When a Russian-Finnish oligarch Gennady Timchenko travels the world, he can use the prestigious title: honorary consul.
Serbia appointed Timchenko as its honorary consul in 2016, two years after Russia illegally occupied the Crimean peninsula belonging to Ukraine. Timchenko had been put on the US sanctions list. According to the US, the president of Russia With Vladimir Putin is likely to have access to Timchenko’s billion-dollar fortune.
So the United States accused Timchenko and Putin of corruption. ‘s MOT editorial office has shown in its research that Timchenko has Putin to thank for her wealth.
The accusations did not prevent Serbia from appointing Timchenko to a position that would benefit the oligarch. Honorary consuls have the same benefits as real diplomats. For example, the authorities cannot examine their communications, archives or consular dispatches. Nor can they be accused of crimes if the events are related to the performance of the honorary consul duties.
Like Russia, Serbia is Orthodox, and the two countries have close political ties. Timchenko’s appointment was announced by Serbia’s pro-Russian president at the time Tomislav Nikolicwho was visiting St. Petersburg.
Timchenko is known in Finland as the former financier of the Jokerites and the major owner of the Helsinki arena. He has had Finnish citizenship since 1999.
Timchenko is only one of Putin’s inner circle who has been appointed as an honorary consul. As many as nine former or current Russian honorary consuls are currently subject to economic sanctions.
International journalists’ organization of ICIJ (you switch to another service) and specialized in investigative journalism ProPublica (you’re moving to another service) according to Putin’s reign, Russia has started to use honorary consuls as propagandists and drivers of Russia’s power politics and interests.
Gennadi Timchenko did not respond to MOT editorial’s request for comment.
“Putin’s banker” and other oligarchs
In the era of Vladimir Putin, Russia has started using honorary consuls to achieve its own goals. The line is a complete reversal, as Russia’s predecessor, the Soviet Union, did not participate in the honorary consul system.
A professor who studied the history of diplomacy By Geoff Berridge according to the Soviet leaders considered honorary consuls to be “bourgeois spies”, whose task was to obtain intelligence information for Western countries.
The Russian game works in two ways. First of all, the country itself has appointed influential people close to the Kremlin as Russian honorary consuls in different countries. In their home country, they openly sympathize with Russian politics and try to influence public opinion. ICIJ and ProPublica (you go to another service) according to many of them openly defend Russia’s military actions in Ukraine or criticize the economic sanctions imposed by the West and the military alliance NATO.
According to an international investigation, some of the honorary consuls also have connections with Russian intelligence services. For example, according to the authorities of North Macedonia, the honorary consulates operating in the country were used as some kind of center for intelligence activities.
Russia has also appealed to other countries to appoint businessmen close to Putin as honorary consuls. According to media reports, Putin had personally proposed that Thailand appoint a businessman as honorary consul Yuri Kovalchuk.
Kovalchuk is a billionaire who is often referred to as Putin’s banker. Kovalchuk is the largest shareholder in the Russian Bank Rossiya. Its other owners are, for example, Gennadi Timchenko and Svetlana Krivonogikh, who, according to Russian media, is Putin’s former mistress and the mother of the president’s daughter. The former cleaner has collected assets worth hundreds of millions of euros in secret operations, which MOT reported on in the fall of 2021.
Kovalchuk is also on the US sanctions list. Kovalchuk did not respond to interview requests from ICIJ and ProPublica.
One Russian honorary consul in Finland
The only Finnish honorary consul of Russia is a former MP Pauli Saapunki (middle). Russia requested the appointment of Saapung in 2010.
Saapunki from Kuusamo says that the reason for the appointment was his long-term work to promote relations between Finland and Russia. He has served as the chairman of the parliament’s Russia group, the chairman of the Barents regional council and the chairman of the council of the Finland-Russia association.
– I myself am the son of a German soldier and I thought that since I have gained my life from the war, I will do everything I can and put my own life into making friends out of former enemies.
According to Saapung, he has no personal connections with the Russian leadership. He strongly condemns Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
– When the war broke out, it felt like my whole life’s work had been wasted.
System monitoring is lame
The general public knows relatively little about the honorary consular system.
The system was created when small countries wanted to expand their diplomatic networks. However, countries could not afford to establish official embassies, so they began appointing honorary consuls.
The model is cheap, as the honorary consul does not have to be paid a salary, acquire an expensive residence or maintain an embassy with employees. In general, influential figures in economic life, former politicians or otherwise socially meritorious persons have been appointed as honorary consuls.
Honorary consuls are required to have a good reputation and integrity. However, they are not official diplomats.
ICIJ, ProPublica and 160 journalists from different parts of the world found more than five hundred former or current honorary consuls with criminal convictions or other ambiguities. Several honorary consuls had also used their position for personal gain. The MOT editorial was the only Finnish media that participated in the research project.
Among the honorary consuls working in Finland or representing Finland in the world, there are also those convicted of crimes. Two honorary consuls are currently on trial for financial crimes. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland received information about suspected crimes from the MOT editorial board.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that it is currently going through the cases brought forward by , and at the same time it is making a broader assessment of the appointment and monitoring of honorary consuls.
Traditionally, honorary consuls have tried to create economic, cultural and academic connections between countries, or for example to help citizens of the sending country who are in trouble.
However, the system has become a laughing stock that no one seems to be monitoring. Honorary consuls also include criminals, self-interested people, supporters of terrorist organizations and supporters of the Kremlin.
Johanna Mattinen, editor of ‘s MOT editorial, told the Uutispodcast what kind of problems are related to the honorary consul system.
You can discuss the topic until Tuesday, December 6 at 11 p.m.