Modern Imperialists

Russian monarchists plan the Romanovs’ return; German nationalists rewrite history.

ROMANOV EMPIRE RESTORED?

A Russian human rights activist is seeking to buy three uninhabited islands in the remote south Pacific nation of Kiribati to restore the Romanov Empire and create an “alternative Russia”. Businessman Anton Alekseyevich Bakov, 51, a former Russian MP and founder of Russia’s monarchist party, visited the tiny nation in late January after he was invited there to discuss his plan to purchase or lease three uninhabited islands – Malden, Starbuck and Caroline. He has proposed creating the capital of the new Russian nation on Malden Island, an empty coral atoll, where he says he plans to invest £280 million on resorts. Bakov, self-styled “Arch chancellor of the Imperial Throne” wants Prince Karl Emich of Leiningen, a 64-year-old German great great grandson of Tsar Alexander II, to restore the monarchy overthrown in 1917 and accede as Tsar Nicholas III. (It might be relevant that Bakov was born and still lives in Yekaterinberg, where Nicholas II and his family were murdered.)

Visiting Kiribati with his wife Maria, who acted as an interpreter, Bakov said the idea for the restoration had the backing of a large number of Russians who were dissatisfied with Vladimir Putin. “This is the desire not only of the heir of the Russian throne but also a great number of Russian patriots who are not happy with Putin’s regime and would like to have their revival of Romanov’s empire visible – as an alternative Russia,” he said.