Tutor who worked with kids of Russia's wealthiest oligarchs lifts the lid on their WILDLY lavish lifestyles - from children jetting around in helicopters to a 13-year-old with his own personal MASSEUSE

A journalist has opened up about his experiences as a tutor to the kids of mega-rich Russians - from lavish locales and personal chauffeurs to once having to wait for his pupils in a cupboard to avoid being an 'eyesore' for the parents.

Brit Cameron Manley, a news fellow at Business Insider in London, began working for a Moscow-based tutoring firm in late 2021, as he explained in an as-told-to essay for the news organization.

'The agency counted some of Russia's elite among its clientele - so I was quickly thrust into a world of private jets, guarded estates, and personal chauffeurs,' he recalled of his job. 

The aspiring reporter continued working out of Moscow through 'Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022,' at which point his firm relocated to Monaco.

Cameron Manley, a news fellow at Business Insider in London, began working for a Moscow-based tutoring firm in late 2021

One of his students, Alexei, was 'a pleasant child' albeit one who 'appeared somewhat disconnected from reality' (stock image) 

Many of the most jarring moments for Cameron came about in the glaring contrast between the everyday lifestyle norms for him and his colleagues versus those of their students.

One of his coworker's pupils had casually expressed hope that the weather wouldn't be too bad for an upcoming weekend getaway so that 'we can take the helicopter and don't have to drive.'

Cameron also homeschooled two siblings: Alexei, 13, and his 11-year-old sister, Elena.

The first time Cameron met Alexei 'he walked into our office sporting $1,000 Balenciaga trainers and a watch worth at least five times as much.'

However, Cameron insisted Alexei was 'nevertheless a pleasant child' albeit one who 'appeared somewhat disconnected from reality.'

In another meeting, Alexei expressed shocked when Cameron admitted that he, unlike the child, didn't have a personal masseur.

'It's been seven months since you had a massage? I have a massage every day, I have my own massage therapist,' Cameron recalled the tween had exclaimed.

Meanwhile, Cameron described Elena as 'less communicative' and seemingly much less enthused about the 'lavish lifestyle she had.'

Cameron's dealings with the rich families of Russia was cast in a different light following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Pictured center is Vladimir Putin in 2015

'"What have I done to deserve this? I hate my life," she would often say,' Cameron recalled. 

'My colleagues and I became increasingly concerned about her well-being as time went on.

'She didn't enjoy classes alone and wanted to be with friends in a normal school.

'But her parents insisted.'

Cameron further described that he encountered two types of parents: 'Those who spent thousands of dollars on their children because they cared about them, and those who spent the money so that they didn't have to think about them.'

He sadly admitted that he felt 'many of the parents fell into the latter category.'

In his own dealings with the parents, he confessed he often felt like an 'eyesore' in their otherwise 'luxurious lives.'

Once, at a seaside villa in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat - one of the most expensive locales in the world - he'd arrived before the two kids, a four-year-old and a six-year-old, had finished their personal training sessions.

Cameron was at first told he'd have to wait on the street, before the nanny hurried him into a 'large store cupboard in the furthest corner of the house' instead.

There, he waited 'out of sight' for an hour until the kids were ready.

Not long after he'd started tutoring, in February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine unprovoked - and the shifting geopolitical dynamics cast the tutor's dealings with the rich and powerful families of Russia in a different light.

Many families 'came to us looking to find school placements for their children either in the West or in the United Arab Emirates, where many wealthy Russians fled at the outbreak of the war.'

He recalled meeting with one couple over Zoom about placing their three kids in a school in Dubai who seemed 'polite, well-mannered, and bright.'

But he later discovered that the kids were 'the grandchildren of a senior Russian politician who had played a major role in starting the war in Ukraine,' Cameron continued.

The 'irony' of families placing their kids at private schools outside of Russia after some of the same families had pushed for the invasion of Ukraine wasn't lost on Cameron 

'The irony was not lost on us that some of those who had played a key part in helping Putin initiate his brutal, unprovoked invasion were now trying to help their children escape Russia.'

More generally, however, the tutoring company had 'explicitly' told the tutors to not bring up politics with their pupils, 'as the government was cracking down on protestors, and it could have put us and our pupils in danger.'

But Cameron found that his pupils would often bring up politics on their own, 'their comments ringing with the ideology they had likely absorbed at home.'

Alexei once commented that 'Ukraine is ours, after all.'

A child named Ivan once pointed at a picture of Vladimir Putin and quipped, 'Oh, he's amazing! Don't you think he's amazing?'

Still, other students, like one 15-year-old girl named Elizaveta, seemed more independent-minded.

'We're killing thousands of innocent Ukrainians. It's awful,' she'd said.

The same week she'd been kicked out of her school for dying her hair and was taking extra classes so 'she didn't fall behind' while her parents tried to get her into a private school in England.

'The best thing I can do now is leave Russia,' she'd told Cameron.

'That's the last option I have. Perhaps from abroad, I might be able to do some good.'

'Elizaveta was an anomaly, and most of the time, you had to settle for smaller victories,' Cameron admitted.

When he'd broken the news to Elena and Alexei that he and his colleagues were leaving Russia, Elena didn't seem to care - but Alexei looked 'genuinely upset.'

'It was as though the prism through which he saw the world had been, if not broken, then at the very least a little scratched,' Cameron concluded.