insane stress, all the non-separation came out, and I went to therapy to work through this fear,” Diana says.

Eduard Isakov told the BBC that after his daughter participated in the anti-war action in April, he suggested she should “visit places of military glory of the Soviet people” and “go to Donbas as a volunteer.” Valentina Matviyenko, according to the senator, asked him “to talk to his daughter, to explain to her the reasons and necessity of the special operation.” “When Diana found out that Valentina Ivanovna Matviyenko had called me, she asked – who is that? Such a politician Diana is! You take interviews from such young, beginning politicians and make a sensation out of their words,” Isakov told the BBC.

Senator Isakov

“A broken girl with consequences of cruel upbringing”

“He told me everything I had expected – that I am an enemy of the family, an enemy of the people, a criminal. And later he said that I was not his daughter. He came to tell me this,” Diana recalls about her senator father's reaction. When Isakov realized that his daughter was not going to repent and apologize, he demanded that she move out of the house.

Diana had lived in Sochi in a house belonging to her father for the past five years. “Financially, Dad always participated in my life very modestly,” Isakova told the BBC. “But as for the fact that I lived on his premises, yes.”

However, it wasn't always like that: as Diana recalls, in her youth, she had conflicts with her father and severe depression as a result. At some point on Instagram, she mentioned having six suicide attempts.

“I was a broken girl, this is the consequence of a cruel upbringing where my needs were not taken into account, and everything revolved around the needs of my parents,” Diana recalls one of these conflicts in an interview with the BBC. “Once Dad called me when I was in this broken state. Psychology in our country is still very underdeveloped, and ten years ago, no one had even heard of it. We have this tough guy upbringing in Russia, everything related to feelings and emotions is devalued. And Dad called me, once again devaluing my feelings, emotions, and needs. In general, I sent him to hell, and we didn't talk for two years.”

“Diana has no education, she finished school and didn't want to study further. She hasn't worked a single day, asking me for money for her support. Diana constantly told everyone around that her dad was a senator to get some benefits, which I tried to stop as much as possible. And with all this, she did everything contrary to me and my opinion,” Isakov complained to the BBC.

Then the father and daughter reconciled: “Dad invited me to visit him for a week, and I stayed for five years.” Diana lived permanently in her father's house in Sochi, where Eduard Isakov, with his second wife and younger children, came for holidays. Diana's Instagram for 2019 contains several joint photos with her father, including a heartfelt birthday greeting: “My dear, my only, my most beloved Dad.”

Isakov stated that he cut off all ties with his daughter after learning that she had an “anti-Russian position.” “We don't communicate, I don't support her, don't provide her with housing. I thought she would go to work, start an adult life, think like an adult,” he told the BBC. “If it were the daughter of not a politician but someone of another profession, no one would be interested in interviewing such a girl. But here is a sensation – a senator's daughter!”

After the anti-war action in April 2022, Isakova said, “My father tried to make me the guilty one, a traitor. And I needed a lot of internal energy, a lot of work on myself, to tell myself that I am me. I did what I believe is right. I stood up against killings. I sincerely believe that this is immoral and wrong. In my world, I am a sane person who dared to speak out and sincerely believe in my ideas, in my intentions, and sincerely believe in good.”

“I don't take any responsibility for his decision. Yes, I know he signed that paper that allowed the invasion, but I don't feel ashamed of him, I don't feel guilty. He is a separate adult person responsible for his actions,” Diana answers a question about her father. “I am worried, maybe, about what will happen to him because I am convinced that the dictatorship will fall sooner or later. Unfortunately, such arrogant people like my father, like our government, underestimate other people, they overestimate themselves too much."

They have the impression that everything that is happening now is forever, that Putin is forever. I can judge from the history of mankind that the dictatorship will fall sooner or later, people will wake up, and remember that they have a voice, and have will. I will do everything in my power to convey this to people. And what will happen when the government changes? I sincerely 100% believe that it will change and become more democratic, and adequate. People who supported the war and other things could be viewed as war criminals and might face trial. Those are my worries in that direction, probably."

• In the summer, Diana decided to leave Russia and speak out about her anti-war stance as publicly as possible. She contacted the BBC and Meduza with an offer to give an interview. "This is also a stage of separation," explains Diana. "I have the right to this, I have the right to speak up."