George Soros part of secret society whose membership includes Russian-Jewish oligarch Mikhail Kusnirovich, Putin confidant Vladimir Yakunin, and Mountain Jew Joseph Prigozhin
Even Masons will envy: how Yakunin, Soros, Prigozhin and DiCaprio became musketeers
Sobesednik.ru tells about a closed club consisting of thousands of influential men from all over the world
What can unite the former head of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin and financier George Soros, Valentin Yudashkin and Leonardo DiCaprio? We tell you about a closed club, which consists of thousands of influential men from all over the world.
Caviar and dumplings
Salmon with red caviar and tomato pearls, lamb loin with eggplant, dumplings with scallops, vinaigrette with sprats. The assortment includes pies with cabbage and meat, as well as lightly salted cucumbers...
This is what the dinner looked like in honor of the acceptance of several new members to the Musketeers of Armagnac Society. Every year, several such events are held all over the world, including in the Moscow restaurant "Turandot".
Help
Armagnac is a subspecies of brandy made from white grapes in the province of Gascony.
The tables in the restaurant are named after the heroes of the novel by Alexandre Dumas. The head of the GUM Mikhail Kusnirovich has been sitting at the D'Artagnan table for several years. Another regular guest is Valentin Yudashkin, Anatoly Karpov, saxophonist Igor Butman and, of course, Mikhail Boyarsky.
Another Portos
The main values of the elite club are friendship, masculinity, desire to serve and a taste for life. All these values could not but find a response from Russian officials. Over the past six years, the blue ribbons of the musketeers have been worn by the former head of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin, former deputy mayor of Moscow Leonid Pechatnikov, deputy chairman of the board of Sogaz Sergey Okhotnikov, authorized under the President of Russia for the protection of the rights of entrepreneurs Boris Titov, etc.
A year ago, even producer Joseph Prigozhin was accepted into the musketeers. He told about it on Instagram. Another producer, Yana Rudkovskaya, then left an apt comment: "Our Portos".
- Everyone who enters should be recommended by someone, - the musketeer Prigozhin told us. - I can't say who recommended me. Candidates for musketeers are chosen by the General Staff headed by the current captain Emery de Montesquieu, who is a descendant of Charles Augier (aka the prototype of the hero Dumas d'Artagnan). Armagnac himself plays an important role at meetings. In general, I have a bad attitude to any alcohol, but it's still an elite drink that is not drunk in glasses. No one gets drunk on Armagnac.
The Last d'Artagnan
The beauty of the initiation ceremony can be envied by Masonic organizations: blue ribbons over the shoulder, orders with a cross, standards with coats of arms on the walls. The musketeers are dedicated with a special ritual sword, with which the head of the association touches the candidate's shoulders. However, modern musketeers have to fight only with delicacies on silverware. At the main chapter in the Gascon castle of Condom, some dishes are so large that four dark-skinned waiters dressed in the uniform of medieval lackeys have to carry them.
The main value of the society is the promotion of friendship and camaraderie, culinary art, the development of talents in the field of hospitality and, of course, Armagnac. All tables are set with bottles with this special brandy.
In the service of France
Moral qualities are not enough to join the musketeers.
At the forefront is the contribution to the development of relations between the native country and France.
In this regard, the former head of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin has all the rights to the blue ribbon. A year and a half before Yakunin received a recommendation to join the company, Russian Railways acquired 75% of the French logistics operator Gefco from Peugeot-Citroen for 800 million euros. At the end of 2012 Russian Railways opened its representative office in Paris. The official even has the French Order of the Legion of Honor - an award from the time of Napoleon, which is not awarded to every foreigner.
Restaurateur, founder of Cafe Pushkin and Turandot Andrey Dellos develops French cuisine in Moscow. One of the hosts of the program "Fashion Sentence" Evelina Khromchenko, also accepted as a musketeer, is a guide of French fashion in Russia. Other serious surnames are a direct outlet for musketeers to representatives of large Russian business.
"Ixcuse me" from the ambassador
A few years ago, the Russian ambassador to France Alexei Meshkov was supposed to undergo the initiation ceremony, but a diplomatic scandal prevented him. According to the Armagnac Musketeers Society, just before the meeting, Meshkov had to leave for Moscow - one of the Russian space satellites got too close to the satellite of France, which was considered espionage there.
The history was commented very sharply on by the Minister of the French Armed Forces, Florence Parly. Instead of Alexei Meshkov, only a letter of apology came to the community. Whether he became a musketeer after that is unknown.
Who else is in the elite club
- Albert II, Prince of Monaco
- Charles the Sixteenth, King of Sweden
- Leonardo DiCaprio, actor
- George Soros, billionaire
Who pays?
The scheme of financing the organization of lovers of swords and Armagnac can hardly be called transparent. The community, which already includes 4,100 people, gathers for pompous celebrations and dinners in many cities around the world, but only a few modest French travel companies are listed as its sponsors.
- So far, I haven't heard anything about the membership fee, - says Joseph Prigozhin, a member of the organization. - I do not rule out that it is there, but it would be difficult to assess the size. It's hard to say anything about the future now. We all live "in the moment". No meetings are held due to the pandemic.
The main chapter in Kondom Castle, scheduled for September 22, also had to be canceled. Spages, friendship, honor and glory turned out to be powerless against the coronavirus.
Just a coincidence
Condom condom discord
Despite the similarity with the English word condom, this object has nothing to do with the condom where the musketeers gather - condoms were not invented there at all. The condom museum in the condom, however, was, but the French themselves, in order not to get confused, use the word préservatif introduced by them instead of the English condom.