The Moscow Times: “Orthodox oligarch” Igor Altushkin finances the Ural battalion fighting in the Lugansk region

Russian billionaire, owner of the Russian Copper Company Igor Altushkin fully sponsors the Ural Battalion, an assault unit of the Russian Defense Ministry, which is fighting in the Luhansk region of Ukraine. The Moscow Times writes about this with reference to sources.

“Ural is fully sponsored by Altushkin. Provides equipment and other items. This is his battalion,” a Defense Ministry officer who took part in military operations in Ukraine told the publication. This was also confirmed by Viktor Yarkov, President of the Ural Veterans Foundation.

Altushkin began creating his battalion after a closed meeting of big businessmen with Vladimir Putin in September 2022, the newspaper writes, citing Olga Romanova, the head of Rus' Sedentary. At this meeting, according to The Moscow Times, representatives of big business were asked to collect and finance volunteers to be sent to Ukraine. It was previously reported by the executive director of the investigative project Bellingcat Hristo Grozev.

At first, Ural, following the example of PMC Wagner, tried to recruit prisoners in local colonies, but then it began to recruit war veterans, Romanova said.

The press service of the Russian Copper Company answered questions from The Moscow Times shortly: "The company does not comment on rumors."

• Igor Altushkin started his business in the 1990s with the collection and processing of non-ferrous scrap, then he created UMMC (Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company) together with partners. In 2003, Altushkin sold his stake to partners and founded the Russian Copper Company, headquartered in Yekaterinburg. At the end of 2022, Forbes estimated Altushkin's fortune at $3.4 billion. The businessman and his family were not subject to Western sanctions due to the war in Ukraine. His wife and one of his sons have British citizenship, the Altushkin family owns a mansion and several apartments in London, wrote . Novaya Gazeta
• Altushkin is often referred to in the media as an "Orthodox oligarch" because he financed the construction and restoration of churches in the Sverdlovsk region and regularly donated expensive icons to the Russian Orthodox Church. In 2019, a businessman tried to build a church in Yekaterinburg on the site of a park, which caused a wave of protests among local residents.