Alexander Ionov, who began his political career in 2009 in Russia's Communist Party youth organization, became president of the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia (AGMR) in 2011. In 2012, according to the Robert Lansing Institute, Ionov "got the diploma of technical service manager-economist at Moscow State Agro-Engineering University... He obtained his master’s degree in 2014, in vocational education." Ionov organized a larger conference in 2015, which became the first of several "Dialogue of Nations" events hosted by AGMR that brought representatives of many separatist groups to Moscow. The 2015 event, billing itself as the International Russian Conservative Forum, was held in St. Petersburg on 22 March 2015.
BBC News described AGMR's 2016 event as "a conference of Western secession movements," with representatives from secession-promoting groups based in California, Texas, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and Northern Ireland. Ionov told reporters that the Russian government supported the 2016 conference, contributing 30% of its cost, but denied that Russian government money was paid directly to any Americans. ==Criminal charges==