Hipster Art Couple Unmasked in Putin’s Secret ‘Next Ukraine’ Mission
Two Russian citizens accused by the U.S. of plotting to destabilize the Moldovan government this week are artists who claimed to hold anti-war views as recently as last year—and who appeared to be growing frustrated with how the invasion of Ukraine was hurting their business.
The couple, 37-year-old Aleksey Losev and 33-year-old Anna Travnikova, were sanctioned by the U.S. government on Tuesday for their role in “the government of the Russian Federation’s destabilization campaign and continued malign influence campaigns in Moldova,” along with five other Russian nationals, a press release from the U.S. Treasury’s office said.
Russia’s Covert Operation for ‘the Next Ukraine’ Has Already Begun
According to the announcement, the freshly sanctioned Russians operated as malign influence agents in a “large global information operation connected to the Russian Federation that targets Ukraine, countries bordering Ukraine including Moldova, Balkan countries, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States.” They are accused of “provoking, training, and overseeing” anti-government activities in Moldova while maintaining ties to Russian intelligence services.
Social media posts reviewed by The Daily Beast, however, paint a vastly different picture of the duo as peace-loving, free-spirited, and struggling artists who oppose the war in Ukraine.
The couple—whose wedding was in August 2019, according to a Facebook post from Losev—is behind Julleuchter by Perko, a workshop that “offers exclusive pagan home decor and specializes in Yule lanterns,” according to its website and social media pages, where the pair are featured in whimsical photographs on horseback and in pagan costumes, wandering in the Russian wilderness and promoting their art.
The company, which is owned by Losev, was also listed in the new round of sanctions announced by the U.S. this week.
“In 2016 I met my wife Anna, who became my inspiration and best support, and together we created the workshop that you see now,” Losev wrote in a social media post about the company. “Now me, Anna and our three cats live in a small green city in Russia and here is located our workshop.”
The day after Russia invaded Ukraine, Losev posted a heartfelt message on his company’s Facebook page appearing to condemn the war.
“In all my life I have not met a single person who would want war. And despite this, wars in our world continue to occur with enviable regularity. I feel pain and powerlessness,” he said. “All I can do right now is keep making art, hoping that beauty will save the world. But in the current situation art is not able to change anything and no one needs it.”
In subsequent posts, the artist appears to be growing increasingly concerned about Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine impacting their business, fearing their social media accounts would be blocked.
“Hey. There is a possibility that instagram and facebook will soon be closed for us. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but Anna and I have spent a lot of time here and met so many great people, and we really don't want to lose connection with you,” Losev wrote. “In addition to instagram, we have a tik tok account, which I hope is not going to be closed yet. So if you also have a tik tok, please follow us.”
“I understand that not everyone likes [Tiktok],” he added. “To be honest, we don’t really like it either, but we are trying to save the workshop by all available means right now.”
On March 5, 2022, his nightmare scenario apparently came true.
“We’re a russian family workshop and we have to temporarily suspend our stores,” Losev announced the company’s accounts. “We still can send parcels worldwide with our postal services, but on March 5 PayPal and eBay stopped working in our country. This means that we no longer able to accept your payments neither through Etsy nor eBay. We sincerely hope that this is a temporary restriction and we’ll be back as soon as this hell is over.”
Just days later, Losev shared that he and his wife were distraught and contemplating leaving Russia altogether.
“Last few days Anna and I have been discussing options for moving to another country. There are several paths for us, but for various reasons each of them isn’t very good,” he said, mentioning Georgia and other European countries as options, lamenting the costs of such a move and concerns that they “don’t have enough grounds to get asylum.”
The Big Pivot
How and when the pair went from preaching peace to allegedly attempting to destabilize a neighboring country is unclear. Although the exact timeframe of the malign influence campaign was not specified by the U.S. government, the Russian operatives were actively targeting Moldova in 2022 and early 2023, the Treasury department said.
Losev’s role in the alleged scheme was to “conduct reconnaissance in Moldova for the plot to destabilize the government of Moldova,” according to the sanctions memo. Travnikova, for her part, is accused of “targeting foreign audiences”—including Americans—with operations “designed to sway public opinion abroad in favor of Russia in the context of Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine.”
The couple did not respond to comment requests from The Daily Beast by time of publication.
Others sanctioned over the scheme include Yury Makolov, Gleb Khloponin, Svetlana Boyko, Vasily Gromovikov, and Konstantin Sapozhnikov, the alleged leader of the group.
The announcement is just the latest in several rounds of sanctions targeting alleged Kremlin agents for influence campaigns in Moldova, a former Soviet country of 2.6 million people wedged between Romania and Ukraine that is often caught in the crossfire between Moscow, Kyiv, and the West. Russia maintains a military presence in a Russian-backed breakaway region along the border with Ukraine.
Thousands marched in anti-government protests in Moldova’s capital city of Chisinau, and across the country, earlier this year, The protests erupted a month after Russia’s top diplomat threatened that Western support for Maia Sandu, Moldova’s pro-NATO president, could turn the country into “the next Ukraine.”
Sandu’s administration—along with the U.S. and other western officials—has accused pro-Russia actors of planning a coup in the country that was allegedly thwarted in February. Fugitive oligarch and notorious Kremlin puppet Ilan Shor, who organized the 2023 protests with his political party, was sanctioned by the U.S. in October 2022 for conspiring with Russian officials to destabilize Moldova. The Moldovan businessman now lives in Israel after fleeing corruption charges in 2019.
The fresh wave of sanctions “shine a light on Russia’s ongoing covert efforts to destabilize democratic nations,” said Brian Nelson, the top U.S. sanctions official, in the announcement on Tuesday. “Russia’s attempted influence operations exploit the concerns of the citizens of these countries, to destabilize legitimately elected governments for Moscow’s own interests.”
Social media pages for Julleuchter by Perko, Losev’s company, have not been updated since the couple’s names were posted in bolded font on the U.S. Treasury Department’s website.
In his last Instagram post, dated May 29, Losev is pictured sitting in the wilderness with his back against a giant rock, holding an ax in one hand and throwing up a peace sign with the other. In the accompanying caption, he delivers some somber news:
“Hi guys! I’m Perko, the founder of the Jullichter workshop, in case you forgot. I missed. I hope you do too. Our family ceased to exist. [Anna] and I are getting divorced. It’s a mutual decision, but it’s still very painful. At the moment I need a vacation and a change of activity. There are a lot of projects, but now I need a reboot,” he said.
“I wish you all a peaceful sky above your head, love and understanding and strength. God bless you.”
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