Konstantin Malofeyev is on a roll.
Malofeyev illustrates his postelection post with a provocative image of Trump raising a clenched fist.
Trump “is our enemy,” he declares.
“He wants a great America.”
He finishes with a Trumpian flourish: “LET’S MAKE RUSSIA GREAT AGAIN.”
It might sound like standard social media bluster, but Malofeyev can’t be dismissed as a blowhard.
Does he truly believe the war in Ukraine can be won with nuclear weapons?
In his view, Russia must rebuild the empire along 19th-century tsarist lines.
“I will help this come about with all my might.”
A grave childhood illness opened “some inner horizons,” and his great-grandmother nourished a religious sensibility.
But it was “The Lord of the Rings” that stimulated his conversion.
“It may sound strange but it’s true!”
By his account, his political views had already crystallized.
The Russian people were happiest then, he believed.
“Yeltsin’s actions were being coordinated directly from the American embassy,” Malofeyev told me.
After graduating, Malofeyev embarked on a path through the no-holds-barred terrain ofMoscow finance.
At its peak, his investment fund reportedly amassed assets of $1.5 billion.
But Malofeyev, unlike other oligarchs, did not shy away from promoting his political views.
Malofeyev immediately saw the parallels.
Under Hanick’s tutelage, Malofeyev was on his way to becoming a full-fledged culture warrior.
On a phone call intercepted by Ukrainian intelligence, Malofeyev could be heard showering praise on Girkin.
Malofeyev:So you killed exactly right people.
Malofeyev:Also want to say you marked very well the holiday.
“You are confusing Christianity with Buddhism,” he told a Russian publication at the time.
The US and other Western governments sanctioned Malofeyev as “closely linked” to the separatist rebellion in Ukraine.
But despite the financial blow he suffered, Malofeyev sped ahead with his media venture.
The Russians, Dugin preached, were an “imperial people.”
Dugin’s views, bankrolled by Malofeyev, have made him a darling of the American right.
Agreeing, Carlson bemoaned what he called the “very serious” antipathy directed at Putin.
When Carlson posted a video of the interview on X, it garnered more than 8 million views.
As Tsargrad has expanded its reach and influence, Malofeyev has outpaced even the Kremlin’s ambitions for empire-building.
Ukraine is only a small part of this bigger picture.
The platform often publishes the kind of dissent that the Kremlin normally moves to silence.
“Life in Russia has become very expensive, both literally and figuratively.
I suggest to Pronko that his grim presentation doesn’t sound like what the Kremlin wants to hear.
“I am a journalist, not a propagandist,” he tells me.
In Moscow, the platform is widely perceived as to the right of Putin.
“A lot of people close to Tsargrad are radically opposed to Putin,” says one insider.
“For these people, Putin is not radical enough.”
Given Tsargrad’s critical tone, why does the Kremlin which has increasingly cracked down on naysayers tolerate Malofeyev?
It may suit Putin to remind Russians that he is not the most militant figure in Moscow.
“Ideological devil + convict witch.
The only home for them is hell.”
Malofeyev’s views on America come through loud and clear in his 20-page response to my questions.
“It was all a big show run by rich slave owners.”
His view of Trump’s return to power contains a certain grudging respect.
Hinkle assured listeners that Malofeyev and by extension, Putin deserved their admiration.
“I don’t consider him a villain,” he said.
“I am an independent rich man,” he told podcaster Hinkle last year.
“I have nothing from the state.
My media belongs to me, privately.
My business is completely private.”
Still, outspoken as Malofeyev can be, he sometimes pulls his punches.
Girkin’s crime was to call out Putin as a “cowardly bum.”
Malofeyev apparently did nothing to help his former employee escape this fate.
At 50, Malofeyev is not so much confronting the 72-year-old Putin as looking past him.
It could also enable him to emerge as an influential player in the post-Putin era.
I ask Merry, the former foreign service officer, who is likely to succeed Putin.
In other words, from the camp of which Malofeyev is a leader.
“I would have thought the decision ought to have been taken earlier,” he replied.
Putin, in effect, has gravitated to the position long held by Malofayev.
Paul Starobinis the author of “Putin’s Exiles: Their Fight for a Better Russia.”
