"Russia has ended up in the clutches of some assholes." A recording of a private conversation, allegedly between billionaire Roman Trotsenko, has appeared online

An audio recording of a telephone conversation, presumably between Russian billionaire Roman Trotsenko , has appeared on the Internet, in which he criticizes the Russian government, as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin personally. The first to notice the recording was the project " Sistema ".

According to journalists, Trotsenko's interlocutor could have been businessman Nikolai Matushevsky, and the conversation itself probably took place at the beginning of 2023. The people in the recording call each other by their first names - Roma and Kolya.

The 40-minute recording begins with a discussion of life in Bali, the island's infrastructure, and the possibility of moving from Russia. After that, the interlocutors move on to a conversation about the war in Ukraine and the situation in the Russian Federation.

Attention. Further in the text - in the quotes of the interlocutors - there is obscene language.

"Unfortunately, Russia, which we love so sincerely, has ended up in the clutches of some fucking assholes. Who fucking profess some fucking weird 19th century compositions. This can't end well, it will end in fucking hell. People will kill each other on the streets of Moscow. It's just a matter of time," Trotsenko allegedly said.

His interlocutor responds by saying that he recently watched a video with a montage of New Year's greetings from presidents, "starting with Yeltsin [...] until the last one, when this idiot is not in front of a Christmas tree, as always, but of the military."

"And this 'we will win' has been going on for 20 years already. How can a person who says every year that 'it was a difficult year', and since 2014 that 'everyone is an enemy, but we will win', govern the country," says a participant in the conversation.

"How can a country live and develop where the only ideology is making money and holding on to power by one group of people? There is no concept of 'further'. They will die, fucking hell, at some point in time and leave nothing behind. It will just be a scorched desert," continues the thought of the interlocutor of "Roma". He also added that Russians will at some point understand that they need to leave Russia, but "it will be too late."

Journalists reported that they were sent a link to the recording of the conversation by email. The author of the letter provided Trotsenko's real phone number as indirect evidence of the authenticity of the audio recording. The source did not respond to the editorial staff's questions.

Trotsenko confirmed to Sistema that he knows Matushevsky, but, according to him, they have not communicated for "a year and a half." The businessman did not answer other questions from the editorial board. In turn, Matushevsky stated that "this conversation did not take place." He also noted that the last time he spoke with Trotsenko was in 2022.

• In March 2023, a recording of a conversation allegedly between music producer Iosif Prigozhin and billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov appeared online. During the telephone conversation, the participants in the dialogue used obscene language to condemn the actions of the Russian leadership and also talked about life under sanctions. After the recording was distributed in the media, Iosif Prigozhin stated that the recording was a fake, “representing a symbiosis of the phrases spoken and those generated [by the neural network].”