Alexander Mikhailovich Babakov (; 8 February 1963) is a Russian politician and member of the

State Duma The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly (Russia), Federal Assembly of Russia, with the upper house being the Federation Council (Russia), Federation Council. It was established by the Constitution of Russia, Constitution of t ...

, the Russian parliament. He was appointed Special Presidential Representative to Russians by

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

in 2012. He has been under EU, Canadian and Swiss sanctions since 2014, as well as US sanctions since 2017.

Political activity

He is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Deputy Co-chairman of Inter-Parliamentary Group of the

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, Head of Delegation of the State Duma in the Inter-Parliamentary Union and Chairman of State Duma Commission on legal support to military and defense industrial complex of the Russian Federation. He was appointed Deputy speaker of the Duma in 2010, a position he held until December 2011. In June 2012 he was appointed as Presidential Envoy for engaging with Russian organizations abroad by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

. He was the leader of Rodina, a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

in Russia, for several months in 2006 and organised the formation of

A Just Russia A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient ...

, a merger between Rodina, the

Russian Party of Life The Russian Party of Life (RPL) was a political party in Russia, led by Sergey Mironov ( Speaker of the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament). According to its website, the party was liberal on economic issues and natio ...

and the

Russian Pensioners' Party The Russian Party of Pensioners for Social Justice (RPPSJ; ), commonly shortened to the Party of Pensioners () is a registered political party in Russia. The party was founded as the Party of Pensioners (Общественно-Политиче ...

, sitting on its governing committee. Between 2006 and 2007 he led A Just Russia's faction in the

as the party leader,

Sergei Mironov Sergey Mikhailovich Mironov (; born 14 February 1953) is a Russian politician. He served as Chairman of the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament, from 2001 to 2011. He leads the faction A Just Russia in the State Dum ...

, served as speaker of the

Federation Council of Russia The Federation Council, unofficially Senate, is the upper house of the Federal Assembly (Russia), Federal Assembly of Russia, with the lower house being the State Duma. It was established by the Constitution of the Russian Federation in 1993 ...

. He was elected to the Russian State Duma in 2003 and became party leader of Rodina in March 2006 following the surprise resignation of

Dmitry Rogozin Dmitry Olegovich Rogozin (; born 21 December 1963) is a Russian nationalist politician serving as the senator from the Russian-occupied Zaporozhye Oblast since 23 September 2023. He previously served as General Director of Roscosmos from 2018 ...

Sanctions and legal action

In September 2014, following the

Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation In February and March 2014, Russia invaded the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula, part of Ukraine, and then annexed it. This took place in the relative power vacuum immediately following the Revolution of Dignity. It marked the beginning of the Russ ...

and the wider

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

, Babakov was subjected to sanctions, including an asset freeze, by the European Union. He was sanctioned by the UK government in 2014 in relation to the

. On 14 April 2022 the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

issued an indictment against Babakov for "conspiring to have US citizens act as an unregistered agent for Russia in the United States, conspiring to violate and evade US sanctions, and conspiring to commit visa fraud."

Financial interests

According to anti-corruption investigations, including material published by

Alexei Navalny Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny (, ; 4 June 197616 February 2024) was a Russian Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia, opposition leader, anti-corruption in Russia, corruption activist and political prisoner. He founded the Anti-Corruption Found ...

, Babakov owns a heritage-listed estate in Saint-Léger-en-Yvelines,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and an apartment on

Rue de l'Université ''Ruta graveolens'', commonly known as rue, common rue or herb-of-grace, is a species of the genus '' Ruta'' grown as an ornamental plant and herb. It is native to the Mediterranean. It is grown throughout the world in gardens, especially for ...

in the wealthy

7th arrondissement of Paris The 7th arrondissement of Paris (''VIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. It is known for being, along with the 16th arrondissement and the ''commune'' of Neuilly-sur-Sein ...

. He was also reported to own a residential flat in Richmond Court, Knightsbridge, London In 2011 Babakov passed ownership of his

British Virgin Islands The British Virgin Islands (BVI), officially the Virgin Islands, are a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, to the east of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, US Virgin Islands and north-west ...

registered holding company AED International to his daughter.

Personal life

He is married and has three children.

Awards

Order of Friendship The Order of Friendship (, ') is a state decoration of the Russian Federation established by Boris Yeltsin by presidential decree 442 of 2 March 1994 to reward Russian and foreign nationals whose work, deeds and efforts have been aimed at ...

(2008) *

Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" The Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" () is a state decoration of the Russian Federation. It was instituted on 2 March 1994 by Presidential Decree 442. Until the re-establishment of the Order of St. Andrew in 1998, it was the highest order of ...

(2020) * Order of Honour (2017) * Sretenje Order (2013)

References

External links

''Rodina Duma Deputies''

Forbes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Babakov, Alexander Mikhailovich 1963 births Living people Politicians from Chișinău Rodina (political party) politicians A Just Russia politicians United Russia politicians Fourth convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation) Fifth convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation) Sixth convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation) Jewish Russian politicians Russian individuals subject to U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctions Russian individuals subject to United Kingdom sanctions Eighth convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation) Members of the Federation Council of Russia (after 2000) Russian individuals subject to European Union sanctions