Falling foul

Who is Roman Alyokhin, the first pro-war blogger to be deemed a ‘foreign agent’ by the Russian authorities?

Roman Alyokhin, a former adviser to the governor of Russia’s Kursk region and a well-known military correspondent, has been declared a “foreign agent”, the first time a pro-war blogger has been accorded the label. He now faces charges for allegedly embezzling donations to his fund-raising charity. How did such a staunch pro-regime figure end up on the Kremlin’s blacklist alongside his ideological opponents?

The Russian Justice Ministry, which declared Alyokhin a “foreign agent” on 19 September, said that the blogger, whose Telegram channel has over 160,000 subscribers, “disseminated inaccurate information about … the Russian authorities and their policies … intended to create a negative image of Russian servicemen”.

Writing on Telegram, Alyokhin called his designation as a foreign agent “absurd”, stressing that he had never received any foreign funding, had been personally sanctioned by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and had only ever provided assistance to Russian troops on the front.

Under Russian law, the Justice Ministry can unilaterally declare somebody a foreign agent, with no court ruling on the decision, nor is it necessary for the individual in question to have received foreign funding to qualify. Being deemed to have fallen “under foreign influence” is enough, a vague term with no clear legal definition. Last month, pro-Kremlin political scientist Sergey Markov was added to the register of “foreign agents”.

Though Alyokhin, who is now legally obliged to add his foreign agent status to each of his posts, blames the acting governor of the Kursk region, Alexander Khinshtein for this turn of events, the real reason for his fall from grace is more likely to have been his conflict with leading Russian propagandist and talk show host Vladimir Solovyov, who accused him of committing fraud while gathering donations for servicemen serving on the front line.

‘Who is this crook?’

Alyokhin comes from Russia’s Kursk region, which borders Ukraine. In the 2000s, he worked as a policeman, then went into business and ultimately into media, buying up several Kursk outlets. Alyokhin now fashions himself as a “civic manager”, “social technologist”, analyst and volunteer. On his Telegram channel, he talks about the “special military operation” and collects money for the frontline. In November 2022, Alyokhin was appointed head of the newly formed regional volunteer organisation We Are Together.

This is not the first time Alyokhin has ended up in hot water when collecting money for the frontline, with even those close to him having criticised his methods in the past.

In the summer of 2024, he was appointed to be an adviser to the Kursk region Governor Alexey Smirnov, shortly before Smirnov’s own spectacular fall from grace, when he was arrested for embezzling 1 billion rubles (€10.1 million) that had been earmarked for building defensive fortifications on the border with Ukraine. When a new acting governor, Alexander Khinshtein, was appointed, Alyokhin resigned his post.

This is not the first time Alyokhin has ended up in hot water when collecting money for the frontline, with even those close to him having criticised his methods in the past. Pro-government writer Anastasia Mironova said in September 2024 that Alyokhin had bought himself a Zeekr 001 car that retails for over €60,000 using donations he collected to support the war effort, though he registered it to his company.

In March, Alyokhin announced that he had joined the Chechen Akhmat special forces battalion. In an interview with US blogger Patrick Lancaster, he said that he had been part of Operation Stream to recapture the Kursk region town of Sudzha from the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), in an operation that saw Russian troops pass through a 16 km-long stretch of disused gas pipeline to penetrate enemy lines.

“I organised … the supplies for the entire operation … and replaced the commander when he rested,” Alyokhin said, to Solovyov’s evident dismay, despite Alyokhin’s apparent heroics. “How can the legendary Akhmat unit have this in its ranks?” Solovyov asked on his primetime TV show in March, “Who the fuck is he? Who is this crook?”

Just days after Operation Stream, Alyokhin told his followers that he’d realised that enlisting to fight had been a mistake and he left Akhmat, where, despite serving a mere 23 days, he still received the unit’s highest award — the Akhmat Order — as did all the servicemen who were part of the operation.

It remains unclear exactly how Alyokhin managed to terminate his military contract, something the Defence Ministry permits notoriously rarely, and nearly always on health grounds, due to age, or a court order. This was the point at which the pro-war community suddenly began asking questions.

Alms for the war

Since then, the campaign against Alyokhin has picked up pace. Earlier this month, several pro-government Telegram channels shared a video in which Alyokhin, seated under a portrait of Che Guevara, talks about laundering money earmarked for “aid for the front”. The video was recorded by a hidden camera.

Telegram channel 112 gave a summary of the conversation in which Alyokhin explained how his ruse worked: “A businessman transfers 200 million to the Alyokhin charitable foundation. The foundation buys medicine in return for 150 million for the soldiers in the special military operation. The entrepreneur receives his money, and the military blogger receives a small share (50 million) as a commission and a reputation as a patriot, while the actual volume of drugs delivered will be artificially low.”

After the video was shared online, the Interior Ministry began its own investigation into the matter. Attempting to defend himself against the fraud allegations, Alyokhin even gave an interview to exiled Russian TV channel Dozhd, in which he claimed he had been offered “no kickbacks”.

But pro-government media continued to keep Alyokhin under the spotlight, with Igor Filippovsky of the Kursk Cossack Society describing him on REN-TV as “a narcissistic liar who would sell his mother for a ruble”.

REN-TV was also keen to remind viewers that Alyokhin had received call-up papers, but managed to evade mobilisation, while he claimed “he had been sent away for more certificates”, and that mobilisation had ended while he was collecting them.

Alyokhin then decided to sue Solovyov, REN-TV and other media outlets who accused him of money laundering.

A blow to charity

The pro-war community greeted the news that Alyokhin was now a “foreign agent” with slight bewilderment.

“I now realise that if these are the grounds for being given foreign agent status, anyone can become one, including your humble servant,” ZHIVOV Z, a pro-war writer and volunteer, commented, adding that “a purge” had begun, while another pro-war blogger, Roman Nosikov, indignantly described the move as a “desecration of the very concept of law”.

“Roman Alyokhin helped the Akhmat special forces a lot, for which I thank him. But if he did things that have made him a foreign agent, then it’s his own fault. Suck it up,” Akhmat commander Apti Alaudinov said.

Ivan Filippov, an analyst who monitors pro-war bloggers, told Novaya Gazeta Europe that Telegram channels associated with Solovyov were mostly “very happy to see Alyokhin as a foreign agent” and “have their eyes on their next targets”. Other channels were dismayed, however, saying foreign agent status should not be used “to settle personal scores”.

Filippov identified Alyokhin’s conflict with Solovyov as the main reason he was declared a “foreign agent”, saying that he had failed to “weigh up the situation. And when Vladimir Solovyov attacked him, instead of holding up his hands, he decided to fight back and sue Solovyov. And now look what’s happened.”

“Whatever happens, this is a terrible blow for the volunteer movement.”

“I think this attack on Alyokhin is an attempt by Solovyov to take on the Russian volunteer movement. He’s long since wanted to quash the movement… His entire network is now celebrating, spreading the news as widely as possible. I think it’s because he thinks popular and state support should flow through his fund.”

According to Filippov, pro-war volunteers and military correspondents fear the Alyokhin story will impact donations made by the Russian public to the front, with many already complaining for some time that they have bottomed out. Donations are now likely to sink even further, Filippov added.

“Whatever happens, this is a terrible blow for the volunteer movement. Solovyov & co. will promote the idea that this ‘emergency collector’ is a foreign agent on national TV and on their own shows. That will hit donations hard, which means the Russian army will receive less for its needs to fight and kill at the front. In that sense, this is great news.”