“Professor” Malofeev Underlines Fascistization of Russian Education

“Professor” Malofeev Underlines Fascistization of Russian Education

Executive Summary:

• Konstantin Malofeev, an ultra-conservative media owner with no relevant academic credentials, has begun teaching “History of Empire” at Moscow State University, promoting a civilizational worldview that mirrors fascist and Russian nationalist thinker Aleksandr Dugin’s ideology.
• Malofeev holds ties to nationalist paramilitary groups and spreads antisemitic conspiracy theories. His rising influence in Russia signals state endorsement of embedding ultranationalist doctrine within higher education.
• New educational initiatives, including behavior grades and ideological pilot programs, amid rising youth violence and growing neo-Nazi activity suggest a systemic effort to cultivate obedience and normalize fascist narratives within Russia’s schools and universities.

In early 2026, Konstantin Malofeev assumed a position as a political science lecturer at Moscow State University in another sign of the fascistization of Russian higher education (see EDM, October 14, 2025, January 14; Meduza, February 12). The “Orthodox Oligarch” is lecturing second-year students on a new course titled “History of Empire.” A journalist from Russian news outlet Kommersant attended a first lesson of this course on February 12 and reported that Malofeev lectured students about the “millennia-long struggle between the Empire and Canaan” (Kommersant, February 12). Malofeev, who owns the ultra-conservative Tsargrad TV station and website, holds no official academic degree, but has recently published his third book in a quasi-historical series titled “Empire.” The core concepts at the heart of Malofeev’s philosophy are two types of civilization: “Empire,” ruled by a tsar who is accountable only to God, and “Canaan,” the preserve of merchants and traders. Russia epitomizes the first kind, and, according to him, Carthage, the Venetian Republic, and the United States the second (Meduza, January 30). In this, there are clear traces of Russian nationalist thinker Aleksandr Dugin’s thoughts and the division between “thassalocracies” and “tellurocracies” (see, for instance, Marlene Laruelle, Russian Eurasianism: An Ideology of Empire, 2008, Woodrow Wilson Center Press). The investiture of such a course tracks with other developments embedding the ideology of fascism in Russian higher education.

Malofeev was born in 1974 in a town near Moscow and graduated from high school with honors. Finishing a law degree at Moscow State University in 1996, he became interested in Russian Orthodoxy. After a failed business venture in Ukraine in 2005, he founded Marshall Capital Partners, which invested in transport, technology, retail, food production, and real estate. By 2012, the fund managed some $1.5 billion in assets, including Rostelecom. Malofeev founded the “safe internet league” in 2010, and then, in 2015, Tsargrad TV (Secret Firmy, accessed February 7).

It is not unreasonable to call Malofeev a fascist. First, he has recorded links to national paramilitary groups in Russia such as the Cossacks, the Russian Community, Rusich, the Russian Imperial Movement, and the Wagner Group (Inside Story, August 12, 2020; Homeland Security Affairs, June 2023; see EDM, October 15, 2024). Second, his ideology echoes the interwar fascism of the 20th century. Malofeev published an article on February 7 in Tsargrad in which he claims, “almost the entire Western world has submitted to the Zionist will. The United States, Britain, and the European Union—previously Christian countries—have ceased to be Christian. Ordinary people still go to church, but the elites act contrary to their national interests” (Tsargrad, February 7). The article goes on to allege that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is a sleeper agent who would oversee the creation of laboratories in Ukraine, making designer babies (Tsargrad, February 7).

There is evidence that Russia’s children are becoming more violent (see EDM, September 24, 2024). In its review of the previous school year, the banned non-governmental organization (NGO) SOVA reported:

The level of violence in 2025 increased less significantly than in the previous year, but a qualitative deterioration in the situation was observed: the brutality of attacks increased, the number of murders began to rise, and children were among the victims- including those slain.

At the same time, SOVA reports, “the number of hate-motivated vandalism incidents has doubled in a year. The proportion of more dangerous acts, such as arson and explosions, has also increased” (SOVA, January 21).

Even as Russian soldiers are moving into their fourth year of a war to “denazify” Ukraine, neo-Nazi ideas and groups are emerging stronger than ever in Russia itself. These sentiments are no doubt part of a reaction to the general ambience of violence and fascist thinking which pervades Russian society. This is present among Russian youth. For example, a 15-year-old neo-Nazi was arrested after using a knife to attack students from India and Africa while shouting racist slogans at Bashkiria State Medical University (see EDM, February 19). According to reports, the teenager known as Alexander S. also tried to set fire to the dormitory (SOVA, February 7). In January, a 13-year-old who was fascinated with extreme right ideology attacked a school in Tatarstan, injuring one of the cleaning workers (SOVA, February 3). According to reports, there is a pilot project in seven regions to monitor and incentivize children’s good behavior through grades—like in Soviet times—this academic year, but the scheme will go nationwide in September. The pilot scheme is aimed only at children in grades 5–8. Leader of the teachers’ union, Dmitry Kazakov, called it “an attempt to find a magic wand,” which is unlikely to lead to better results in Russia’s education system (RBC, January 16).The seeming state endorsement of Malofeev’s intellectual qualifications and ideas is no surprise. Malofeev’s star in the Kremlin has been rising recently, not least because of his marriage to Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova, who the International Criminal Court has indicted (RBC, September 9, 2024). Malofeev’s new course on empires alongside changes to the Russian education system, such as the introduction of behavior grades for children in schools, seem designed to cultivate obedience to authority (see EDM, October 14, 2025). With such educators and changes to Russia’s education system, the fascist orientation of Russia’s youth seems overdetermined.