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On Dec. 15, the European Union imposed sanctions on the International Russophile Movement, or IRM. Few people had heard of it, but over the past three years it has effectively replaced official pro-Kremlin organizations formerly operating in the EU, where life for them became far more difficult after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The Russian World Foundation, the Gorchakov Foundation, and Pravfond — all controlled by Russia’s Foreign Ministry — faced sanctions, asset freezes, staff expulsions and increased oversight. As a result, the IRM emerged in 2023 under the auspices of the Foreign Ministry and Konstantin Malofeev, a billionaire fraudster with ties to Russian intelligence services.
Although the movement is publicly presented as a grassroots initiative made up of EU citizens, in practice the IRM is backed by several Kremlin influence networks. The “Russophiles” openly said they feared sanctions and did not plan to create legal entities, but that did not help. The new structure appears headed for the same inglorious fate as the earlier Kremlin puppet organizations that were sanctioned after the start of the full-scale war.
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An alliance of political marginals and conspiracy theorists
The founding congress of the International Russophile Movement was held in Moscow in March 2023. According to the organizers, around 90 representatives from 42 countries attended the event. Prominent “Russophiles” among the guests included actor Steven Seagal, former French president Charles de Gaulle’s grandson Pierre, and Italian princess Vittoria Alliata di Villafranca (who translated The Lord of the Rings into her native language). The Guardian described the participants as “political marginals and conspiracy theorists.”
Those who came to support and guide the “Russophiles” included Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, his deputies Mikhail Bogdanov and Alexander Grushko; Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, Rossotrudnichestvo head Yevgeny Primakov, “Orthodox oligarch” Konstantin Malofeeev, far-right philosopher Alexander Dugin, and the chairs of the international affairs committees from both chambers of the Russian parliament — LDPR leader Leonid Slutsky and senator Grigory Karasin. At the congress, Lavrov read out a message from Vladimir Putin that noted the “targeted anti-Russian hysteria in many countries” and thanked the participants for their “firm resolve to oppose the Russophobic campaign.” General Charles de Gaulle's grandson Pierre de Gaulle with State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin at a meeting in Moscow
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