In late January, a month before Russian soldiers appeared in Crimea, Russia’s Orthodox billionaire Konstantin Malofeev was unexpectedly grounded in Sevastopol by an ice storm. What followed next, he claims, was a miracle.
A shrewd and deeply connected businessman who made his fortune in private equity, Mr Malofeev had been travelling with the Russian patriarch to take a collection of ancient Christian relics on tour through Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
The delegation had not been planning to stop in Sevastopol, yet 100,000 people – a third of the local population – ended up coming out to pray with the relics. “It was one prayer from all the people: for Sevastopol to once more be part of Russia,” Mr Malofeev recalled smiling. “God’s will.”
Yet in Russia’s controversial annexation of Crimea, others see less the Lord’s hand and more Mr Malofeev’s.
Throughout the Ukraine crisis, Mr Malofeev, 40, has emerged as a key figure linking the pro-Russia forces on the ground in Ukraine and the political establishment in Moscow.
That relationship has become increasingly fraught following the crash last week of a Malaysian Airlines plane in eastern Ukraine, with western leaders accusing Moscow of supplying the rebels with the surface-to-air missile that downed it. On Tuesday, Ukraine’s interior ministry announced it had opened a criminal investigation of Mr Malofeev for financing “illegal armed groups”, branding him a “sponsor of terrorists”.
In a rare interview, Mr Malofeev dismissed the investigation as “ridiculous” and insisted “Kiev with American support” was responsible for the crash of flight MH17. “The Ukrainians were interested in this because they wanted the Americans to start crying loudly about Russian support [for the separatists] and how Russia is guilty.”
The businessman admits that earlier this year he had tried to send $960,000 of his own money to Sevastopol “for humanitarian purposes”. But he says this transaction was frozen and that he had not sent any funding to the pro-Russia separatists in the east – only to Ukrainian refugees.
“I’m not sending any money there. I’m only sending goods – water, food and medicine – and nothing that can be used for [military capabilities],” he said.
Nonetheless, Mr Malofeev enjoys unusually close ties to the top pro-Russia political and military leaders on the ground in east Ukraine.
Alexander Borodai, the prime minister of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, is a friend who worked as the businessman’s public relations consultant before leaving to serve as the political adviser of Crimea’s new pro-Russia premier, Sergei Aksyonov.
I’m in the middle of patriotic circles. People who have patriotic and Orthodox views know me, and sometimes I know them. You can find a link between me and almost any Orthodox activist. But that doesn’t mean I’m paying them a salary or that we’re in the same business
Igor Girkin – nom de guerre Strelkov – who has been leading the separatists’ military operations in the east, is another former employee. Mr Malofeev is also close to Mr Aksyonov, who organised Crimea’s referendum to join Russia.
Mr Malofeev played down as a coincidence the fact that two ex-employees were now controlling the separatists’ military and political operations.
“I’m in the middle of patriotic circles. People who have patriotic and Orthodox views know me, and sometimes I know them,” he says. “You can find a link between me and almost any Orthodox activist. But that doesn’t mean I’m paying them a salary or that we’re in the same business.”
Once a relative unknown in the Russian business world, Mr Malofeev – an avowed monarchist and creationist – has become more prominent in Vladimir Putin’s third term as the Russian president encourages more traditional and Orthodox values.
He has moved to the centre of a group of conservative ideologues that includes Vladimir Yakunin, the head of Russian Railways and a longtime Putin ally, and Igor Shchegolev, a university classmate who served as Russia’s telecommunications minister and is now a top aide to the president. Mr Shchegolev was added to a US sanctions list last week.
Mr Malofeev is “very ideological, patriotic and believes in the idea of a great and Orthodox Russia”, said Alexei Makarkin, an analyst at the Centre for Political Technologies think-tank. “There is basically no difference between his views and Strelkov’s.”
During his private equity days, the fluent English speaker worked closely with western companies including French insurer Axa and US fund Paul Capital. These days he spends more time mingling with leaders of the US evangelical movement.
Although he rails against the White House, the businessman also admits he has substantial US holdings. He says he is confident the investments are sanctions-proof as they are held through other funds and says he is not worried his name might be added to a future US sanctions list. “I can meet my friends somewhere else,” he quips.
This spring Tages-Anzeiger, the Swiss daily, reported that Mr Malofeev attended a far-right conference in Vienna with France’s Marine Le Pen and Austria’s Heinz-Christian Strache.
Mr Malofeev refuses to discuss a private meeting. “What am I supposed to say?” he exclaims. “I’m not a fascist? I don’t eat babies for breakfast? An Orthodox Christian cannot be fascist. Russians suffered from Nazis more than any other nation in the world.”
Sergei Markov, a political consultant close to the Kremlin, had little doubt Mr Malofeev was sharing his wealth with the Ukrainian rebels. “Of course,” he said. “This is an oligarch with certain ideological views who thinks his ideas should change society.”
As for his political ambitions, Mr Malofeev insists they do not extend beyond his current position: “I want the Russian Empire back,” he says. “I don’t want to be head of it.”
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