Moscow Rebukes Isolation with Second Congress of “Russophile” Group

The International Russophile Movement held its “Second Congress” in Moscow in late February, bringing together over 350 people from 130 countries, including Western media figures, social media personalities, and self-proclaimed activists who have cozied up to Russian government officials, sanctioned oligarchs, and media figures. 

The group aims to garner global support for Russia and opposes “the isolation of Russia during the Ukraine conflict,” according to Russian news outlet Kommersant. With the war entering its third year and western military support for Ukraine in question, the Kremlin has stepped up efforts to project success against western isolation.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov delivered the opening remarks and read a message from President Vladimir Putin, who emphasized the organization's role in unifying “the Russian world,” according to Russian media and government reports.

Putin added that the group “contributes to countering the attempts of the collective West to isolate Russia internationally and helps disseminate objective and trustworthy information about our country abroad, as well as dispel anti-Russia speculations and myths created by propaganda.”

The conference centered its message on ways that Russia can “develop horizontal ties and contacts through ‘public diplomacy,”’ according to a Russian government press release.

According to the International Russophile Movement’s website, the conference was organized to promote a multipolar world order, protect “traditional values,” oppose Western hegemony, and push back against cancel culture.

Such gatherings allow Putin to project to a domestic audience that Russia has broad global support despite the unpopular war against Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions imposed by a global coalition designed to isolate the Russian government as a result. 

Among the participants at the second congress were several far-right media personalities and social media figures, including Jackson Hinkle.

Hinkle, a political commentator and social media influencer, describes himself as “an American patriot, communist, and anti-imperialist.”

Hinkle posted several photos on social media of himself at the event, including with Lavrov and Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova. He wrote on Instagram that he “had a wonderful dinner with [Lavrov]... after being elected as the only American to the Executive Council of the ‘Movement for International Russophiles.’”

Hinkle also met with Russian political scientist Alexander Dugin, who was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2015 for leading a Russian group that supports separatists in Ukraine. Dugin has long advocated for Russia to retake its imperial territories, including Ukraine.

Kharon previously reported that Dugin is connected to several sanctioned Russian disinformation outlets.

Larry Johnson, an American blogger who claims to have worked for the CIA and the State Department, also attended the Russian conference. According to his blog, Johnson met with former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney at the event, and also claimed that a total of six Americans attended the conference.

Attendees of the second congress in Moscow also included Raphael Machado, Kris Roman, and Tobias Nase.

Raphael Machado is the head of the Brazilian branch of the New Resistance. According to the U.S. Department of State, the New Resistance is “a quasi-paramilitary neo-fascist organization operating in South America, Europe, and North America with deep connections to entities and individuals within Russia’s disinformation and propaganda ecosystem,” including Alexander Dugin.

Kris Roman is a former member of the far-right Vlaams Blok and frequent guest on pro-Kremlin media outlets. In 2018, Roman traveled to observe elections in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, declaring them more transparent than elections in the EU.

Tobias Nase, who also goes by Tobias Pfennig, is the head of a German “anti-imperialist” organization. He has called on “anti-imperialist countries” to create alternate banking systems in order to subvert western sanctions.

The International Russophile Movement was founded by Bulgarian politician Nikolay Malinov, who was sanctioned by the U.S. in February 2023 for corruption. The group grew out of Malinov’s Russophiles National Movement in Bulgaria.

The International Russophile Movement held its first conference in Moscow in March 2023, where Malinov was elected as the organization’s president. He was also charged by Bulgarian prosecutors in 2019 for spying on behalf of Russia.

The first conference was attended by several Western political figures and media personalities, including American actor turned Russian citizen Steven Seagal and Pierre de Gaulle, the grandson of the former French President Charles de Gaulle.

Russian businessman and media mogul Konstantin Malofeev, a close associate of Malinov, was also present at both conferences. In 2014, Malofeev was sanctioned by the U.S. for financing Russian-backed separatist groups in eastern Ukraine.

Kharon previously reported that Malofeev founded several media organizations, including Tsargrad (Tsar City) and the think tank Katehon, which spread propaganda and disinformation in support of the Russian government, including false claims that Ukraine is developing a biological weapons program.