Get to know Alexander Ionov - a man who wrote a denunciation of Medusa, demanding to recognize it as a “foreign agent”

You will like his exciting biography

The Medusa, which on April 23, 2021, the Ministry of Justice of Russia introduced the “foreign agents” in the register of the media , disputes this decision in court. On May 20, in the course of pre -trial preparation for the consideration of the lawyers, the lawyers of the Human Rights Cards Anastasia Burakova and Sergey Badamshin, representing the interests of the publication, were able to get acquainted with documents, from which it becomes a little clearer how Russia recognized the “Medusa” “ino -agent”. The formal initiator of this decision is Alexander Ionov, the founder of the “anti -globalist movement”, a supporter of “Anti -Maidan”, who repeatedly became the hero of the publications of “Medusa”. One of our articles offended Ionov so much that he decided to write a complaint to Roskomnadzor. We tell you what Ionov is known, who considers himself a "human rights activist."

Resentment of a social activist

The new "foreign" status of "Medusa" was a surprise for Alexander Ionov. “When the Ministry of Justice nevertheless recognized you with a“ foreign agent ”, it was news for me,” Alexander Ionov himself admitted in a conversation with Medusa, which the Ministry of Justice made this decision. “I thought there would be an unsubscription from them, where they will indicate to us that we were undergoing something somewhere.”

How the Ministry of Justice made a decision

From the departmental correspondence presented to the court, which Medusa got acquainted with, it is clear how quickly and harmoniously officials of four different departments recognized the “Medusa” by a foreign agent with common forces.

• Having received a complaint from Alexander Ionov on April 20, 2021, the deputy head of Roskomnadzor Vadim Subbotin sent her to the Department of Non -Profit Organizations of the Ministry of Justice the next day, providing dozens of sheets of “Medusa” certificates. The auditorium indicators of the Meduza.io site are analyzed there in detail (on average, the site’s attendance is 26.9 million people a month, Roskomnadzor indicates), mobile applications of the publication and all its accounts in social networks. Roskomnadzor also analyzed the Medusa content, having discovered that “from April 2020 to April 2021, a significant number of publications were identified that used the materials of foreign media that perform the functions of a foreign agent” and, in turn, such media also used Medusa materials. It is simply about mutual citation of the media, as can be seen from the certificate;
• April 21 and April 22 Rosfinmonitoring provided the Ministry of Justice with information that “the organization receives foreign financing, including indirectly”;
• On April 22, the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Titov answered the Ministry of Justice: “Given the information received from Rosfinmonitoring and Roskomnadzor, we coordinate the inclusion of information about the specified legal entity in the corresponding register”;
• And on April 23, Deputy Minister of Justice Oleg Sviridenko issued an order to include Sia medusa Project in the register of foreign media performing the functions of a foreign agent.

Ionov wrote the first complaint about Medusa back in 2019 - after he became the hero of one of her publications. In 2019, Medusa quoted Ionova in her investigation about Russian mercenaries in Venezuela: in this country, at that moment, they prevented the next revolution, excitement continued on the streets-and specialists from the Russian Federation were thrown out to strengthen the protection of Russian business objects.

Ionov shared information with Medusa about how often the military sides from Russia fly to Venezuela, as well as the impressions of their friends working in the country as part of the Russian-Venesuel military-technical cooperation-about the level of training of Latin American military.

How we quoted Ionov

Familiar with representatives of the Venezuelan establishment of Ionov (in an interview, he mentioned that he was even friends with people from the presidential administration Nicholas Maduro) told Medusa about the situation in the country, as well as that Russian experts are involved in the Venezuelan government to reflect “sabotage detachments” from neighboring Columbia.

“From Columbia in Venezuela a lot of saboteurs fell imprisoned for the destabilization of Venezuela. It was necessary to plan a strategy to eliminate them, ”said Medusa Ionov then.

Commenting on the “MBH-Media” story with his complaint, Ionov accused Meduzu of “attributing” him “all sorts of troll stories in Venezuela”. However, the text of the "troll factory" is not even mentioned.

Later, in a conversation with the Medusa correspondent, Ionov recovered, clarifying that he was not connected by Medusa “troll factories”, but other journalists who relied on an article about Venezuela.

“When you wrote an article about me and about Latin America, it and its English -speaking version became a start for publishing articles in Ukraine, in Poland and countries close to Latvia,” complains to Medusa ions. -Journalists instantly expanded your material-only with a completely different message than you: that I am supervising some kind of “troll factory” in Latin America. Including it appeared on Informnapalm . ”

However, in the publication of Informnapalm about Ionov and its reprints , the Medusa material and the publication itself are not mentioned even in the form of a hyperlink.

Then, after an article on the situation in Venezuela, Ionov first complained to Medusa in the Ministry of Justice, the public activist Medusa himself said (in the commentary of the MBH Media, he spoke about the complaint in Roskomnadzor). “I saw certain violations - I saw how the whole campaign was formed after this article,” says Ionov. -You see, I do not want to please anyone: I do not receive income from the budget of the Russian Federation, I am not a departmental contractor, I do not expect to show what kind of cheers I am-I just want the law to be observed. And if they write something about me, I can’t sue Polish or Ukrainian journalists-they will not even let me into the territory of these countries! But there is an article that pushed this whole story forward-on the basis of which a number of materials were written, because of which I was forced to suffer. This is exclusively my work to prevent juggling of information: otherwise people go on the Internet to read about me-and see that I am some kind of “leader of the trolls and killers”. ”

In 2019, his complaint about Medusa was ignored, says Ionov: “Then they [in the Ministry of Justice] considered that our arguments are unconvincing, and there are not enough textures to recognize you with a“ foreigner ”.”

However, in April of 2021, he and his lawyers “decided to write to the Ministry of Justice again” (although they ended up to Roskomnadzor). “Firstly, the US Department of Justice was published, where they again stated that they would give orders for the arrest of our citizens in the world-including the activities of“ foreign agents, ”April events recalls. - And we also saw how the Russian media in Latvia limits activities . What are Latvia problems with RT? "

What is the essence of Ionov's complaints

From the court documents that Medusa got acquainted, it follows that Alexander Ionov made his appeal to Roskomnadzor (and not to the Ministry of Justice) on April 20, 2021. In it, he asks “on the basis of the requirements of the legislation” to consider the issue of the inclusion of “Medusa” in the register of foreign media that acts as a “foreign agent”.

Then he gives arguments that justify, in his opinion, such a decision. "Medusa" "is engaged in the distribution of information among an unlimited circle of persons and receives foreign financing." Ion’s appeal is attached copies of documents: this is a fragment of the annual report of the Latvian company Medusa Project, as well as an extract from the Latvian procurement bureau (from which it follows that in August 2019, Medusa won the tender of the Latvian Investment and Development of Tourism Advertising in Latvia for the Russian-speaking audience).

Ionov considers an additional argument in favor of the fact that the “Medusa” should be recognized as an “ino -agent”, the fact that the publication repeatedly quotes information published by the media - “foreign agents” in its materials. He attached to his statement the multi -page statistics of the mention of each “foreign agent” in “Medusa” for the entire period of the publication (and regardless of the date when the media, the “foreign Agent” received this status in Russia).

Ionov added to the complaint his thoughts on the editorial policy of the "Medusa", characterizing it as a "foreign agent". In particular, he notes that "the frequent plots of [publication] are criticism of the actions of law enforcement agencies, coverage of the activities of opposition movements, as well as an analysis of political trials."

“I did not write, they say, close the“ Medusa ”because it is the opposition media,” says Ionov. - The basis for recognition by the “ino -agent” is primarily obtaining funding from a foreign state - including from any ministry or organizing state -regulation. And you had a grant [from the Latvian Investment and Development Agency] in the amount of 70 thousand euros. ”

This refers to a contract for advertising Latvian tourism for a Russian -speaking audience won by a "jellyfish" on a tender of a government agency. However, as noted by Galina Arapova, director and leading lawyer of the Center for Protection of the Rights of Media (recognized in Russia by a “foreign agent”), the law allows you to assign the status of a foreign media - “inoagent” to any information distributor for any foreign financing. “A commercial contract for the provision of services with a foreign legal entity, according to which the money was transferred, will be considered“ foreign financing, ”Arapova said.

“Why don't you write, for example, about crooks in Latvia? - Ionov is indignant. - There are a lot of crooks - Latvian Forbes and I wrote a big article about this, I can send you. And you are afraid to write about them! And why aren't you saying that our citizens abroad are recognized as “foreign agents”? And why are the materials that you post on some Russians on your site have such a pro -Western character? ”

Alexander Ionov and the "anti -globalist movement"

In March 2012, Alexander Ionov registered the “regional public organization to counteract world globalization” - “Anti -Globalist Movement of Russia” (Adr) in the Ministry of Justice of the “regional public organization”. The task of the ADR, as follows from the description on the personal website of Ionov, is the support of "countries and peoples opposing the dictatorship of a unipolar world and seeking to offer an alternative agenda."

Prior to the creation of the “anti-globalist movement”, Ionov was the co-chair of the solidarity committee with the peoples of Syria and Libya under the leadership of the former State Duma deputy Sergey Baburin (in this capacity, Ionov played at the Arab Spring in Syria in MGIMO in March 2013). In the spring of 2013, ADR members arrived in Damascus, where they handed President Bashar Assada a certificate of honorary member of the organization. Other honorary members of ADR, as Ionov himself said in an interview with RT in 2018, former President of Iran Mahmud Akhmadinejad and President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro.

First, the activities of the “anti -globalist movement” were limited to single pickets and few rallies with portraits of Muammar Gaddafi near the US Embassy and NATO representative office in Moscow. But already in December 2014, the Adr received a grant of one million rubles from the National Charitable Fund engaged in supporting military-patriotic projects under the patronage of the Kremlin, and held the first official event -the international expert discussion “National Dialogue. The right of peoples to self -determination and the construction of a multipolar world. ”

In addition to delegates from the self -proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, foreigners were also involved in it: for example, Joe Lombardo, the founder of the United National Anti -Veil Coalition in the United States, Nathan Smith, is a representative of the Texas National Movement, Margaret Kimberly, one of the Black Back Coalition, the events in Ferguson .

In 2015, Adr held another large grant event from the National Charitable Fund. Conference "Dialogue of Two. The right of peoples to self-determination and the construction of a multipolar world ” took place in September 2015 in the Moscow“ President-Help ”. Delegates from several small ones participated in it - sometimes consisting of one person - movements for independence from different countries: Ireland, the USA, Spain and Italy.

In addition, Fedor Biryukov, a member of the Presidium of the Political Council of the Rodina party, spoke at this conference with the demand to “create the World Washington Ghoul resistance”. In the spring of the same 2015, he participated in the rally of ultra-right parties and movements in St. Petersburg “International Russian Conservative Forum”.

In 2016, the “anti -globalist movement” held the second anti -globalist forum in Moscow. He passed on a large scale. The Presidential grant received its ADR already 3.5 million rubles. However, in the report of the Los Angeles Times, Ionov told about this event to the publication that he received the rest of the funds from private donors from Texas and other countries. In an interview with Medusa, however, Ionov rejected the assumption of any financing from Texas and generally abroad. “The journalist La Times or did not understand something, or specially wrote,” he said to Medusa.

In addition to representatives of the unrecognized Transnistrian Moldavian Republic, self -proclaimed LPR and the DPR, activists spoke out for the exit of Texas and California from the United States at the second anti -globalist forum. In the same 2016, one of them, Luis Marinelli, who moved to Yekaterinburg from San Diego, the English teacher, announced the basis of the “Embassies of Independent California” in Moscow on Clara Cetkin Street in the Koptevo area , where, according to the register of legal entities, there is an office of the “anti-globalist movement”.

What Ionov did in Syria

In 2018, Alexander Ionov became one of the few Russians who officially confirmed the losses of Wagner PMC in Syria in a combat clash of mercenaries with American forces near Deir ez-Zoro. American journalists then called Ionov a "Russian businessman working in Syria."

Ionov was engaged in Syria with both the security business and the consultation of local businessmen; And for almost 60 Russian companies in Syria (from the spheres of energy, construction and transport), he acted as a dealer, wrote The Bell: due to sanctions, all operations at that time went through a whole chain of intermediaries.

The interlocutor of Medusa, who previously collaborated with Ionov in entrepreneurial projects in Syria, says that Ionov is closely connected with the influential in the field of Russian-Syrian friendship by the Russar Foundation-this is the project of Oleg Fomin, a member of the Council of the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society.

Alexander Ionov really was engaged in projects in Syria through his company Mubashar, he himself told about this in 2018 to the Medusa correspondent. As Ionov explained, “Mubashar” into Russian is translated as a “direct path”. The Syrian office of the company was located in the Scheraton Hotel in Damascus.

Oil projects, which were then aimed at Evgeny Prigozhin , were not interested in Ionov: the oil industry in Syria is in a crisis and will not be interesting to investors, he said to Medusa.

Ionov was going to engage in tenders to restore the country, which Syria then, as he told Medusa, was preparing to carry out (the construction of railways, a rolling stock repair plant in Homs).

Before starting negotiations with the Syrian government, Ionov gathered a pool of more than 60 Russian firms that expressed their readiness to work in Syria: it included companies from the field of security, energy, insurance, IT. It will be difficult for Russian business to break into the Syrian market, Ionov Medusa complained in 2018: you have to compete with suppliers from Iran and even from Belarus, and the project does not have political support from Russia.

In addition, as Medusa found out, in 2017, Alexander Ionov could be related to the organization of the International Exhibition-Conference of Re-Build Syria , dedicated to the post-war reconstruction of Syria. In the booklet with offers at the choice of a stand for potential participants, the address for feedback is indicated-info@it-int.one. This domain is registered by the Russian Ionov Transcontinal LLC, the only founder and director of which is Alexander Ionov in the register of legal entities. It was with Imail that this domain received a complaint against Medusa on behalf of Ionov in Roskomnadzor on April 20, 2021.

Human rights activist Alexander Ionov

В мае 2019 года британский журналист Дин Стерлинг-Джонс сообщал , что Александр Ионов помогал связанному с Евгением Пригожиным политтехнологу Александру Малькевичу (который на тот момент уже находился под американскими санкциями за попытку вмешательства в выборы ) собирать средства на освобождение Марии Бутиной .

В своем блоге Стерлинг-Джонс цитировал переписку с Малькевичем о том, что его «Фонду защиты национальных ценностей» помогало со сбором денег в обход санкций «Антиглобалистское движение России» Ионова. Тогда фонд Малькевича объявил о перечислении первых пяти миллионов рублей в американский фонд защиты Бутиной.

Согласно «СПАРК-Интерфакс», «Антиглобалистскому движению России» принадлежит домен mariabutinafund.ru, на котором располагался уже не работающий сайт в поддержку Бутиной. И именно Ионов испикер российского МИД Мария Захарова встречали Марию Бутину в московском аэропорту Шереметьево в октябре 2019 года . На видеозаписях этой встречи видно, что Бутина сразу после объятий со своим отцом подходит поприветствовать Ионова.

А 14 мая 2021 года о сотрудничестве с Ионовым объявил созданный Евгением Пригожиным «Фонд борьбы с репрессиями». В новости об этом на сайте связанного с Пригожиным издания РИА ФАН Ионова называют «общественным деятелем», без упоминания его «Антиглобалистского движения». Как сообщает РИА ФАН, «Фонд борьбы с репрессиями» по инициативе Ионова будет заниматься защитой активиста «Черных пантер» Мумии Абу-Джамала, за убийство офицера полиции приговоренного в 1982 году в США к смертной казни (в 2011-м ее заменили на пожизненное заключение).

«Что касается „Фонда борьбы с репрессиями“, я обращался к ним за помощью: они помогают различным активистам с оказанием юридических услуг, — сказал Александр Ионов в беседе с „Медузой“. — И все. Если понадобится еще кому-то помочь из наших граждан или зарубежных коллег, я еще раз обращусь. У нас просто нет фондов вроде западного NED ( National Endowment for Democracy, включен в список „нежелательных организаций“ в России, — прим. „Медузы“ ), который такие вещи финансирует».

Кроме того, Александр Ионов в качестве правозащитника занимался делами российских хакеров, арестованных за рубежом по подозрению в кибермошенничестве и вмешательстве в выборы в США — в частности, Станислава Лисова и Петра Левашова. Комментируя задержание Левашова в Испании в 2017 году, Александр Ионов назвал это «прямой угрозой для граждан России, выезжающих за рубеж».

В материале прокремлевского издания «Газета.ру» об арестованных за рубежом российских хакерах Ионов представлен как вице-президент российского подразделения «Международного комитета защиты прав человека». Как в марте 2021 года выяснили журналисты издания Foreign Policy Стерлинг-Джонс и Эми Маккиннон, а позже подтвердили расследователи из проекта Bellingcat, «Международный комитет защиты прав человека», известный в англоязычных публикациях под франкоязычной аббревиатурой CIPDH, — это таинственная якобы правозащитная группа, неоднократно обвинявшаяся в мошенничестве.

Так, CIPDH утверждала , что является партнером Организации Объединенных Наций и более чем десятка органов ООН, хотя в самой ООН отрицают такие взаимоотношения; использовала на своих автомобилях номерные знаки, подозрительно похожие на номера ООН, без ведома или разрешения международной организации и даже выдавала собственные «дипломатические» паспорта для членов организации. Некоторых останавливали на международных границах после попытки использовать паспорта CIPDH, которые Еврокомиссия назвала «выдуманными» документами. Как минимум двое лиц , аффилированных с CIPDH, получили обвинения в причастности к преступной деятельности.

Ионов в этих публикациях фигурировал в качестве вице-президента CIPDH. В 2018 году CIPDH наградила Ионова «Медалью почета», назвав его «известным российским правозащитником» . В марте 2021-го Ионов рассказал Foreign Policy, что больше не работает в CIPDH (хотя на момент публикации этого материала его профиль оставался на сайте организации). В видео , опубликованном в его аккаунте в фейсбуке в конце марта, Ионов заявил, что не входит в комитет CIPDH — и одновременно обвинил иностранные СМИ в том, что они пишут критические статьи о россиянах.

В беседе с «Медузой» Ионов попросил представлять его именно правозащитником либо вице-президентом «Международного комитета по защите прав человека». Когда корреспондент «Медузы» напомнила Ионову, что весной 2021 года он в комментарии Foreign Policy уточнял, что уже не является вице-президентом комитета, Ионов сказал, что все-таки больше не связан с организацией. «Это ваши коллеги из-за рубежа получили заказ, чтобы затравить комитет, — начал вдруг говорить Ионов. — Хотя в Москве никаких проблем у него не было — и пока я там работал как вице-президент, мы занимались очень понятными кейсами. Видите, как пропаганда действует?»

У Александра Ионова есть почетная грамота «за оказание содействия органам Федеральной службы безопасности» от 27 февраля, подписанная директором ФСБ Александром Бортниковым.

Но с ФСБ Ионов никак не связан, утверждает он сам в беседе с «Медузой»: «Только по линии „Офицеров России“: мероприятия для них делал. Ну и с сотрудниками ФСИН по линии ОНК (Общественной наблюдательной комиссии, — прим. „Медузы“) встречался». А грамоту за подписью Бортникова Ионов получил за организацию волейбольного турнира для ветеранов спецслужб, объясняет он. «Это грамота за спортивный турнир. Мы от „Офицеров России“ организовывали волейбольный турнир для команд ветеранов, — уточняет Ионов. — По линии „Офицеров России“ я участвовал в организации не одного мероприятия — а там ведь есть и ветераны „Альфы“, они мне даже вымпел свой дарили».

Чем еще занимался Ионов

Александр Ионов был в одном из прошлых составов Общественной наблюдательной комиссии (ОНК) Москвы — но больше он в этой организации не состоит, сказал 20 мая ТАСС председатель московской ОНК. «Он свои обязанности исполнял, безразличия не проявлял», — так Ионова охарактеризовал член ОНК Алексей Мельников, который входил вместе с ним в состав четвертого созыва. «Ионов провластный, прогосударственный человек, но это неплохо, все могут иметь свои позиции. Его интересовали в первую очередь зарубежные арестанты», — сказал «Медузе» бывший коллега Ионова по ОНК.

«Я его лично не знаю, потому что он был членом ОНК прошлого созыва, я с ним не пересекалась, — говорит Марина Литвинович, в марте 2021 года исключенная из ОНК. — Но мне ужасно стыдно, что член ОНК, который еще себя и правозащитником называет, написал эту кляузу, из-за которой одно из лучших изданий признано „иностранным агентом“ и фактически начат процесс его уничтожения. Мне ужасно стыдно, что такие члены ОНК у нас случаются».

Объясняя свое решение обратиться в Роскомнадзор о признании «Медузы» СМИ — «иноагентом», Александр Ионов сказал «Медузе»: «Если вы получаете иностранное финансирование в виде грантовой поддержки, вы отчитывайтесь об этом! Отчетность моей организации , получающей грантовую поддержку, например, есть в открытом доступе в интернете».

Однако на сайте Минюста (куда должны отчитываться все некоммерческие организации) «Медузе» не удалось обнаружить следы отчетов его «Антиглобалистского движения» ни за один год существования этой общественной организации начиная с 2012-го.

Авторы: Лилия Яппарова , Анастасия Якорева, Кристина Сафонова и Алексей Ковалев

Editor: Tatyana Lysova