Alexander Mamut, the former co-owner of Rambler, left Russia after the start of the war, a member of the Russian Forbes list, two billionaire acquaintances, and one person close to him told Meduza.
According to Meduza, , now Mamut «lives in two countries» — Great Britain and France. According to the interlocutor of the publication from the businessman’s entourage, Mamut “wants to become a ‘good Russian’, to cleanse himself as much as possible – and for this purpose he decided to create media that will promote the liberal agenda.”
Meduza’s source adds that Mamut “really doesn’t want to be sanctioned.” In 2018, he was included in the pre-sanctions «Kremlin list» of the United States, but since then no restrictions have been imposed on the billionaire. At the moment, Mamut has almost no assets left in Russia.
Mamut's acquaintance did not specify what kind of media he was talking about: «Maybe he will limit himself to a fund to support the media.» Another source familiar with Mamut's plans said the businessman could open a «media holding.»
About this possibility, according to one of the interlocutors, the billionaire consulted with economist Sergei Guriev, who criticizes the invasion of Ukraine. In March, the Ministry of Justice declared Guriev a «foreign agent.» The economist himself told Meduza that he had met with Mamut several times, but only discussed with him “financing a research project.”
Mamut sold 45% of Rambler, which he co-owned since 2012, to Sberbank for three years back. In March 2014, the businessman fired Galina Timchenko, editor-in-chief of Lenta.ru, which was part of the holding, and appointed journalist Alexei Goreslavsky to this post. This happened immediately after the RKN issued a warning to Lente.ru for an interview with one of the leaders of the Right Sector. Part of the team, led by Timchenko, founded the Meduza publication with an editorial office in Riga.
In 2013, Mamut also appointed Svetlana Babayeva, a former employee of RIA Novosti and Izvestia, as editor-in-chief of Gazeta.ru. According to Meduza, this happened on the day of the Moscow mayoral elections, in which Alexei Navalny was a candidate.