The Durov Family Core
The Mama Durova Inner Circle
This is the first part of two-part post. Part two describes Mama Durova's web of companies.
In my notes, a certain figure flickers into view like a ghost in a 1920s black and white film. I indexed these items with the moniker Mama Albina. I want to be clear. These are my notes, and my observations. You will need to verify this material, not view it as oracular pronouncements.
The name “Albina” refers to Madame Professor Albina Durova. She has been a faculty member in the Philology Department at SPbSU (Saint Petersburg State University) and has been for decades. My best guess is that she is about 70 years old. Biographical details are scant. Neither she nor SPbSU provides a standard curriculum vitae. She has not published extensively. Social media comments suggest that she is an expert in “philology.” My reading suggests that in Russia, the word “philology” means misinformation where semantics intertwine with propaganda, and the study of texts can shade into the study of influence. I wrote on one note card, “Does she work for Russia’s security apparatus?”
Decades ago, a much younger Miss Shirobokova married a highly-regarded mathematician at SPbSU. This first husband is Dr. Mikhail Petrov. He and Albina had a son, whom they named Mikhail Petrov. When he popped up in the documents I reviewed, I labeled him “Mishka”, a diminutive of the diminutive Russian word for Mikhail.
When Mishka was about nine years old, Mama Albina married another faculty member at SPbSU. Her second husband was Dr. Valery Durov, a leading scholar in the Philology Department where Mama Albina was studying. Russian academics, unlike their US colleagues, have social and political status particularly in a highly-regarded, state-funded institution. Mama Albina was a member of the elite, and she had connections with the mathematics department and the philology department.
She and Valery had two sons. Nikolai, who is generally regarded as a genius with two Ph.D.s. He has a paying job at SPbSU and works on technical projects that interest him. My notes about Nikolai include the phrases “golden boy” and “mama’s favorite child when he returned from his studies in Bonn, Germany.” I hypothesized that Nikolai does not seem to be adept in practical matters.” If true, it suggests the “golden boy” is not the go-getter his younger brother became.
The second son is Pavel (Pasha) Durov. Pasha is now famous in Russia and other parts of the world. He had a distinguished academic record too. Mama Albina did not raise dolts. Furthermore, Pasha’s entrepreneurial and philosophical activities earned this comment from me: “Pavel Durov may view himself as the Greatest of All Time or GOAT for Russian technology innovation, but for the family he evolved into a black sheep.”
Mishka is now in his mid-50s. Nikolai is in his mid 40s. Pavel is in his early 40s. My notes indicate that details about the marriages, birth dates, and other basic biographical information are either contradictory or incomplete. The Durov time lines are difficult to verify. Mama Durova’s influence has shaped her three sons’ behavior.
Mama Durova’s brood studied, won awards, graduated, and stayed out of trouble. Then in 2006, Pasha rolled out VKontakte (aka VK), a Facebook knock off. The online social network went viral. By 2007 it had 100,000 users and was attracting attention in the Russian Federation, not just Moscow and Saint Petersburg. What started as a way to share information about academics at SPbSU, like Facebook, VK added what students wanted; for example, personal contacts and interactions about drugs, sex, and rock and roll.
In 2006, I identified these people as her “core” circle:
Dr. Mikhail Petrov, technical connections and services available to him or facilitated by him
Mikhail Petrov (Mishka), once a student at SPbSU. He would assist Pasha with the networking work for VK and in 2009 formalize this Internet exchange expertise in a company called Peering LLC.
Professor Dr. Valery Durov, former chairperson of the Philology Department at SPbSU, provided useful connections and what I called in my notes “political cover” for his son Pasha.
Nikolai Durov, the genius, would assist Pasha with the core technology for VK. His involvement in his brother’s projects continues to the present.
Pavel (Pasha) Durov, the entrepreneur and self-proclaimed GOAT, became the most publicly visible member of Mama Durova’s circle. I noted to myself: “Mama Durova seems to be the equivalent of a show dog breeder.”
She had high performers, enjoyed social respectability, and at the end of 2007 a viral social media company directly related to her academic interest in Russian “philology.”
In Part Two, I will highlight the Web of companies that I hypothesize Mama Durova helped her inner circle implement. Plus, I will present my theory how Vladimir Vedeneev joined the inner circle, picking up the crisis that caused Pavel Durov to sell his stake in VK and leave Russia.