In 2001, an organisation similar to Rossotrudnichestvo began to take shape within the Moscow City Government. At that time, a division responsible for working with compatriots was established within the Moscow City Department of International Relations (later renamed the Moscow City Department of Foreign Economic and International Relations). It was responsible for planning and overseeing activities relating to the diaspora, but ‘the activities themselves were carried out by various external organisations on a competitive basis’.
In 2003, the Moscow House of Compatriots was established under the Moscow City Department of International Relations; this organisation was itself responsible for working with the diaspora and managing the funds allocated for this purpose. The name of this organisation was devised by Georgy Muradov, then head of the Moscow City Department of International Relations, who served as Russia’s ambassador to Cyprus from 1996 to 1999, from 2010 to 2014 he served as Deputy Head of Rossotrudnichestvo, and since 2014 has been Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Russian-occupied Crimea. He is also a member of the Government Commission on Compatriots Abroad, alongside the Head of the Moscow City Department of International Relations.
In 2021, for reasons that remain unclear, the institution’s name was changed to the Moscow State Autonomous Institution ‘Centre for Humanitarian and Business Cooperation with Compatriots Abroad – Moscow House of Compatriots’
Legally, the Moscow House of Compatriots is engaged in much the same activities as Rossotrudnichestvo – funding the Russian press abroad, supplying Russian schools and educational centres with Russian textbooks, organising all manner of youth forums and conferences on patriotic themes, etc., and attracting foreign students to study in Russia. Unlike Rossotrudnichestvo, the Moscow House of Compatriots has not been subject to sanctions, which makes its work much easier. Since 2023, the Moscow House of Compatriots has been headed by Dmitry Kozhaev. Judging by his vague official biography, he is most likely a member of the security services.
It is these state bodies that have been entrusted with the management of a multitude of ‘civil society’ influence networks, the number of which has risen sharply under Putin.