Pokrov: Changes since 2049/10/04

Pokrov LLC (Покров, veil) is a Russian digital security company headquartered in Innopolis. Founded by Yuri Golitsyn and Violaine Michiels in 2032, Pokrov provides bespoke services for private and government clients, including surveillance countermeasures, high-end data encryption, cryptocurrency vaulting, and security consulting.

Touted as one of the major success stories of Russian President Denis Molchalin’s Digital Direction initiative, Pokrov primarily serves clients in Russia, with subsidiaries operating in China, India, and South Africa. On October 1st 2049, Golitsyn was assassinated by a drone strike at Beijing Daxing International Airport.

HistoryPermalink

FoundingPermalink

Image

Pokrov was established on April 13th 2032 in a partnership between Yuri Golitsyn and Violaine Michiels. The company drew its name from its signature product: an adaptive and platform-agnostic encryption veil developed by a team of engineers recruited by Michiels. ^[1]

The veil’s primary selling point was its seamless encryption coverage, which could intelligently migrate across devices and programs and rewrite itself in real time in response to hostile decryption attempts. Golitsyn described this technology as a “passion project” inspired by the intense media scrutiny he and his brother Arkady Golitsyn had faced in their twenties.

The rollout plan originally envisioned by Golitsyn and Michiels was accelerated in 2034 after the RussianMinistry of Defense began evaluating Pokrov’s algorithm as a replacement for the aging encryption system used by the Russian Armed Forces for battlefield communication. In the weeks following the news, Pokrov secured an estimated ¥2.3 billion in Series A funding from foreign and domestic parties, including celebrity investor Efrim Waite.

ExpansionPermalink

Pokrov first marketed its encryption service exclusively to wealthy private individuals, particularly celebrities and executives, with Golitsyn himself touted as Customer One. At the suggestion of Michiels, early clients were encouraged to invest in the company, allowing Pokrov to rapidly accumulate seed funding as its technology became more robust. By March 2033, the company had grown from 18 full-time employees to over 120 and successfully signed its first enterprise-level customers.

In 2035, Pokrov formally signed an agreement to provide intelligent encryption technology to the RussianMinistry of DefenseDefence. This paved the way for an initial public offering (IPO) on October 25th 2035, which was subject to concerns that Pokrov would be unable to expand into major Western markets if it refused to provide backdoor access for local law enforcement agencies, a move that Golitsyn had publicly ruled out. Despite these concerns, Pokrov would eventually become one of Russia’s largest IPOs of the 2030s, with a valuation of ¥5.5 billion.

Image

Pokrov gained further strength with the launch of Russian President Denis Molchalin’s Digital Direction initiative in 2036, which provided funding from the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to finance joint ventures with technology companies in China and India. Though its effectiveness was sharply questioned by both left- and right-leaning commentators in Russia, Digital Direction allowed Pokrov to expand its business to other BRICS countries.

G6 controversyPermalink

While Pokrov benefited significantly from the patronage of President Molchalin, Golitsyn had grown increasingly at odds with government policy by the 2040s. He harshly critiqued Russia’s vote in favour of Resolution ES-13/6 and the country’s adoption of G6 in 2041. Golitsyn also described neural colloids as “a dagger in the gut for individual privacy and autonomy.”

Russian officials dismissed Golitsyn’s statements as “confused,” adding that the government would “strategically review” its existing contracts with Pokrov due to concerns about the company’s work. The announcement saw Pokrov’s share price fall by more than 18% and triggered a shareholder revolt. While Golitsyn narrowly avoided being ousted as director, Michiels resigned from the company’s supervisory board, stating he and Golitsyn were “no longer aligned.”

Golitsyn continued to voice skepticism of G6 despite this rebuke, earning public support from opposition politicians and far-right militant groups such as the Frontoviki. In 2044, Golitsyn announced that Pokrov would establish a new division for G6 compliance to advise companies concerned about data transmission and security. The announcement drew further criticism from the Russian government officials as well as Xu Shaoyong, who dismissed the concept as “utterly unnecessary.”

In 2045, the Russian government launched a criminal investigation into Pokrov, accusing the company of illegally reverse engineering colloid technology. This was followed by additional civil suits filed by Zhupao, alleging that Pokrov had been developing and selling collocidals since 2042. In a public statement, Golitsyn denied any wrongdoing and condemned President Molchalin and Zhupao for “deliberately misrepresenting the long-term risks of colloid implants.” In September 2045, all pending legal actions were unexpectedly dismissed, with rumours of an out-of-court settlement. ^[2]

Death of Yuri GolitsynPermalink

On October 1st 2049, Golitsyn was assassinated in a cyberattack that took place at Beijing Daxing International Airport. He was aboard the private helicopter of Xu Shaoyong when it was shot down by a drone strike. ^[3] Golitsyn’s presence aboard the helicopter was not known until October 2nd 2049, with his movements prior to the attack remaining the subject of a separate investigation. According to unconfirmed reports, Golitsyn was able to remain undetected in China by making use of experimental baffle technology developed by Pokrov. ^[4]

On October 5th 2049, a Pokrov official indicated that Matvey Kozlov, the company’s Director of Operational Security, has not been seen for “several days.” Subsequent to this, President Molchalin has initiated an investigative probe of Pokrov’s recent activities.

See alsoPermalink

• Yuri Golitsyn

ReferencesPermalink