The Metropolitan’s projects

Initiatives linked to ‘Putin’s confessor’ received $332 million from Russia’s government and state-owned companies

Initiatives linked to Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov), a Russian Orthodox bishop said to be Vladimir Putin’s personal confessor, have received more than 20 billion rubles ($332 million) from the Russian government and state-owned companies, according to a new report by the investigative outlet iStories.

iStories journalists found that since 2015, more than half of this sum — 11.1 billion rubles, or $185 million — has gone toward financing Russia: My History, a “history parks” initiative associated with Metropolitan Tikhon. The funding for these multi-media exhibitions, which have been unveiled in 24 Russian cities, mainly came from regional budgets, with additional help from the state-owned energy giant Gazprom. The most expensive parks were set up in St. Petersburg and Tver, to the tune of 1.4 billion ($23 million) and 1.1 billion rubles ($18 million), respectively.

The other “half” of the money went to six foundations also linked to Metropolitan Tikhon. As follows from their financial reports for 2019–2021, these foundations received 9.15 billion rubles, or $152 million, mainly from the Russian government and state-owned companies, as well as through donations, rental properties, and ticket sales.

For example, the foundation Moia Istoria (My History) received 4.6 billion rubles (more than $76 million) over those three years, most of which was spent on another major project associated with Metropolitan Tikhon — the construction of the State Museum-Preserve Tauric Chersonese in Sevastopol (the largest city in Russian-annexed Crimea). The foundation allocated 3.4 billion rubles (more than $56 million) to this project in 2021.

My History’s main source of funding was Gazprom Neft’s social investment initiative Ronye Goroda (Home Cities). In fact, the Home Cities initiative allocates most of its funds to Metropolitan Tikhon’s projects. The initiative donated more than more than 1 billion rubles ($16.6 million) to My History in 2019, and an additional 3 billion rubles ($50 million) in 2021.

iStories also found that My History and the Humanitarian Projects Foundation — Tikhon’s two biggest foundations in terms of turnover — were both founded by one Ivan Esin, a former legal consultant for Gazprom Neft. Esin is also the founder of Smart Grup, a company that signed contracts with My History, including for the reconstruction of the Chersonese Museum-Preserve. Today, Smart Grup is owned by the Humanitarian Projects Foundation and one of its former employees, a woman by the name of Svetlana Sablina.

Metropolitan Tikhon is often referred to as “Putin’s confessor” in the Russian press. Whether this is true is unknown, but the Russian president has never challenged the claim. According to iStories, it’s “most likely not true” — however, Tikhon has known Putin since 1999, when he was the director of the Russian FSB.