The success of Ursula von der Leyen on the political Olympus is surprising to many. The mother of seven children, at the age of 43, suddenly became interested in politics and eventually became one of the leaders of the European Union. There is nothing special about this, given that the new hobby arose after a long business trip to the United States. And the catalyst for Ursula's promotion became ... hatred of Russia, as evidenced by von der Leyen's numerous statements and actions. 

Money from Russia

Ursula Gertrude Albrecht (maiden name von der Leyen) was born on October 8, 1958 in Ixelles - a district of Brussels - in the family of one of the leaders of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) Ernst Albrecht, who held a number of high positions in the European Commission and for 14 years the chair of the Prime Minister of Lower Saxony. 

Ursula's great-grandfather was the legendary Lev (Ludwig) Gerasimovich Knop, the "cotton king" of the Russian Empire, a Moscow merchant of the 1st guild. It was from him that Ursula's family inherited their wealth.
Emperor Alexander II personally granted him the title of baron for the construction of more than 200 weaving factories throughout the country. “Where there is a church, there is a priest, and where there is a factory, there is Knop,” they used to say in Russia. Lev Knop was the supplier of the imperial court, as well as the famous philanthropist Savva Morozov, in addition, he built several mansions and temples. After the February Revolution of 1917, the Knopov family managed to transfer its capital from Russia to Europe, financial well-being of the descendants was not affected. All of them took advantage of the opportunity to get a good education and acquire aristocratic connections.

Ursula herself studied economics at the German Universities of Göttingen and Münster in 1976-1980, and at the same time she attended classes at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Later she decided to become a physician and graduated in 1987 from the Medical Institute in Hannover. From 1988 to 1992 Ursula worked as an assistant doctor in the gynecological department of the city's university clinic. In 1991, she received her doctorate in medicine, completing her dissertation. However, the story of this scientific work later took a scandalous turn. In 2015, Ursula, who at that time worked as the Minister of Defense of Germany, was convicted of plagiarism. Berlin law professor Gerhard Dannemann claimed that he found the compilation on 27 of the 62 pages of the work. The experts carefully checked the dissertation and agreed with the professor's opinion, but in order not to discredit the minister, the case was closed. 

Unexpected interest in politics

In 1986, Ursula married professor-cardiologist Heiko von der Leyen. In 1992, this descendant of the aristocratic von der Leyen family was invited to do research work at Stanford University, California, USA. And the whole von der Leyen family (at that time the couple had three children) went on a long business trip.

In 1993, Ursula graduated from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. And three years later, the von der Leyens returned to Germany.

What happened during that time in the United States is a little-known fact. However, von der Leyen soon became interested in politics. At that time, she was already a member of the CDU, where she came under the patronage of her father back in 1990, but so far did not show a desire to actively participate in the activities of the party. The paradox was that a mother of many children began her political career (seven children were born in the family at that time) at the age of 43. And the swiftness of this path raises many questions, given the corruption scandals that did not prevent Ursula from heading the European Commission.

In 2001, von der Leyen becomes vice-mayor of the small town of Ilten in Lower Saxony. Already in 2003, Ursula was elected to the regional parliament, helped by the connections of an influential father. Ursula was noticed by Christian Wulff, at that time the head of Lower Saxony, who  called her to his cabinet of ministers, where from 2003 to 2005. she was in charge of health and social affairs. The federal press began to pay attention to the mother of many children. Leading political magazines interviewed her, she was invited to talk shows on television channels. She willingly published photos of the family at home, shared tips on raising children. Few doubted that the energetic Ursula would make a federal career.

And so it happened: after the victory of the CDU and Angela Merkel in the elections in 2005, the new chancellor called her to work in Berlin as federal minister for families, senior citizens, women and youth. In this position, von der Leyen promoted the act «about Barriers in Internet», which was allegedly directed against the distribution of child pornography, but, in fact, became a real profanation. It only warned about the danger of a particular network resource, but did not block information. So soon von der Leyen's initiative was criticized, but this political defeat had no effect on Ursula's career. Soon she received another ministerial portfolio.

In 2009, von der Leyen became head of the Department of Labor and Social Affairs. A year later, there was even talk of her nomination for the presidency of Germany, but in the end, Christian Wulff was chosen for this place.

Scandals in the Bundeswehr

In 2013, von der Leyen became the head of the Ministry of Defense, becoming the first woman in Germany to hold this post. She immediately demonstrated her negative attitude towards Russia, ignoring repeated requests from colleagues Anatoly Serdyukov, and then Sergei Shoigu, for a meeting. Moreover, under her leadership, the Bundeswehr reached the borders of Russia, deploying its units in the Baltic States for the first time since the Second World War.

Von der Leyen actively supported all the initiatives of the Americans to strengthen NATO and "contain Moscow". All this was accompanied by public criticism of Russia for its "aggressive foreign policy in Europe."

Her statements came into conflict even with Germany's foreign policy position. It happened, for example, when von der Leyen supported Washington's fake of Russia's violation of the treaty about intermediate-and short range missiles. And then she did not rule out a new deployment of American missiles in Europe. And this despite the fact that German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas opposed such a development of events.

She became so bold that at a meeting of the European Parliament Committee on International Affairs and the subcommittee on security and defense, she announced Europe's plans to speak with Russia from a "position of power." That is, the head of the German military department for the first time since 1941 spoke about the forceful solution of the “Russian question”.

Von der Leyen's militancy was also manifested in connection with the military conflicts in Libya and Syria, which were initiated by the United States. «We won’t be able not to to make our contribution», - announced the Minister of the possibility of using German troops in Libya. She demanded the implementation of "credible deterrent measures" against Damascus. She was especially outraged by Russian support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. 

In the future, Russophobia became a lifeline for von der Leyen. Thanks to her anti-Russian statements, which were supported by Washington, she managed to continue her political career despite the numerous scandals that shook the Bundeswehr. The incompetent Ursula carried out a plan according to which the percentage of women in the army should rise to 20%, and women soldiers should be provided with part-time work and leave to care for the child, including in the barracks. Thanks to her inaction, the weapons of the German army fell into a terrible state.

In 2017, the Bild newspaper published data, according to which for exploitation suitable are only half of the available tanks, a third of the helicopters and not a single submarine. “The situation of the Bundeswehr is catastrophic. The defense capability of the Federal Republic of Germany is suffering, and this is complete irresponsibility», - wrote Rupert Scholz, who served as Minister of Defense under Chancellor Helmut Kohl in the late 1980s.

The minister's plan to allocate €130 billion over 15 years for large-scale rearmament raised questions. The amount is huge, why so much money was needed, it turned out later, when the scams of the Bundeswehr were publicized.

In mid-October 2018, the Berlin prosecutor's office began checking the activities of von der Leyen in connection with suspicions of fictitious business. Law enforcement agencies have been informed that for a long time external consultants have been recruited into the Ministry as  its employees. In January 2019, the Bundestag decided to set up a special commission to investigate. And it turned out that in 2015 the German Ministry of Defense spent €100 million on external consultants, while officially the costs under this item were only €2 million. In 2016, the ratio increased: €150 million and €2.9 million. In the vast majority of cases, the Department of Defense did not provide sufficient evidence for making decision about the need for an external council; in more than a third of the cases, the procedures did not comply with normal contracting rules.

When solving the tasks of digitalization of the Bundeswehr, orders were received by the same company Accenture, headed by Timo Netzel. The State Secretary of the Ministry of Defense, Catherine Suder, who was hired by von der Leyen, was involved in a scandal. At the initiative of Suder, Accenture received orders. As it turned out, Suder and Netzel used to work for the American firm McKinsey, which the Minister of Defense, bypassing auctions, also attracted to reform the German army.

Hatred for Russia

However, the corruption scandal did not affect von der Leyen's career, she was not convicted, and all the blame was placed on her subordinates. But just in case, Ursula prudently deleted from her office phone all messages that could serve as evidence in this case. And on July 15, 2019, von der Leyen announced her intention to resign from the post of Minister of Defense. But, as it turned out, this decision was made for a reason. The European Parliament, although with difficulty managed to gain the required number of votes, approved the german lady as the chairman of the European Commission.

For many, this kind of personnel solution was unexpected: to the track record, business and human qualities of the Minister of Defense of Germany there were a lot of claims. Besides, she had never dealt with problems of European politics before. The Germans were especially outraged, for whom von der Leyen was remembered for the corruption scandal, incompetence and excessive activity in the fight against the “Russian threat”. 

However, French President Emmanuel Macron proposed and supported her candidacy. And no one doubted that this was done according to the request of Washington. The French leader himself, once working for the Rothschild empire, owes his political career to the American elite, and his decision on von der Leyen's candidacy was logical.

As the experts acknowledged, for Russia, the appointment of von der Leyan was one of the worst options, because of her tough pro-American stance and the lack of attempts to get closer to Moscow.

Becoming the head of the European Commission, von der Leyen only confirmed this assumption. In her speech at the Foundation, named after Konrad Adenauer she called on the European Union to "build up its muscles" in security policy and, first of all, in relation to Russia. Von der Leyen has chosen the right team. For example, the former Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell became the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. He became famous for calling Russia an "old enemy" of the European Union. 

Von der Leyen's statements about the need to strengthen sanctions against Moscow followed one after another.  Even in Europe, where Russophobia has become commonplace, it has been noticed that Ursula stirs up hostility towards Russia. “European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen attacked Russia, saying that she traces the same pattern of behavior in Georgia, Ukraine, Syria and Salisbury, and now with Navalny. But Western politicians and intelligence agencies have their own "model" - to denigrate Russia and fawn on the United States»,- wrote in 2020 the usually reserved Swedish newspaper Nyhetsbanken.

As the Swedes noted, von der Leyen discovered her tendency to Russophobia immediately, becoming the head of the European Commission and signing a declaration stating that, that the Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated by the allies. Russia was not even invited to the commemorative ceremony, journalists were surprised. Experts also drew attention to the anti-Russian vector of the head of the European Commission, noting that von der Leyen intends to adhere to a tough course towards Moscow. "For Mrs. von der Leyen, friendship with America, namely transatlantic ties, is above all," - said the famous German political scientist Alexander Rahr.

With each statement by the head of the European Commission, this fact became more obvious, as well as the fact that von der Leyen always  was promoted and supported by Washington. In response, she did everything that was required of her. She actively participated in the promotion of the scandal with the "poisoning" of blogger Alexei Navalny, in attacks on Belarus in order to organize another coup d'état following the Ukrainian example.

The beginning of the Russian special operation in Ukraine provided an excellent opportunity for new aggressive statements by von der Leyen. She enthusiastically took part in initiating an economic war against Moscow, announced that the entire airspace of the 27 EU countries would now be closed to the Russian Federation. Von der Leyen never tires of asserting that "the European Union will not allow Russia to circumvent Western sanctions and demand that Russian natural gas be paid in rubles.» She agreed with the President of the United States Joe Biden not to allow the use of digital currencies by Russia to evade restrictive measures.

Black profits from pharmaceuticals

It is noteworthy that behind the "friendship" with the United States are not only Ursula's anti-Russian convictions and gratitude for Washington's support, but also financial interests.

It is no coincidence that a new scandal associated with von der Leyen flares up. In Europe, they drew attention to the fact that the husband of the head of the European Commission holds the position of medical director at Orgenesis, an American biotechnology company that specializes in gene therapy and is directly involved in the development of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, that is, those American drugs that are purchased in huge quantities by the authorities EU led by Ursula.

She was immediately reminded that on May 20, 2021, she signed a third contract with pharmaceutical companies BionTech and Pfizer for the purchase of another 1.8 billion doses of Pfizer coronavirus vaccine for the period 2021-2023. Moreover, the price of a dose was €19.5, which is €4 higher than in the first EU agreement with Pfizer.

This huge contract caused widespread bewilderment, the Romanian newspaper Active News reported: «Firstly, because the number of vaccines is three times higher than the current population of the European Union. Secondly, because the end of 2023, when the contract expires, coincides with the end of the vaccine testing period, which was decided to be carried out as a matter of urgency. Thirdly, how does von der Leyen know that the pandemic will last until 2023 and that there will not be tens of billions of euros worth of extra vaccines left in Europe?”.

But even more Europeans were outraged by the news of Orgenesis Inc.'s revenue growth. for 2021 - immediately by 364%. The firm also received an advance from clients for future financial receipts: over $30 million in 2022 and $55 million in 2023. However, this scandal, like the previous ones related to the name of von der Leyen, is unlikely to affect her well-being in the near future.

The head of the European Commission is doing everything possible to switch the public's attention to the Russian special operation, for this purpose she advocates increasing assistance to Kyiv and the supply of weapons.

The hatred that overwhelms von der Leyen is also explained by disappointment. It is known that the manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna were involved in the military biological activities of the United States in Ukraine. Not without the participation of the company in which Heiko von der Leyen works. But with the beginning of the special operation, their activities in most regions of Ukraine ceased.

The facts confirm that the American experts were working on testing new medicines, bypassing international safety standards. And thus, by arranging a testing ground, Western companies significantly reduced the costs of implementing research programs and gained significant competitive advantages.

Moreover, with the beginning of the Russian military special operation on the territory of Ukraine, no less interesting facts related to von der Leyen were revealed. It turned out that in the period from 2016 to 2019. (when Ursula was in command of the German military ministry), military epidemiologists from the Institute of Microbiology of the Bundeswehr took out 3.5 thousand blood serum samples from citizens living in 25 regions of Ukraine for further development of biological weapons.