Quick Facts
Biography
Anton Alekseyevich Bakov (Russian: Антон Алексеевич Баков; born Sverdlovsk, 29 December 1965) is a Russian politician and monarchist. He was a member of the State Duma of the Russian Federation from 2003 to 2007. Bakov is a well-known Russian businessman, politician, traveller, writer and human rights activist. He is the former vice-chairman of the Federal Political Council of the Party Action and founder and chairman of the Monarchist Party of Russia
Bakov claims to have restored the Russian Empire through his establishment of the micronation of the Imperial Throne in 2011. In 2014, the Imperial Throne issued a manifesto announcing itself a sovereign nation and that German Prince Karl Emich of Leiningen had succeeded Nicholas II and is now Emperor Nicholas III. Within the Throne, Bakov holds the position of Archchancellor and bears the title of Serene Prince.
Biography
Bakov was born on 29 December 1965 in Sverdlovsk, (now Yekaterinburg) in a family of engineers who worked at the Uralmash machine building plant. He graduated from the Ural Polytechnic Institute (now the Ural State Technical University) in 1988. He was a Lenin grant-aided student and graduated with honours. While a student he became an activist in the anti-communist movement. He organized several political activities including the public boycott of uncontested elections to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union in 1984, the founding of a public movement aimed at re-opening churches closed down by the communists and the saving of the memorials of national history in Verkhoturye in 1987. In 1988, he also initiated the removal of the plates with the names of Joseph Stalin's NKVD executioners from city streets.
Later he became a professional traveller, one of the few Russians to visit Tibet, Eritrea and other far-away corners of the planet. Bakov still takes an active part in environmental projects. He finances a project to increase the trout population in the rivers of the Northern Ural Mountains. He organizes rallies and other political actions for the protection of forests and lakes in the Urals and fights against the dumping of nuclear waste on the territory of Russia.
He is married and has four children and five grandchildren. His daughter Anastassia, who is an actress and singer residing in Moscow, was a candidate for mayoral elections in Ekaterinburg in 2013. It is planned she also will run for upcoming 2016 Russian State Duma elections as Monarchist Party candidate.
1980s–90s
Bakov is one of the first legal businessmen in Russia. In 1987, four months after the permission to set up first independent cooperative societies in the Soviet Union and while still at university, Bakov established the private tourist agency "Cedar", the first such agency in the country. In 1991 on the basis of this agency, he established the company "East Line" which involved in air cargo transfers between Europe and Asia and became the operating agent for Moscow Domodedovo Airport. Bakov invited Dmitry Kamenshchik to co-operate the company, and they managed the airport to receive international status in 1992. Bakov left the business in 1994, the airport grew up to become Russia's largest since then.
In 1994, Anton Bakov was elected a Serov county deputy of Sverdlovsk Oblast Parliament — Sverdlovsk Oblast Duma and the Chairman of the Duma Legislative Committee. His first actions as a deputy were aimed against the federal appointments of city mayors and regional governors. He and his like-minded team succeeded in holding the executive government elections in 1995-1996. At the same time Bakov created and supported the so-called Social Ambulance – a system of social control. In 1994 he became an active member of Duma's Chairman Eduard Rossel's team, he was appointed a political coordinator of the "Urals Transfiguration" (political party campaigning for the independence of Urals from the Russia). He was a member of the pre-election committee for E. Rossel in 1995, a good year for Rossel as he won the election.
Bakov participated in the Yekaterinburg mayor elections in 1995, and came second behind the current mayor, Arkady Mikhailovich Chernetsky. In 1996 he was elected the Vice-Chairman of Sverdlovsk Regional Duma, and then was nominated for the post of the Governor of Kurgan region, but his candidature was not registered. In 1997-2000 Bakov became the General Director (CEO) of the city-forming enterprise — Serovskiy Metallurgical Plant (9,000 employees). This experience became very important for his future career.
2000s–2010s
In 2000 Anton Bakov was elected to the House of Representatives (the upper chamber) of the Legislative Assembly of Sverdlovsk oblast (from Serov single-mandate electoral district). He fought against corruption (organized "Anti-Mafia" public movement, which opposed the criminal organisation "Uralmash”) and against the propriety redistribution process. In order to increase the wellbeing of the population, Bakov was involved in educational activities, created consumer and credit cooperatives, councils of local public self-governing bodies and condominiums. As an MP, Bakov proposed to increase the size of the allowances for children and the introduction of regional additional payments to state pensions. Since 2002 Bakov has been engaged in buying land, and now is one of the largest landowners of the Urals. As a developer, Bakov actively started building country houses for sale. In addition, he is actively involved in political consulting. In recent years he specialized in the development of Internet, media and political social networks, including those which are aimed at mobilizing people to fight corruption.
Gubernatorial elections
In 2003, Bakov participated in the elections of the Governor of Sverdlovsk region. He accused Eduard Rossel of having links with the criminal organisation “Uralmash”. In the second round Anton Bakov lost, gaining 330,000 votes against the more than 600,000 obtained by Eduard Rossel. In 2003 he was elected to the State Duma from single-mandate Serovskiy electoral district № 167. After the election, he joined the party “the Union of Right Forces”. He supervised all the successful election campaigns of the party in all the regions, except for Chechnya, in 2004-2007.
The Union of Right Forces and the Party Action
In December 2006, Bakov was elected the Secretary of the electoral work of the “Union of Right Forces”. He is considered to be the one who proposed abandoning traditional right-wing party liberal rhetoric and populist slogans such as raising pensions and supporting the poor. Because of the defeat of the Union of Right Forces in the Russian legislative election, 2007 and the abolition of single-mandate electoral districts, Anton Bakov did not get into the State Duma for the next term. On October 14, 2010, Bakov was elected the Vice-Chairman of the Federal Political Council of the Party Action.
Current projects
Russian Monarchist Party
Bakov's modern political project, established in 2012, is the Russian Monarchist Party which supports return of monarchy in Russia, ousted in 1917. In 2013 it was declared that German Prince Karl Emich of Leiningen, a direct royal Romanov family descendant, is now viewed as the primary heir to the Russian Throne upon his conversion from Lutheranism to Eastern Orthodox Christianity in Nurnberg on June 1, 2013. Monarchist Party participated in mayoral elections in Ekaterinburg on September 8, 2013. The candidate for mayor was Bakov's 22-year-old daughter Anastassia, a singer and actress living in Moscow who recently graduated from Boris Shchukin Theatre Institute. She campaigned using references to the city authorities' performance and to God (who is the keeper of monarchy and protector of the people). Also there, 57 students ran as the party's candidates for elections for City Duma.
In 2015 Bakov announced the Party's plans to run for upcoming 2016 Russian State Duma elections. In early 2016 in an interview with RBC news agency, he confirmed this intention and informed that Anastassia will again become the front person of the planned campaign, and he personally will not run.
In early 2016 Bakov had announced the Monarchist Party plans to organize a public trial for Lenin and Stalin, accusing them of killing millions of Russians and thus significantly slowing down the normal evolution of society and state.
Nicholas III and sovereign state Imperial See
In early 2014 Bakov announced he views the Russian Throne (See) from the point of international law as a subject of state sovereignty regardless of any other attributes, referring to analogues with the Holy See. He outlined that Karl Emich, after accepting Orthodox religion, got a right to take this See according to pre-Revolution Fundamental Laws of the Russian Empire. Bakov proposed the Prince to accept the Throne to form a new independent state and incorporate it into Bakov's promotional projects such as Monarchist Party, revival of the Russian Empire and several others. In April 2014 Bakov and Karl Emich appeared in a newspaper textual and photo report declaring the Prince accepted the proposals as well as the title of Emperor Nicholas III (successor to Nicholas II). In the report Bakov emphasized that Karl Emich has been being an entrepreneur for long time, but from now on, all non-Throne related activity is disabled for him. The report contained a "Manifesto of granting the Constitution to the State", signed by Nicholas III, proclaiming the formation of the sovereign state "Imperial See" aimed at consolidating all the people around the world devoted to Christian Monarchism. The See in the documents is viewed as legacy to the first-ever Christian Roman Imperial Throne of Constantine the Great passed through Byzantine Empire to Russian Empire and House of Romanov via religious procedures.
Later Bakov announced he has purchased a plot of land in Montenegro to form a location for the new state (80 ha, "twice as big as Vatican"), and claims to be in negotiations with Montenegro authorities on state's recognition. He has also informed that Russian President Vladimir Putin refused to grant such a plot in Ekaterinburg (Bakov's residence and place of 1918 Romanov assassination) in response to Karl Emich's request passed to Putin by Bakov, a former MP. In early 2015, as a follow-up to the International sanctions during the Ukrainian crisis, Bakov told the press there are talks with Montenegro authorities to establish an offshore zone at this plot, aimed at providing financial intermediation to Russian companies. Also in early 2015 Imperial Throne representatives claimed to be in talks with the authorities of the neighboring Republic of Macedonia and Albania on possible collaboration and future state recognition. In particular, Bakov held meeting with Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. Later there were the alike talks with President of Gambia Yahya Jammeh at the 70th UN General Assembly session in USA. Also, talks were held with Macedonian and Montenegro Eastern Orthodox clergy — Bakov discusses creation of churches associated with Imperial Throne and proposes canonization of Russian ancient ruler Ivan III and his wife Sophia Palaiologina, of Macedonian origin, who played significant roles in bringing Christian monarchy to Russia.
In the end of 2015, Nicholas III, commemorating Bakov's fiftieth anniversary, granted Bakov the inheritable title of Serene Prince and presented him a Romanov family Eastern Orthodox icon depicting Saint Catherine, who is considered the Heavenly Patron of Ekaterinburg city. The most known historical bearer of the Serene Prince title was Alexander Danilovich Menshikov, the closest ally of Peter the Great.
Ekaterinburg Senate
The Ekaterinburg Senate is an independent civil body organized by Bakov aimed to provide social control for official Ekaterinburg authorities such as City Duma (Council). It was created shortly after 2013 elections. So far, 6 sessions were held where several infrastructure and social projects were presented, some included direct interaction with officials. Up to 100 volunteer "senators" are active at the sessions, such as Kirill Formanchuk. Bakov had announced plans to form the alike Senates in other Russian cities as well as in the Imperial See.
Books and science
Anton Bakov is the author of the books
- The Christian History of the Urals 1991
- Civilizations of the Middle-earth 1995
- Which Russia do I serve 1999
- Idols of Power: from Cheops to Putin 2013
- 2014 Golden bull: Monarchist plan for Russian Renaissance
- Democracy Russian style: Notes of the former USSR citizen 2016
The latter book is expected to be translated into English.
He is a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and has 20 patents for inventions.