Dmitry Peskov has been explaining the war to Russians every day since February 2022. He finds words for the deaths of soldiers, for mobilization, for sanctions, for why 'this will be long-term' and why retreat is not an option.

While he finds these words, his son served over a year in a British prison, his daughter owns a share of a Parisian apartment through a French company, and his wife is, these very weeks, suing the European Union, seeking the lifting of sanctions against her.

Who is Peskov

Dmitry Peskov is the press secretary to the President of Russia, the official voice of the Kremlin since the early 2000s. He is quoted when there's a need to explain another strike, another wave of mobilization, or another round of escalation. Since March 2022, he has been under personal sanctions by the United Kingdom — and later by the European Union, Canada, the USA, Switzerland, Australia, Ukraine, Japan, and New Zealand.

Peskov has three children from his first marriage — Nikolay, Elizaveta, and younger son Deni — and one from his current marriage. Since 2015, he has been married to figure skater Tatyana Navka.

The Son Who Served Time in Peterborough

Nikolay Peskov was born in 1990. In the late 1990s, he moved to the United Kingdom with his mother, Peskov's first wife, and spent over ten years there — where he temporarily changed his surname to Choules.

In 2017, Alexey Navalny's FBK (Anti-Corruption Foundation) published an investigation titled 'Golden Child of a Diamond Dad': Nikolay Choules was not officially employed anywhere, led a bohemian life in Moscow, owned a 110 m² apartment on Bolshaya Dorogomilovskaya Street, and accumulated 116 unpaid traffic fines in one year.

The investigation included a transcript from an English court: in 2009, a person named Nikolay Choules attacked a teenager near a McDonald's, stole money, was found guilty, and, combined with an earlier sentence, spent over a year in a British prison in Peterborough.

Choules himself, in a conversation with RBC, called the investigation a 'nightmare' and a 'provocation,' but did not refute the substance of the documents presented. In September 2022, Nikolay Peskov, along with his sister Elizaveta, was sanctioned by Canada — specifically as children of Dmitry Peskov, 'an accomplice in Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.'

The Daughter Who Lives on 700 Euros a Month

Elizaveta Peskova was born in 1998 in Ankara, where her father was serving at the time. After her parents' divorce in 2012, she moved to France with her mother, Ekaterina Solotsinskaya, and younger brothers — she studied at a boarding school in Normandy, then at the Institute of Asian and African Studies in Moscow, and then returned to Paris to study business and Eastern languages.

In 2019, RBC reported that Peskova was interning with French MEP Aymeric Chauprade — known for his pro-Russian views. Journalists pointed to an obvious conflict of interest; Chauprade himself told Radio Svoboda that, as a student, she had no less right to an internship than others.

In April 2023, the Dossier Center published an investigation titled 'The French Connection': a 180 m² Parisian apartment is registered to the French legal entity SIRIUS, three-quarters of whose shares belong to Elizaveta's mother, and one-quarter to Elizaveta herself. Additionally, she owns 30% of the exhibition agency Centrum and heads her own 'Foundation for the Development of Russian-French Historical Initiatives.'

Despite this, Elizaveta Peskova publicly complained about a difficult life in France.

A famous surname is not a privilege, but a heavy burden.

Dmitry Peskov himself echoed her sentiments in an interview with MGIMO's student TV channel, responding to accusations of nepotism:

She was never a spoiled child. She had a rather difficult life and studies not only in Russia but also in France. She always lived there very poorly, in very spartan conditions.

A share in a French company owning a 180-square-meter apartment hardly fits this description.

Hours Before the War Began

The publication 'Tochka' reported that Elizaveta Peskova left Russia just hours before the full-scale invasion began on February 24, 2022. Independently verifying the exact hour of her departure is impossible — this is the only source reporting such a detail — but the fact of her continuous residence in the West since the war began is undisputed by anyone, including her own interviews.

The Wife Suing Brussels

Tatyana Navka is a 2006 Olympic figure skating champion, married to Peskov since 2015. In June 2022, she was included in the EU's sixth package of sanctions: as stated in the justification, for co-owning companies and real estate, particularly in Crimea, and for being married to a person who is himself under sanctions.

In late May 2026, according to TASS, Navka filed a lawsuit with the Court of Justice of the European Union, seeking the annulment of these sanctions. The proceedings are expected to take several months. This means that four years into the war, the wife of the Kremlin's chief voice is not seeking to leave the 'toxic West,' but rather the right to freely interact with it again.

What This Dossier Reveals

None of the facts in this material constitute a criminal accusation against Dmitry Peskov himself — he has not been held accountable either in Russia or abroad for the actions of his children or wife. Formally, these are the stories of three different adults.

But it is Peskov whose professional function for the fourth year has been to explain to millions of Russians why they must share the burdens of war with the state.

His son acquired a criminal record in Britain long before the war, but is now reaping its consequences in the form of personal sanctions.

His daughter lives in Paris, owns a share of an apartment, and complains about poverty.

His wife is suing the European Union for the right to once again be part of the world that Russian television every evening calls hostile.

None of these options are available to ordinary Russian families whose sons are dying on the front lines.