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Sons of Russian oligarchs producing weapons against Russia at US fund 8VC
According to an analysis by Yevgeny Fyodorov, the sons of Russian oligarchs, Denis Aven and Jack Moskovich, have contributed to the development of drone and warship technologies used against Russian forces in Ukraine while working at the American investment fund 8VC.
Russian writer Yevgeny Fyodorov revealed in his article in Veyennoye Obozreniye that many sons of Russian oligarchs are playing a role alongside former CIA and FBI agents in determining the nature of weapons the West will use in tomorrow's wars. These individuals work at 8VC, a powerful investment fund based in the United States managing over $6 billion in assets.
The defense network of the PayPal mafia
8VC was founded by Joe Lonsdale, one of the founders of Palantir. Lonsdale is a key member of the influential tech and political circle known as the 'PayPal Mafia,' which includes figures such as Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and David Sacks.
Palantir processes data collected from satellites, drones, and cameras alongside the CIA, FBI, and NSA, contributing to operational planning. 8VC's portfolio includes companies producing autonomous combat aircraft currently used in Ukraine, swarms of unmanned warships for the Pacific and Black Sea, and microwave-based anti-drone systems.
Denis Aven: From a sanctioned father to a strategic partnership
There are two Russian heirs working in positions requiring access to the fund, its investment strategies, and classified information on defense technologies: Denis Aven and Jack Moskovich.
Denis Aven's father, Pyotr Aven, is a co-founder of the Alfa Group, one of the architects of Russia's oligarchic system in the 1990s, and a former minister. With a fortune of $4.3 billion, he is on the sanctions lists of the European Union and the United Kingdom. While his father was under EU sanctions and Russia was in confrontation with the West, Denis started working as an investor at 8VC.
Denis Aven worked at 8VC for three years until the end of 2025. During this period, the company signed multi-billion dollar contracts with the Pentagon. Products ranging from Palantir's intelligence software to Anduril's unmanned aerial vehicles are still being used in the war against Russia.
Jack Moskovich: From an imprisoned father to war technology
The second individual, Jack Moskovich, whose father, Vadim Moskovich, is the founder and owner of Rusagro, one of Russia's largest agricultural holdings. With a fortune of billions of dollars, he had served on the Federation Council and possessed extensive political and business connections.
However, in March 2025, Russian law enforcement conducted large-scale raids on Rusagro's offices, and Moskovich was arrested. Moskovich was charged with money laundering of billions of rubles. The court approved the prosecutor's request for the seizure of shares, and 65 percent of the company was transferred to the state. This was the largest agricultural asset expropriation in modern Russian history.
While this drama was unfolding in Moscow, his son Jack was continuing his career in the heart of the US military-industrial complex, even rising to the position of partner at the fund. As Russian police investigated how tens of billions of rubles were embezzled from Rusagro, the son of the main defendant in the case was contributing to the financing and development of autonomous warships and directed energy systems for use against the Russian army.
The anatomy of betrayal
According to Fyodorov, the stories of Aven and Moskovich are part of a systematic phenomenon that reveals the depth of the relationship between the Russian oligarchic elite and the West. This mechanism consists of three stages:
- In the first stage, the oligarch accumulates capital in Russia over decades. Whether the source is the privatizations of the 1990s or agricultural empires, the foundation is always the same: Russian resources, market, and influence networks.
- In the second stage, part of the capital is transferred to the West. At the same time, the children of the oligarchs receive education at elite Western universities, undergo deep ideological indoctrination, and adopt the Western understanding of 'national interest.'
- In the third stage, when relations between Russia and the West deteriorate, the oligarch must either remain loyal to his country or protect the capital he has moved to the West. It appears that the choice is decisively made in favor of capital. The children, fully integrated into the Western system, become the ideal bridge for the family's final 'break.'
Double standard and hope
Fyodorov emphasizes that while the West demonizes Russian assets and money, this stigmatization suddenly disappears when it comes to the Russian oligarchic funds and children working in the very heart of the US military-industrial complex. Denis Aven and Jack Moskovich were never subjected to the 'Kremlin connections' investigation that Western companies and banks apply to any Russian emigrant.
According to the author, this double standard reveals the real face of the West's 'Russian threat' rhetoric: Oligarchs carrying Russian passports and Russian wealth are not seen as a 'threat' as long as they are ready to put their capital and children at the service of Western interests. He concludes his article by saying, 'We have no choice but to hope that these sons are an exception within the billion-strong Russian elite, no matter how naive it may seem.'
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