From the Kremlin to Karlovy Vary: Inside Putin’s Orthodox Women’s Network
Illustration: Lenka Matoušková 2025-08-20
Illustration: Lenka Matoušková 2025-08-20
The Russian Union of Orthodox Women pushes to outlaw abortion, advances a hardline pro-Kremlin agenda, and openly supports Russia’s war in Ukraine. It is led by United Russia lawmaker Svetlana Tyagacheva and businesswoman Anastasia Ositis, who, according to the Munsсanner project, bought property in the Czech spa town of Karlovy Vary 15 years ago. Since then, the Union has expanded its influence, driving anti-abortion legislation through in multiple Russian regions. In September 2024, Tyagacheva sold her company to Jiří Ordzhonikidze—son of a former pupil of her husband, Leonid Tyagachev, a United Russia MP, Putin’s personal ski coach, and a man with connections to powerful figures in both Georgia and Russia.
A Global Conservative Network
Founded in 2010 with Patriarch Kirill’s backing, the Union of Orthodox Women set out to “strengthen the role of the Russian Orthodox Church in society.” Its mission soon broadened: today, alongside pushing for a total abortion ban, the Union promotes pro-Kremlin conservatism, patriarchal values, and the “Russian World” ideology—asserting Moscow’s claim over Russian-speaking territories abroad.
From its Russian base, the Union expanded into former Soviet republics and Serbia, with further branches planned for India and elsewhere in South Asia this year.
According to the Union’s own website, one of its key partners is the World Russian People’s Council, until recently led by Konstantin Malofeyev—the “Orthodox oligarch” and owner of the propaganda outlet Tsargrad. OCCRP reporters linked him to the financing of pro-Russian protests in the Czech Republic, including the purchasing of flags, banners, leaflets, and equipment. Sanctioned since 2014 for funding Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, Malofeyev remains one of the most significant donors to conservative movements across Russia and Europe, according to the European Parliament.
Which Russian oligarchs are financing anti-gender movements in Europe? Source: EPF report “Tip of the Iceberg: Religious Extremist Funders against Human Rights for Sexuality & Reproductive Health in Europe”
His St. Basil the Great Foundation holds more than $61 million (CZK 1.28 billion) and funds conservative causes and pro-Russian propaganda in Europe and beyond. Beneficiaries allegedly include Poland’s Ordo Iuris (OI), which campaigns for “family and traditional values” through research, advocacy, and litigation. OI works closely with the Czech ultraconservative Alliance for the Family; in 2021 they co-founded the Alliance for the Common Good, linking “pro-life” groups from Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. In November 2022, OI representatives joined the Alliance’s Europe for Family conference in Prague.
Putin’s Ski Instructor
Among the key figures of the Union of Orthodox Women is its chairwoman, Anastasia Ositis, who also heads ASVT, Russia’s oldest commercial telecommunications provider. The Union’s co-chair, Svetlana Tyagacheva, serves on the council of the Dmitrovsky municipal district in the Moscow region for the United Russia party and is the wife of Leonid Tyagachev—former president of the Russian Olympic Committee, head of the Russian Ski Federation, current United Russia MP, and Vladimir Putin’s personal ski instructor.
Leonid Tyagachev and Vladimir Putin | Source: kremlin.ru
Svetlana Tyagacheva with her husband Leonid Tyagachev | Source: skigu.ru
Tyagacheva has repeatedly spoken in support of Russia’s occupation of Ukraine, calling on Russian men to enlist in the army.
“My country has never been and never will be an aggressor! The military operation to demilitarize Ukraine is a forced measure to protect the civilian population,” she wrote on her Telegram channel in March 2022.
Leonid Tyagachev, in addition to his political roles, is also known for his close ties to Putin. In December 2012, he produced a ski training video featuring the Russian president himself. Tyagachev declared at the time that Putin’s technique was so flawless it could help beginners master the basics of downhill skiing.
“You can’t compare Vladimir Vladimirovich to anyone. I even gave the example that the Austrian chancellor skis worse than Putin. Lukashenko is skilled—he skied here on our slope and later had his own ski resort built near Minsk,” he told Russia’s RTVI television channel.
Apartments Close to God
Alexandra Tyagacheva, daughter of Leonid and Svetlana Tyagachev, helps run the family’s ski resort near Moscow, a venue that has hosted Vladimir Putin, former Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov, and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
In February 2024, Alexandra—also active in the Union of Orthodox Women—visited Karlovy Vary, the Czech spa town. “Karlovy Vary is a city of health and strength, especially at our age,” she wrote beneath a photo posted from a spa center.
The Tyagachev‘ daughter Alexandra visiting Karlovy Vary. “Karlovy Vary is a city of health and strength, especially at our age.” Source: Facebook, Alexandra Tyagacheva
A fifteen minute walk away from that spot stands an apartment building partly owned by the Union’s two leaders, Svetlana Tyagacheva and Anastasia Ositis. Located in the upper part of Karlovy Vary, just minutes from the Russian Orthodox Church, the building became Ositis’s address in 2010 when she bought an apartment there.
The house at Křižíkova 4 in Karlovy Vary, where the leadership of the Union of Orthodox Women owns apartments. Source: investigace.cz
In 2011, another unit was purchased by Menako Alfa (now Soutrix s.r.o.), a company owned by Svetlana Tyagacheva until 2017 and again from 2019 to 2020. Other owners included former United Russia MP Maksim Mikhaylov and his wife, Marina Zolotukhina. From 2020 to 2024, the company belonged to Alexandra Tyagacheva.
By late 2024, Menako Alfa had been sold to Jiří Ordzhonikidze, whose father, George, a former professional athlete, was coached by Leonid Tyagachev. George recalls last meeting the Tyagachevs three or four years ago, when they were trying to sell the property. “They’d been trying for years without success. In the end, my son bought it—at a good price and in installments,” he said.
Who is Ordzhonikidze?
Until a few years ago, George Ordzhonikidze’s name appeared on ski competition rosters in Austria and the Czech Republic. By October of last year, however, he and his 27-year-old son Jiří were in the headlines for a different reason: their ownership of the GEO Dachstein Hotel in the Austrian Alps. The hotel was investigated by Austria’s DSN intelligence service over suspected links to sanctioned Russian oligarch Boris Rotenberg, uncovered through questionable financial transactions.
Austrian police contacted Levan Gurgenidze, a former senior officer in the Czech National Centre Against Organized Crime (NCOZ), whom Czech investigators suspect of ties to Georgian organized crime and Kremlin-linked figures. According to a Czech Security Information Service (BIS) report, Gurgenidze tipped off Ordzhonikidze about the probe. Ordzhonikidze denies having received any new information, saying he was already dealing with Austrian asset freezes through his lawyers. He acknowledges knowing Rotenberg through sports but insists, “I know Rotenberg, but I am not his proxy.”
In Prague, a building on Perunova 12— owned by Ordzhonikidze—officially hosts the registered addresses of 26 companies, though the site shows little sign of active business. “I just helped friends—or friends of friends—register their headquarters here,” he said, citing connections from professional sport and his Georgian background.
One such firm, Sudkom s.r.o., is owned by Garegin Tsaturov, head of the sanctioned Pella shipyard in St. Petersburg, which builds Russian Navy warships. Another, GPKV spol. s r.o., put Ordzhonikidze on Czech security services’ radar after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine; it co-owns the Hotel Eliška and Villa Ritter in Karlovy Vary with billionaire developer Paata Gamgoneishvili, a former partner of Lukoil co-founder Ralif Safin.
“Everyone knows Putin”
Ordzhonikidze also shares ownership of M&G Gama with Merab Jordania, ex-president of the Georgian Football Federation. The Guardian reported that while running Dutch club Vitesse Arnhem, Jordania represented the interests of sanctioned oligarch Roman Abramovich, who secretly financed its takeover with at least €117 million. Jordania admits a friendship with and loans from Abramovich but denies his direct involvement.
Arms industry ties extend through Fertuna s.r.o., 90 percent of which is owned by Israeli-Georgian Yohanan Eligula, charged by the FBI in 2023 with money laundering and attempting to sell weapons, including Stinger missiles, to supposed organized crime figures. Eligula, pictured at the 2021 launch of the Georgian-Israeli Delta SAA arms plant alongside Georgia’s prime minister and defense minister, has founded companies in Russia, Georgia, and Israel. He previously co-owned KV Poštovní Dvůr s.r.o. with Asmat Shanava, a Karlovy Vary restaurateur linked to Pravfond’s sanctions-busting activities and Georgian organized crime. The remaining 10 percent of Fertuna is held by Ordzhonikidze’s sister Ekaterine, head of Georgia’s state development agency overseeing local Bakuriani’s winter sports fund.
“Eligula worked with her husband about twenty-five years ago in Georgia. I helped my brother-in-law by letting him register the company at our address so they could both get visas. I have no contact with Eligula and no idea what he does. Even when we were in touch, I didn’t know what he was up to,” says Ordzhonikidze, stressing that most of his connections come from his years as a Georgian professional athlete. When asked if sharing a ski trainer with Putin means he knows the Russian president personally, he smiles: “Everyone knows him—from television.”
This original version of this article was published in Czech on Investigace cz.
Subscribe to Goulash, our original VSquare newsletter that delivers the best investigative journalism from Central Europe straight to your inbox!
