Interview with Alexei Sokolov from Jorg H. Trauboth's THE DEATH OF THE KREMLIN CZAR
* * *
Thank you for your interview, Alexei. How old are you and what do you do for a living?
Thank you very much for the invitation. I am 53 years old and financially secure. I prefer to let the media speculate about my wealth. But it is true that I am one of the richest people in Russia. Incidentally, it's not true that I acquired my wealth illegally. Like others, I bought shares cheaply during the privatization of Russian state-owned companies and thus created the basis for my current real estate empire. Today, I know that money alone does not make you happy. Especially when you need the support of the Russian president to maintain your wealth. As a rich oligarch, you are his prisoner. But more on that later.
Can you tell us about one of your most distinguishable features?
I come from a respected Russian family from St. Petersburg and am traditionally a nationalist Russian. I love my fatherland. However, since I lived in the USA for several years. I am also a politically western-minded person. I am in favor of basic democratic values that safeguard the freedom and dignity of citizens. That is not the case in Russia. On the contrary, we have become a dictatorship with a new Czar at the top.
I have been living miserably in this environment for too long. That is why I have decided to change Russia. Now you want to know how? Okay. We are a group of oligarchs who will overthrow the Russian president in a few days. Just like Caesar was overthrown by his senators. Everything is prepared. Even the new government. It will put an end to the terrible war against Ukraine, and we will reach out to the USA for a new partnership.
What would I love the most about you?
I have no idea. Maybe you would admire me because I will risk everything I have achieved to lead Russia into a new, better world. So I am a resistance fighter who is ready to sacrifice his life. Perhaps you would call me crazy. Even if my plan fails, at least I tried. That alone counts. So I am an idealist. And privately? I'm in love with a woman who means everything to me. I want to share my future with her. Unfortunately, Yulia Smirnoff is the partner of the Russian president and the mother of his two sons. Therefore, you could say that I'm also an idiot, a Romeo who lost his mind for love. I hope the Czar is dead before he finds out.
What makes you laugh out loud?
To be honest, I have lost that spontaneous quality. I live in a world of constant surveillance and betrayal. Everything I do is controlled. I am rich but unfree. There is not much to laugh about.
No, there was one event. After an emergency helicopter landing in the mountains of northern Italy, Yulia secretly came to my room at night. I was lying in a 200-year-old wooden bed.
She stood naked in the moonlit room, jumped on me with a mighty leap, the picture of the Virgin Mary fell from the wall and missed us both by a hair's breadth. At the same time the church bells rang out in the village. I burst out laughing. I had no way of knowing that this was perhaps also a warning from St. Mary.
What is your most treasured possession?
My dignity, my authenticity
Are you a loner or do you prefer to be surrounded by friends?
I have become a lone wolf. I'm cautious even with my friends. You never know who might turn the knife on you. Many people try to get in touch with me. My only friend is Yulia.
What is in your refrigerator right now?
I am currently living with Yulia on my yacht Heavens Gate in the Turkish area. We don't have to worry about food. My cook knows what's in the fridge. Yulia orders, he makes it. That may sound decadent and I wish I could shop and eat normally. But that's the price I have to pay. The Russian Czar is far worse off. While I can travel around the world, he is on the run even within Russia and has tasters in every residence.
What is your greatest fear?
My greatest fear is that my plan will fail, even though the coup is perfectly prepared.
If you could change one physical thing about yourself, what would that be?
My deceased wife said in her last weeks: “Alexei, you tend to play with risk and overstep boundaries. Make sure you don't overstep the mark.” It's hard for me to take that to heart, because I'm actually also a player who has to take risks. Right now, it's all or nothing.
Who is your best friend?
Yulia
Do you have children?
Two wonderful sons in the US. After my coup, we will be one big international patchwork family
What is your favorite weather?
I love the mild Mediterranean temperatures, which make the skin soft and comfortable. But I also love the cold nights in St. Petersburg, when we used to huddle together as students and warm ourselves with vodka. Everything has its time.
Do you like to cook? If so, what is your favorite thing to cook?
Lock myself in a room and fill up my fridge. I would search for a favorite meal in an app and be pretty desperate because I can't cook at all. You don't have to be able to do everything, do you?
However, I do make a point of eating properly. That's why I maintain my ideal weight and go to the gym every day. Low carbohydrates and lots of exercise work wonders.
If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, what would you do today?
I would pray to God that someone else would complete my plan and ask Him to forgive me for all my sins. But to be honest, I don't even want to know. If death comes, please make it quick and as unexpected as possible. My creator Jörg H. Trauboth has come up with something that I don't agree with at all. Shame on him! So read the story and you'll know what happens to me.
The poison attack is perfectly prepared, but the Boeing with the oligarch Alexei Sokolow, his lover and over 100 passengers on board is hijacked by a Ukrainian terrorist and is supposed to crash over Berlin after knocking out the crew by shooting. Former elite soldier Marc Anderson is on board with his family and takes over with Alexei. The two flight amateurs try to get control. Will the landing and the assassination succeed or will the Kremlin Czar strike back brutally after realizing the role of Yulia?
The Death of the Kremlin Czar is available at Amazon (U.S. edition) and Amazon (German edition).
He is known as a respected expert in the media on security-related topics. He volunteers as an emergency counselor and is a member of the Crisis Intervention Team (KIT Bonn) of the German Foreign Office. He is a private pilot, married, with two sons and three grandchildren.
In 2002, Trauboth wrote the now out of print standard work “Crisis Management for Company Threats”.
In 2016 the follow-up work was published with Jörg H. Trauboth as editor in collaboration with five authors: “Crisis Management in Companies and Public Institutions”.
Terror expert J. H. Trauboth presented his debut novel in 2015 with the Germany thriller “Three Brothers”. (Available in English). In 2019 “Operation Jerusalem” followed and in 2020 “Omega”. The trilogy is about the former elite soldier Marc Anderson and his team. With these three self-contained thrillers, Trauboth is rated by many readers as the “German Tom Clancy.” The trilogy is available as a printed edition, eBook and audio book.
His first detective novel, “Jakobs Weg” (German), followed in 2021. The highly explosive topic of “sexual abuse of children” is processed sensitively in a scenario on the Way of Saint James and at the end offers contact options for those seeking help.
In 2022, the novella “Bonjour Saint-Ex” was published (German) in which the passionate pilot Jörg H. Trauboth turns the last flight of the legend Antoine de Saint Exupéry into an exciting literary event.
Readers wanted a sequel to the Marc Anderson series. In 2023, ZarenTod – Das Ende der Präsidenten was published, a highly topical political thriller. The Russian president and new tsar, Ivan Pavlenko, suddenly shows his true face during the war in Ukraine. He wants the old Soviet Union back. The world is on the brink. The influential oligarch, Alexei Sokolov, wants to prevent Ivan’s megalomaniac plans and is planning a fundamental new beginning for Russia. To achieve this, the Russian president must be removed. But the plan goes awry. Ex-elite soldier Marc Anderson intervenes. Will Czar Ivan die? What will become of Europe? The book 8/ 2024 in English „The Death of the Kremlin Czar” is the fourth political thriller in the Marc Anderson series.
Website & Social Media:
Website ➜ https://trauboth-autor.de/english/
Twitter ➜ https://twitter.com/JorgTrauboth
Comments
Post a Comment