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Sons of Russian oligarchs produce 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.
In an article in Voyennoye Obozreniye, Russian writer Yevgeny Fyodorov revealed that numerous sons of Russian oligarchs are playing a role alongside former CIA and FBI agents in determining the nature of the weapons the West will use in tomorrow's wars. These individuals work at 8VC, a powerful investment fund based in the United States that manages assets exceeding $6 billion.
The defense network of the PayPal Mafia
8VC was founded by Joe Lonsdale, a co-founder of Palantir. Lonsdale is a key member of the "PayPal Mafia," an influential group in technology and political circles that also includes figures like Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and David Sacks.
Palantir works with the CIA, FBI, and NSA to process data collected from satellites, drones, and cameras, 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 strategic partnership
Two Russian heirs work in positions requiring access to the fund, 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 of 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 began 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 multibillion-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, his 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 served in the Federation Council and had 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 laundering billions of rubles. The court approved the prosecutor's request to seize shares, and 65% of the company passed to the state. This was the largest expropriation of agricultural assets in modern Russian history.
While this drama unfolded in Moscow, his son Jack continued his career at 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 systemic 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 was the privatizations of the 1990s or agricultural empires, the foundation is always the same: Russian resources, market, and influence networks.
- In the second stage, a portion of the capital is transferred to the West. At the same time, the oligarchs' children are educated at elite Western universities, subjected to 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 transferred to the West. It appears that the choice is unequivocally in favor of capital. Children who are fully integrated into the Western system become an ideal bridge for the family's ultimate "break."
Double standard and hope
Fyodorov emphasizes that the West demonizes Russian assets and money, but this stigmatization instantly disappears when it comes to the money and children of Russian oligarchs working at the very heart of the US military-industrial complex. Denis Aven and Jack Moskovich were never subjected to the "Kremlin connections" investigations that Western companies and banks apply to any other Russian emigrant.
According to the author, this double standard reveals the true face of the West's "Russian threat" narrative: oligarchs carrying a Russian passport and Russian wealth are not seen as a "threat" as long as they are ready to place 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 multi-billion dollar Russian elite class, no matter how naive it may seem."
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