The Bishop of Kiribati, Paul Mea, says the Catholic church does not support a Russian man having his own empire in Kiribati.
“I think he knows that in Kiribati the churches are very influential with the government. That’s why he came to visit me,” said Mea.
Anton Bakov, a Russian businessman who is the head of the Russian Monarchist Society, wants to revive the Romanov empire, which ended in 1917 with the Bolshevik revolution.
He says the islands of Kiribati would make a peaceful and neutral location for his planned ‘alternative Russia’.
Bakov wants to buy three uninhabited islands in the Southern Line Islands to build a resort complex, and also create what he calls an ‘alternative Russia’.
The Kiribati Government’s Foreign Investment Commission is still considering Bakov’s proposal and a decision is expected soon.
“I don’t know his background,” said Mea. “I met him. We came together from Nadi to here, and they visited me with some members of parliament.”
“But I only know that they are going to develop it as a resort”
Mea said he is reasonably happy about the deal as long the Russian millionaire leases the land and does not buy the island.
“More or less. Because that island there is doing nothing. It is better we get some money from it.”
” Building a resort is a good idea. I can’t see anything wrong with it provided that it is controlled by the government.”
In 2014 Bakov purchased 96 hectares of land on the outskirts of Niksic, the second largest city of Montenegro.
He planned to build residents and a tourist resort, a Palace of the Romanovs in exile, an Orthodox monastery and international scientific centre.
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