Alexander Viktorovich Ionov (Russian: Александр Викторович Ионов; born December 12, 1989) is a Russian businessman and political figure living in Moscow. He is the head of the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia (AGMR), which promotes secession movements in countries other than Russia.[1][2][3] In July 2022, the United States Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on Ionov and on three groups he is said to lead, including the AGMR.[4]
Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia (AGMR) edit
Alexander Ionov, who began his political career in 2009 in Russia's Communist Party youth organization, became president of the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia (AGMR) in 2011. In 2012, according to the Robert Lansing Institute, Ionov "got the diploma of technical service manager-economist at Moscow State Agro-Engineering University... He obtained his master’s degree in 2014, in vocational education."[2]
In 2014, the AGMR hosted a small conference of secessionist groups whose speakers included Michael Hill head of "Southern secession" group the League of the South.[5] Ionov organized a larger conference in 2015, which became the first of several "Dialogue of Nations" events hosted by AGMR that brought representatives of many separatist groups to Moscow.[5] In addition to US and EU secessionist groups, the 2015 event in Moscow's President hotel included Russian-backed separatists from eastern Ukraine.[6] The 2015 event, billing itself as the International Russian Conservative Forum, was held in St. Petersburg on 22 March 2015.[7]
BBC News described AGMR's 2016 event as "a conference of Western secession movements," with representatives from secession-promoting groups based in California, Texas, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and Northern Ireland.[8] Ionov told reporters that the Russian government supported the 2016 conference, contributing 30% of its cost, but denied that Russian government money was paid directly to any Americans.[3]
The AGMR also provided "Yes California" founder Louis J. Marinelli with office space in Moscow for what The New York Times described as "an 'embassy' of California in Russia."[9]
Criminal charges edit
Alexander Ionov was charged by a US Dept. of Justice indictment unsealed on July 29, 2022. He is accused of working on behalf of the Russian government and in conjunction with the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and orchestrating a years-long foreign malign influence campaign that used various U.S. political groups to sow discord, spread pro-Russian propaganda, and interfere in elections within the United States.[10] According to the indictment, Ionov is accused of providing support to political campaigns in Florida, advocating for California's secession from the United States, and financing a protest tour in solidarity with a petition denouncing the alleged "genocide" of African people within the country.[11]
Reward offer edit
Starting February 2023, the Rewards for Justice Program of the United States Department of State offered up to $10 million USD for information about the activities of Ionov.[12]
References edit
- ^ "La conexión moscovita del 'procés' con los hackers rusos". El Mundo (in Spanish). 4 October 2017. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
Encuentro en el barrio más caro de Moscú con el abogado defensor de dos célebres 'piratas' rusos detenidos en Barcelona. Recibe dinero de Putin para promover movimientos de secesión occidentales y estos días quiso viajar a Cataluña, donde, dice, el Gobierno de España "no deja que se hable ni se estudie en catalán" (Meeting in the most expensive neighborhood in Moscow with the defense attorney of two famous Russian 'pirates' arrested in Barcelona. He [Alexander Ionov] receives money from Putin to promote Western secession movements and these days he wanted to travel to Catalonia, where, he says, the Government of Spain "does not allow people to speak or study in Catalan")
- ^ a b "Who is managing online trolls in EU, Africa and Latin America?". Lansing Institute. 2 December 2019. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
Since 2011 – he [Ionov] is the President of Russia's Anti-Globalist Movement (AGMR), also known as the regional public organization to counter world globalization. 'The reverse processes are beginning now – the return to international solidarity, the Comintern,' – Ionov is convinced, – 'We are going to hold serious activities and support national liberation movements in different countries', he said.
- ^ a b "He's the founder of a Californian independence movement – just don't ask him why he lives in Russia". Albuquerque Journal. 20 February 2017. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
Ionov is the founder of the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia, a group that supports various secessionist movements around the world. Last September, he put on a Kremlin-sponsored event in Moscow for Western secessionists that Martinelli and other representatives of Yes California attended. Reached via email, Ionov said that about 30 percent of the funding for the event came from the Russian government.
- ^ "Alexander Ionov case: US charges Russian with interfering in US politics". BBC. 30 July 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
The US Treasury Department also announced sanctions against Mr Ionov, the AGMR and two other organisations allegedly controlled by him: the STOP-Imperialism website and Ionov Transcontinental, a company "which has a footprint in Iran, Venezuela and Lebanon".
- ^ a b Michel, Casey (12 August 2021). "The Kremlin's Malign Influence Inside the U.S." Free Russia Foundation. Archived from the original on 22 December 2021. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
As the head of the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia (AGMR)—the same group that hosted Michael Hill's neo-Confederate talk in 2014—Ionov has served as one of the primary linchpins in Moscow's cultivation of American secessionists. In 2015, a few months after Smith's visit, Ionov organized his first 'Dialogue of Nations' conference. Ionov's AGMR hoped to build a group of Western secessionists capable of emulating the state fracture already underway in Ukraine.
- ^ "Russia funds Moscow conference for US, EU and Ukraine separatists". The Guardian. 20 September 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
Among international participants were representatives of Sinn Féin, the Catalan Solidarity for Independence party .. as well as separatist groups from Hawaii and Puerto Rico and the US-based radical black power Uhuru Movement. Several representatives also spoke on behalf of the Russia-backed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics in eastern Ukraine, where the conflict between the pro-Russian rebels and the Kiev government has killed more than 6,500 people since April 2014.
- ^ "What's Behind Russian Support for World's Separatist Movements?". NBC News. 23 July 2016. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
Alexander Ionov, head of the Anti-Globalist Movement of Russia, which is organizing the event...said that the Russian government's modest grant of $53,000 to accommodate dozens of guests will be supplemented by private donations from "Texas and other countries" that openly or clandestinely support the secessionist cause.
- ^ "'Russian trolls' promoted California independence". BBC. 4 November 2017. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
Marinelli attended a conference of Western secession movements in 2016, along with representatives from similar groups from Texas, Puerto Rico and Northern Ireland. The conference was organised by the Anti-Globalisation Movement
- ^ "California Secession Advocate Faces Scrutiny Over Where He's Based: Russia". New York Times. 21 February 2017. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
A Russian group, known as the Anti-Globalization Movement, which like Mr. Marinelli advocates the breakup of the United States, also offered him office space in Moscow to open an 'embassy' of California in Russia, and Mr. Marinelli accepted.
- ^ "Russian National Charged". U.S. Dept. of Justice. 29 July 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
- ^ "MSN". www.msn.com. Retrieved 2023-07-05.
- ^ "Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov – Rewards For Justice". Retrieved 2023-02-08.