The U.S. Department of Justice has seized about $5.4 million from the assets of Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev and will transfer them to the Ukraine Recovery Fund.

Source: NY Times.

The court authorized the confiscation of Malofeev’s assets on February 2 due to violating sanctions imposed on him in 2014. Malofeev is considered one of the direct perpetrators of the war in Ukraine as an essential source of funding for militants in Donbas.

“This is the first transfer of confiscated Russian assets by the United States to rebuild Ukraine, but it will not be the last,” said U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.

The decision to confiscate his assets paved the way for the funds to be used to rebuild war-torn Ukraine. Earlier, the Verkhovna Rada predicted that the confiscated funds would soon be transferred to Ukraine.

Who is Konstantin Malofeev

He is closely connected to Ukrainian separatists in eastern Ukraine and Crimea. He is a former employer of Mr. Borodai, the former so-called “Prime Minister” of the “Donetsk People’s Republic,” and met with Mr. Aksyonov, the so-called “Prime Minister” of the so-called “Republic of Crimea,” during the annexation of Crimea.

The Ukrainian government opened a criminal investigation into his alleged material and financial support for the separatists. In addition, he made several public statements supporting the annexation of Crimea and Ukraine’s accession to Russia. In particular, it stated in June 2014 that “You cannot incorporate all of Ukraine into Russia. The east (of Ukraine) can be.”

Malofeev is a Russian entrepreneur, billionaire, politician and public figure, owner of shares in Rostelecom, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tsargrad Group, Deputy Chairman of the World Russian People’s Council, founder of Tsargrad TV channel, Chairman of Tsargrad Society, one of the financiers of the “Russian world”.

He has been on the list of personal sanctions imposed by the United States, European Union, and Canada since 2014. In 2017, Ukraine put Malofeev on the international wanted list, accusing him of creating and funding illegal paramilitary groups.

What is Tsargrad

It is a scandalous imperial Russian channel created by Malofeev in 2015. In 2020, the YouTube channel was blocked due to US sanctions.

Tsargrad TV channel screensaver

The channel professes ultra-conservative Orthodox monarchist ideology, putinism. Also, it supports and disseminates narratives and themes of Russian propaganda: Russia as the Third Rome and successor of Kievan Rus, Russian irredentism and claims to the territories of neighbouring states, Victory, and many others.

The Soviet Union is presented as a stage in the formation of Russian statehood, great victories are emphasized, and the persecution of religion is silenced.

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