Crème de la Kremlin

She’s the model star of a reality show about super-rich Russians in London. Katia Elizarova tells Richard Godwin about kissing Cumberbatch, her KGB granddad
Russian model Katia Elizarova. Elizarova is one of the stars of new TV show 'Meet the Russians' which starts September 25th 2013.
photos by Daniel Hambury. Katia is pictured at the Brompton Asian Brasserie, Knightsbridge. www.bromptonasianbrasserie.co.uk
20 September 2013

Ekaterina Igorevna Elizarova is Russian. Her father is an “entrepreneur”, her grandfather was the head of the KGB and her great-grandfather was married to Lenin’s sister. She is a model. Her favourite restaurant is Novikov in Mayfair and her favourite place to hang out is the Saatchi Gallery, partly because, as she says, “it’s just round the corner from me”. She lives in Chelsea. Obviously.

“I do fit the stereotype, don’t I?” she laughs, when we meet at the gallery. “Blonde Russian model living in Chelsea? When I go to a photoshoot the photographers often flirt with me but then they say: ‘Ah but I can’t afford you, can I?’ They expect that I swim in diamonds and pearls!” And she giggles again.

Elizarova, known as Katia, very sweetly insists she is appearing on the new Fox reality TV series, Meet the Russians, to dispel clichés. For example, she says, “I’m 27 and I have to work for my living. I wouldn’t think of buying a T-shirt from Prada when I could buy one from Zara.” And she hasn’t come to the Saatchi Gallery with a view to purchasing anything. “To collect art, you probably need a big place to store it. I may think about it later in life, but I know so little about it so I probably wouldn’t be a good investor.” As for her apartment, “Well, it’s big enough for me and my cat.” (Balthazar, hairless). “My friends all say I have soft spot for hairless, wrinkly things. Like Russian men!”

There is, in fact, something rather sweet and old-fashioned about Elizarova. She is currently branching out from her main career of modelling, appearing in a play, Sunstroke, at the Platform Theatre in King’s Cross, based on stories by Ivan Bunin and Anton Chekhov. Eight performances a week is not an inconsiderable amount of work but she adores it — “There is so much to learn, so much to study!” — and the reviews have praised her as “fresh and delightful”.

Indeed, in person, her manners are more redolent of that age than the cruel money of new Russia. When she talks of the future, there is more than a touch of Irina, the youngest of Chekhov’s Three Sisters, about her. “We are changing to a better place! That’s what I believe, eventually, everybody will be happy!” Her view of her impending TV appearances feels just as fresh. “Who knows what comes out of this?” she asks.

Well, Katiushka, I hate to break it to you, but judging by Made in Chelsea, Jersey Shore and The Only Way is Essex, I’d say the most likely scenario is that the producers will edit it so you all look totally mental.

“I’m well aware of that,” she says. “The thing is, with Made in Chelsea, there is a script — we don’t have anything like that. So we say what we think. If you don’t say stupid things, then where would they get it from?”

Only a few minutes later, she says: “As long as no one takes themselves too seriously, there is a place for everything in this world. For diamonds, for pearls, for starving children…”

I hope someone takes starving children seriously, I say. “Oh, it would better if there were not starving children! But I mean, if I live in Chelsea and it makes me happy, why not?”

She only became involved after her babushka met the babushka of another young Russian who was taking part on a plane. “My grandmother introduced me to the girls who run Box Boutique [a bling Mayfair shoe shop] on the plane. It was there that I met the crew for Meet the Russians and they asked me if I wanted to show a bit of my life. And I was doing something exciting at that time: a charity event and a photoshoot. I wanted them to see me doing things because I am trying to break the stereotype about Eastern European women. I know a lot of Russians would look at me and think that because I live in England my parents have paid for everything. It is absolutely not the case.”

Her father, always Western in his outlook, started to “buy and sell things” in the Soviet Union, which, she says, didn’t go down too well. Is he an oligarch? “No!” She laughs. “Absolutely not.” I wonder if being an oligarch is a bit like being a hipster — a label no one would put on themselves? “Some Russian guys do like to think they’re oligarchs and when they do say that, you know they aren’t.”

She was born in 1986, so has few memories of Communism, but since she was largely brought up by her maternal grandmother in provincial Saratov, while her father worked in Moscow, she absorbed the history. “I grew up thinking that the Soviet Union was the best thing that ever happened to Russia and the fall was the biggest disaster.”

Still, she says that her family did not suffer too badly in the chaos that followed the collapse of the USSR. “It didn’t really affect me in all honesty — my parents were clever enough to make sure we didn’t need for anything. We were not rich but not poor.”

She was “discovered” in her hometown at the age of 14 by the same modelling scout who launched the career of Natalia Vodianova. She was subsequently sent off to modelling school in France before settling in London, where she has completed a law degree and fronted numerous campaigns for models’ rights.

While she has modelled for Versace, Chanel and the rest, her main work comes as the “muse” of the anglophile Russian billionaire designer, Leon Max. She is adamant that it is her own hard work that keeps her here in Chelsea.

“I do actually help my grandmother, and if Mum and Dad do need anything I will help them out. It’s a Russian thing: we do help our parents out. It’s maybe a difference with Eastern European girls. Family ties do not break. I feel a bit sorry for that in England.”

Does she feel that Russians are mistrusted here? “Well, London is full of Russians, full of Poles, full of whoever has come over and found better jobs than the English people. I guess there is some jealousy going on. But London is the centre of the universe to me. It is the only English-speaking country in Europe so of course it attracts a lot of people.”

Still, there is a big difference between a Polish plumber and a Russian billionaire. “Both are despised!” she laughs, though she concedes that she sees why the super-rich attract that emotion. “People think they have got their money in an illegal way. How is it possible to be so wealthy without actually robbing or killing somebody? And they’ve got a good point. But on the other hand, if you see somebody working hard, doing their job well and managing to be successful, why hate them?”

We leave the gallery and walk to her new favourite lunch spot, the Brompton Asian Brasserie, a Russian-does-Japanese place in Knightsbridge, the latest from the successful Russian restaurateur, Arkadi Novikov. “You see why I want to live in Chelsea?” she says as we amble down the backstreets. It begins to rain and she seems oddly impressed when I offer to hold her umbrella. Her biggest disappointment with English men is their manners —we’re terrible, I’m afraid. Russian men far better.

Even Benedict Cumberbatch? Elizarova was photographed kissing the Sherlock Holmes star in Ibiza recently. “Why do you ask me about him? Oh no!” She tells me she will not answer questions about him, but does say that he has “very nice” manners. Russian women, she explains, like to have doors opened for them and bills paid; they reserve the right to be a “fragile little thing”.

“I find it really upsetting when women tell men off for offering them a seat on the Underground. Feminism doesn’t mean you have to be aggressive to people who are nice to you. I enjoy being a fragile little thing — why not?”

And don’t get her started on English women and alcohol — she is teetotal. “Oh my God, Oxford Circus in the evening!” She gives a horrified intake of breath. “When I see those girls, it’s shocking. You wouldn’t catch a Russian girl walking in bare feet because she can’t be bothered to wear her heels any more, or falling on the pavement and being sick. Drunk men can lie on the street, because boys will be boys. There are some borders women should not cross and that is one of them. It’s just so unattractive.”

Over sushi, we fall to talking about the relative gender relations. Does she find English men weak compared to Russian men? “Weak? Definitely. You will never hear an Englishman say: ‘Don’t worry, I will take care of everything’. With Russians, this is the way. The men take the hit.”

Still, she hopes that Meet the Russians — which will be shown in her homeland as well — will show the Russian audience that it’s not all jam in the UK.

She describes the litany of horrors in provincial Russia, including corrosive home-made narcotics, chronic insecurity and mass unemployment. “You can see why girls want to escape from their depressed towns. But when they come to the West, they often expect their men to be like their provincial men: yes, he might beat her, but he would make sure that there was a roof over her head and that she was protected. There is a saying in Russia, ‘esli byët, znachet lyubit — if he beats you, then he loves you’. So when an Englishman asks for half of the rent, she thinks… ‘Uh-oh, maybe I was better off in Russia!’”

Britain, however, has changed her.

“I can’t see myself with a Russian man any more. With Englishmen, I like the freedom that I am given. It’s much more responsibility and I know I have to be stronger. But I can do so much more. In Britain, it is more like teamwork between a man and a woman whereas in Russia everybody is doing what they are assigned to do by nature.”

As we kiss goodbye, I remember another delightful old Russian proverb. “Volia i dobroyu zhenu portit: freedom spoils even a good woman.”

Meet the Russians starts on Fox next Wednesday at 9pm. Sunstroke is at the Platform, King’s Cross until Saturday (020 8123 1604).

MOVE OVER CHELSEA THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING...

Marinika Smirnova

Grew up in Moscow, working as a dancer and model before hitting the jackpot (ie marrying a tycoon). Crowned Mrs Russia in 2008 and worked as a television presenter before moving to London after her hubby fell out with the Kremlin. Divorced with a one-year-old daughter, she’s turning a well-manicured hand to property — reportedly bagging a £4.5 million house in Kensington.

Kamaliya Zahoor

Describes herself on Twitter — where she has almost a million followers — as singer/actress/model/Miss World 2008; others have called her the Russian Lady Gaga. Married to a Pakistan-born steel billionaire husband who keeps her in champagne baths (really) and private jets, and has invested $20 million in her career. Supported Nineties band STEPS on their UK reunion tour.

Pavel and Masha Pogrebnyak

The Russian Posh and Becks: Pavel plays for Reading FC and perma-blonde Masha is a fashion designer. The pair — and their three children — live in a Chelsea penthouse that Masha presumably pays for with his £30,000-a-week salary.

Serg Ivo

Arrived in London at 13 for what he thought was a holiday; his parents stayed, he grew up in Essex, and earned a reputation for organising parties. A hobby became a lucrative role catering to an increasing international clientele. His club-art gallery hybrid, Kitsch, is opening on the same night Meet The Russians airs.

Alina Blinova

The daughter of a north Russian fishing company boss, Alina used to work in banking but now runs a PR and concierge company, RuStyle, which caters to the super wealthy.

Veronica Voronina

Runs The Anonymous concierge service,auditioning bodyguards and buying armoured cars for sheikhs, tycoons and film stars.

Dmitry Oskin

Fashion photographer Dmitry,18, met his partner, an English neurologist in his forties, while working as a hairdresser in St Petersburg. He moved to Highgate to live with his beau.

Julia Zapopzhenko

Such is the demand for beautiful, leggy Russians, there’s a UK outpost of Miss USSR open to UK-based girls born in countries that were once part of the Soviet Union UK. Meet The Russians follows Julia getting ready for her pageant debut. We anticipate plenty of swimwear-round rehearsals.

Phoebe Luckhurst

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