Editor's note: In September 2025, more than three months after publishing its report, The Telegraph removed the story from its website and issued an apology to Sergei Chernikov, writing that it "erroneously stated that Mr Sergei Chernikov – and, by association, his niece, Ms Yulia Kirillova – had current ties to the Kremlin and to President Putin personally" and that it was "incorrect to state that Mr Chernikov once served as Deputy Governor of the Nenets region in Siberia, or that he received a personal note of thanks from Mr Putin for supporting his electoral victory in the 2000 election campaign."
Rumors that Darren Beattie — a senior official in the U.S. State Department — had personal ties to Russia spread in June 2025. Posts across multiple platforms (archived, archived, archived, archived) claimed that the uncle of Beattie's wife, a Russian woman named Yulia Kirillova, had roles in Russian government and even once received a personal "thank you" message from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The posts pointed to an investigation (archived) published by U.K. news outlet The Telegraph on June 3, claiming that Beattie — whom the investigation asserted shut down the U.S. government's Russian disinformation unit — had links to the Kremlin.
Below, we break down Beattie's history, what the investigation alleged, how Beattie's wife responded publicly to the claims and what evidence exists to support them:
Who is Darren Beattie?
Beattie is not new to public controversy. He worked in the first administration of President Donald Trump as a policy aide and speechwriter, but left the White House in 2018 after CNN broke the story that he spoke at the 2016 H.L. Mencken Club Conference, an event attended by white nationalists such as Richard Spencer.
Less than a year after Beattie's firing from the Trump administration, then-U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz hired him to work as a special adviser for speechwriting (archived).
Trump then appointed Beattie in 2020 as a member of the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad, a position from which the administration of then-President Joe Biden forced him to resign in 2022 after several groups — including the Anti-Defamation League — denounced his appointment given his antisemitic history and the position's responsibility to identify and preserve international heritage sites, including historic sites of the Holocaust. (In his X account's bio, Beattie wrote that he is a "Proud Jew.")
In February 2025, Trump appointed Beattie as the under secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, a top position in the State Department.
By April, Beattie had spearheaded the effort to shut down the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Disinformation office — a department responsible for combating foreign information interference, particularly regarding claims of Russian interference in U.S. elections, as well as monitoring Iranian and Chinese influence. In an interview with conservative activist Michael Benz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio credited Beattie with leading the effort to shut down the office, saying it had "nearly destroyed America's long free speech history."
Before his role in the government, the Telegraph investigation claimed, Beattie was consistently vocal on his social media regarding his pro-Russia views. The Telegraph reported that Beattie's social media showed staunch support for Putin with posts praising him as "brave and strong" and claiming Putin had "done more to advance conservative positions in the US than any Republican."
His official government page is, as of this writing, publicly viewable on the State Department website (archived), indicating that he still has a senior position in the department.
What did the investigation allege?
The Telegraph's investigation made two major claims: that Beattie married a woman from Russia, and that she is the niece of a businessman with close ties to Putin.
According to Florida public records The Telegraph acquired, Beattie married Kirillova in 2021 in a ceremony in Broward County. Kirillova's apparent Facebook profile — which matches the profile picture reported by The Telegraph —
The Telegraph's investigation claimed Kirillova studied in Moscow before moving to Canada and eventually the U.S. These claims appear consistent with her Facebook page, which indicates she completed her education in Moscow before studying at the University of Calgary and then receiving a law degree from Georgetown Law School in Washington, D.C., in 2019.
The Telegraph reported Kirillova is the niece of Sergei Chernikov, a Russian businessman with part ownership in the Bashkir Soda Co. The Telegraph alleged he had close ties to Putin and that he shared ownership of an apartment with Kirillova's mother.
Kirillova legitimated the claim that Chernikov was her uncle when she responded to the assertions in a statement to The Times, saying:
Far from being Kremlin-aligned, Putin publicly denounced my uncle and his ownership stake in Bashkir Soda, whereupon the Putin government stole his company from him. He has lived in exile from Russia for five years. I am deeply disappointed that the Telegraph would omit these material and publicly discoverable facts that completely undermine the suggestion that my uncle or I am Kremlin-linked — the narrative backbone of the entire piece.
We reached out to Chernikov via his Facebook account for comment, and will update this story if we receive a response.
A Russian news outlet published a story in 2023 that claimed Chernikov supported and participated in Putin's 2000 presidential election campaign, "for which he even received gratitude from the president" — echoing the Telegraph's claim that he "received a letter of thanks from Putin for his help in the election campaign which first brought the Russian leader to power."
The Telegraph article detailed Chernikov's foray into politics as follows:
The claim Chernikov was involved in Russian politics originated before The Telegraph story. The Russian news story above, as translated by Google Translate, reads as follows:
According to Chernikov's biography on the website of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, of which he became a member in 2008, the businessman participated in Vladimir Putin's 2000 election campaign, for which he even received gratitude from the president. In 2000-2001, he managed to work as the first deputy head of the North-West Department of the Ministry of Natural Resources, and after several months he spent as the first vice-governor of the Nenets Okrug. However, from this experience, in his own words, he concluded that public service was not for him, and returned to business.
We were unable, as of this writing, to find Chernikov's official biography on the website of the Civic
However, it was clear that by 2020, Putin publicly intervened in the Bashkir Soda Co., after protests erupted over the company's plans to continue mining limestone from a mountain sacred to local residents for the production of baking soda. A Russian court also determined the 2013 privatization of the company "was carried out with violations," and the vast majority of the company subsequently transferred to federal ownership. Putin then reportedly ordered the return of a portion of the shares to the trust management of the locale's authorities.
It's unclear whether Russia officially forced Chernikov into exile and where exactly he lives, but according to the Russian news outlet, his social network profile lists Geneva, Switzerland, as his city of residence.
In sum …
Beattie — a historically vocal supporter of Putin — continues to hold his position in the U.S. State Department, and according to an investigation by The Telegraph, he married the niece of a Russian businessman — Chernikov — with reported links to Putin.
Reports indicate Putin intervened with Chernikov's chemical company, and Chernikov may be exiled from Russia, as of this writing. However, Snopes has not reviewed primary evidence related to these claims, and therefore cannot substantiate the claims in their entirety.