Pandemonium on the airwaves as Ksenia Sobchak confronts Navalny's campaign manager before a radio broadcast

On January 15, Ksenia Sobchak confronted Leonid Volkov, Alexey Navalny’s presidential campaign manager, at the Ekho Moskvy radio station and demanded an apology from him. Sobchak interrupted preparations for a live broadcast and the exchange was aired on YouTube.

According to Sobchak, whose presidential candidacy application was not rejected by federal election officials, Volkov spread false claims that she recently staged a lavish party in Bali. Volkov responded to Sobchak’s demands by telling her to leave the studio, accusing her of insulting the station’s listeners and production crew.

On January 11, the pro-Navalny group “Protest Moscow” claimed that Sobchak organized a luxurious party in Bali when she should have been busy collecting endorsements for her presidential campaign. Sobchak says the event wasn’t a party but a meeting with her campaign’s sponsors. Volkov then accused Sobchak of “falsifying the geotags” on her social media posts and publishing pre-prepared content to conceal her true location.

Alexey Navalny’s campaign has criticized Sobchak’s presidential run as a Kremlin effort to promote a “caricature liberal candidate.”