The king of Tsargrad
The Tsargrad TV channel was registered in Russia shortly after the start of the war in Donbas, on 18 September 2014. The channel went on air some time later, in November 2015, fuelled by the wave of national euphoria following the Crimea referendum. “Tsargrad TV talks about everything under the sun from a Christian point of view”: this is how its team described the channel’s mission. At first, the channel was part of satellite TV packages, but since 2017, it switched up its format and fully moved online.
Russian businessman Konstantin Malofeev is the mastermind behind Tsargrad TV and simultaneously its CEO. By the time the channel was launched, Malofeev had already taken part in other ideologically driven projects. He founded the Saint Basil the Great Charitable Foundation, as well as the Russian Society of Philanthropists for the Protection of Motherhood and Childhood. He also founded the now infamous Safe Internet League, an online censorship organisation. However, it cannot be said that Malofeev tried to fit in with the political climate by launching these projects. A former classmate told Novaya Gazeta. Europe that the businessman had “supported imperialist views since he was in school”.
In 2012, the entrepreneur tried to go into politics and vied for a senator’s seat, but he was unsuccessful.