Full name:
Babakov Alexander
Babakov Alexander Date of birth
8 February 1963
Babakov Alexander Professional field/official position
- Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs
- Special Representative of the President for Cooperation with Organizations of Compatriots Abroad.
Babakov Alexander biography
BABAKOV Alexander Mikhailovich (b. 19653 in Chisinau) graduated from the Economics Department of Moscow State University, Department of Economics of Foreign Countries, in 1985. After graduation, he entered graduate school and later defended his Kandidat thesis on “State regulation of agricultural relations in developing countries.”
- In 1988-2003 he was engaged in scientific and teaching activities at the Department of Economic Theory of Moscow State University. Alexander Babakov is a candidate of economic sciences, author of several monographs on economic issues.
- In 1994-2003, Alexander Babakov implemented a few successful investment projects. In the summer of 2003, he joined the Rodina Party and was elected a member of the Party’s Political Council. In December 2003, Alexander Babakov was elected to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on the federal list of the Rodina electoral bloc. He was Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Energy, Transport and Communications. In 2004, he was elected Chairman of the Presidium of the Rodina party. In 2005, he became co-chairman of the Rodina faction in the State Duma of the Russian Federation. On March 25, 2006, at the Sixth Party Congress, Alexander Babakov was elected chairman of the Rodina party, and on April 4, 2006, the leader of the Rodina faction. Since April 2006, he has been a Member of the Presidential Council for the Implementation of Priority National Projects.
- On October 28, 2006, he was elected Secretary of the Presidium of the party “Just Russia: Homeland/Pensioners/Life.” On December 2, 2007, he was elected a member of the State Duma of the 5th convocation. He was a Deputy Chairman of the State Duma, a member of the Just Russia faction.
- On July 21, 2011, he left the party, and on December 4 of the same year, he was elected to the State Duma of the 6th convocation on the list of the United Russia party. In 2014, he was included in the EU sanctions list due to Russia’s actions in Crimea. In May of the same year, he was included on Canada’s sanctions list. On September 28, 2016, he was elected representative of the Federation Council from the Tambov Region. He is married and has three children.
Babakov Alexander crimes
Engagement in cross-border organized crime, financing of terrorism in Ukraine, financing of pro-Kremin parties in the European Union.
Stanislav Belkovsky expressed suspicion of Babakov organizing contract killings of mafia boss Maxim Kurochkin, with whom, according to media reports, Babakov had been conducting a joint business for a long time. Together with Kurochkin, according to Ukrainian media reports, he led the Luzhniki organized crime group, which is associated with Moscow ex-Mayor Yuri Luzhkov. There have been repeated allegations of Babakov’s involvement in raider seizures of real estate in Ukraine, including at official press conferences. Member of the Committee on Combating Corruption, MP for Ukraine Yuriy Derevyanko said that Babakov could be involved in the financing of terrorism in Ukraine. The disruptive effect on democracy is one of the main channels of Russian corruption influence in Ukraine.
There are reports that Alexander Babakov has a close connection with Russian politician Dmitry Rogozin. It is said that he is linked to the Russian special services and has permission to see government secrets because his companies do work for the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation involving secret codes and upkeep of nuclear submarines. Since 2003, one of Alexander Babakov's companies, TERNA-SB, has been chosen by the Ministry of Defense to run the Arctic Military-Environmental Cooperation program. The company is authorized by the FSB to handle state secrets and has close ties to the Russian military. It has worked at places like the General Staff, the Navy's General Staff, and the base of nuclear submarines in Kamchatka.
While serving as an MP, Babakov became the head of the Duma commission for legal support of military-industrial organizations in Russia. On June 17, 2012, Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed Babakov as his special representative for cooperation with Russian expatriate organizations. It is reported that in this role, he was involved in funding the French far-right party Popular Front.
“On November 22, 2014, in the article “The National Front receives Russian millions,” the Mediapart website reported that Marine Le Pen’s party received the first tranche of a loan totaling 9 million euros from the First Czech-Russian Bank (PCRB). The mediators in obtaining the loan were allegedly a member of the European Parliament Schaffhauser and the member of the State Duma, the special representative of the President of Russia for cooperation with organizations of compatriots abroad, Alexander Babakov,” Novaya Gazeta reports.
As for Babakov’s political connections in Ukraine, it's noted in the media that the Luzhniki criminal group, with Babakov as one of the leaders, came to Ukraine in the late 90s. Through Igor Bakay, the former head of Naftogaz of Ukraine, they got in touch with Viktor Medvedchuk, an associate of Vladimir Putin. It's reported that the Luzhniki controlled business activities through forceful takeovers, torture, threats, and kidnappings. With the help of Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Viktor Chernomyrdin and one of the early supporters of the Russi Mir, Gleb Pavlovsky, they formed the Russian Club, which included Kuchma, Medvedchuk, and Yanukovych.
In late August 2016, Alexander Shchetinin, a prominent critic of Alexander Babakov who had been publishing revealing information about his actions in Ukraine for many years, was found dead in his apartment with a gunshot wound to the head. However, any official link between this death and Babakov has not been disclosed.
At the end of March 2017, following the murder of former State Duma member Denis Voronenkov in Kyiv, Ukrainian political expert Alexandra Reshmedilova mentioned that the killing took place outside the Premier Palace Hotel, which is owned by “one of the leaders of the Luzhniki gang and now a special representative of Vladimir Putin for dealings with Russian expatriate organizations, Alexander Babakov.” She stressed that activists have repeatedly called for the SBU to address the fact that FSB agents may be operating under the cover of a hotel in Kyiv. Alexandra Reshmedilova emphasized that Alexander Babakov is directly connected to the Russian special services, has access to government secrets, and his companies handle orders from the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation for secret codes and upkeep of nuclear submarines.
According to data published by Alexei Navalny at the end of December 2013, Alexander Babakov has undeclared real estate in France, in particular, an estate in the French commune Saint-Léger-en-Yvelines, 37 km south-west of Versailles, with an area of 10.9 hectares, SCI DU CHATEAU DU CLOS RENARD. To own the mansion, a special company Du Chateau De Saint Leger was created, which in 2009 was acquired by the wife of the politician, Irina Babakova. The approximate cost of the estate is estimated by Navalny at $15.7 million (490 million rubles). Moreover, this estate is included in the register of the historical and cultural heritage of France. Also, according to Navalny, Babakov owns an apartment in Paris at 169 Rue de l’Université, Paris.
According to the Panama Papers, from 2007 to 2011, Babakov owned the offshore AED International Limited. In September 2011, the company was transferred to his 23-year-old daughter. This happened a month before the parliamentary elections when he had to submit a property declaration.
