He calls for a return of the Russian Empire, and has repeatedly denied the existence of a Ukrainian identity. Mr. Malofeyev has been cut off from most Western financial systems since 2014, when the Treasury Department and other international regulators accused him of financing Russian proxy forces inside Ukraine. Mr. Malofeyev, though, has continued to use his charity, the St. Basil the Great Foundation, to raise money for orphanages in the Russian-occupied Donbas and Zaporizhzhia regions. In an interview, Mr. Malofeyev said he did not know whether those orphanages hosted Ukrainian children who had been forcibly relocated, but said the resettlement effort had been unfairly demonized.

---

Persons: Konstantin Malofeyev, Malofeyev, Basil the Organizations: Hague, Treasury Department, Basil the Great Foundation Locations: Russian, Russia, Ukraine