Aleksey Mitrofanov

Political positions

Mitrofanov was a co-author of the Dima Yakovlev Law and the Russian foreign agent law.^[4] He has supported abolishing the autonomous okrugs and republics, advocating for constitutional reforms to replace the federal government with a unitary state in April 2006.^[12] He has additionally criticised the usage of migrant workers in Russia, arguing for the restriction of migration from Central Asia, the South Caucasus, and China, in favour of increased usage of North Korean migrant workers.^[13]

As a member of the LDPR, Mitrofanov was the party's "leading expert on geopolitics", according to the academic John O'Loughlin, and he was chairman of the Duma's geopolitics committee. In the 1999 Russian legislative election, he advocated for the immediate annexation of Belarus, the partially recognised states of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and northern Kazakhstan, into Russia. He advocated for an alliance between Russia, Germany, and Japan with support from China and India against NATO, which he believed was led by the United States, the United Kingdom, and Turkey. O'Loughlin has identified Mitrofanov's foreign policy views as based on Karl Haushofer's Geopolitik.^[14] Mitrofanov believes in the concept of Moscow, Third Rome, as central to establishing a unitary Russian state which, through joining the European Union, would create a "super-civilisation".^[15] Mitrofanov opposes the enlargement of NATO.^[16]

Mitrofanov has alleged that the First Chechen War was the result of a conspiracy between the bureaucracy and Russian oligarchs, who sought to prevent Chechens from benefiting from the privatisation process.^[17] Following the September 11 attacks and subsequent United States invasion of Afghanistan, Mitrofanov expressed support for the Taliban and argued that the Russian government should provide assistance to them, accusing the U.S. of orchestrating a humanitarian crisis.^[18] During the prelude to the Iraq War, he further advocated for the usage of nuclear weapons to prevent American attacks on Middle Eastern countries, and he was supportive of Saddam Hussein to the point that Israeli political scientist Ariel Cohen accused him and Zhirinovsky of being "on the payroll of Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi lobby".^[19] Mitrofanov voted for the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea; Ilya Ponomarev, the only member of the Duma to vote against it, has claimed that Mitrofanov grabbed his hand and attempted to prevent him from voting.^[20]

Mitrofanov endorsed Moscow Pride on 11 May 2007, becoming the only major politician to do so, according to Human Rights Watch.^[21]

Accusations of extortion, exile

Mitrofanov was detained on 12 May 2013 at a hotel in Moscow, alongside two of his aides. His aides were arrested, while he was released due to parliamentary immunity. The Investigative Committee of Russia accused him of extorting US$200,000 from the Moscow businessman Vyacheslav Zharov.^[4] According to prosecutors, Zharov, who was engaged in a legal dispute over the construction of a skyscraper in Moscow, was approached by Mitrofanov's aides, who offered to use Mitrofanov's political status to ensure Zharov would win his court case. Zharov, believing that Mitrofanov intended to pocket the money, contacted the police, who arrested Mitrofanov's aides with evidence from a wiretap.^[22] Mitrofanov alleged that legal proceedings against him were politically motivated, arguing that he had never agreed to take a bribe from Zharov and that both Zharov and the Investigative Committee had acted illegally by recording the meeting through wiretaps and video. 431 members of the Duma voted in favour of stripping him of his parliamentary immunity; Vladimir Zhirinovsky was the only member of the Duma to speak against the vote, alleging that the claims of extortion were a conspiracy by A Just Russia in response to Mitrofanov's support for Dmitry Medvedev.^[4]

Mitrofanov was not present at the vote on the removal of his parliamentary immunity, citing illness.^[4] He later claimed that he was undergoing medical treatment abroad. Echo of Moscow stated that he had fled to Croatia, while Mitrofanov claimed to the Russian state news agency TASS that he would return to the Duma in late 2014.^[23] As of 2016, Mitrofanov remained in Croatia.^[22]