Alexander Galitsky, 71, is a Soviet designer who became one of Russia’s first successful tech entrepreneurs and investors. He has been doing business in the USA, Eastern Europe and Russia for many years. But amid a dispute with his ex-wife, Alia (which ended with her death), the businessman caught the attention of the Russian authorities, which led to the confiscation of his property in the country. On May 26, it became known that Galitsky had traveled abroad. Meduza tells who he is, how he got his capital and how he lost his Russian assets.
How a Soviet engineer from Ukraine achieved success in the USA
Alexander Galitsky was born in the Zhytomyr region of Ukraine. Interested in exact sciences since childhood, he graduated from the Moscow Institute of Electronic Technology, and by the end of the 1980s he worked at the ILAS Research and Production Association in Zelenograd. There is Galitsky He drove Create computers and communications systems aboard military satellites. At the time, he was just over 30 years old, and was the youngest chief designer of the USSR’s defense industry.
In the early 1990s, Galitsky, together with his colleagues from Zelenograd, created the company Elvis-Plus and He started In cooperation with the American company Sun Microsystems, the future developer of the Java language. With Sun’s money, Galitsky’s team creature . In the following years, Galitsky created four more startups and Resist From the allegations of US and Russian authorities – both countries at one point suspected him of violating encryption laws.
In the 2000s, Galitsky retrained as a venture investor and opened the Almaz Capital Fund. The American giant Cisco and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development invested in it. Almaz Capital invested At Yandex before it went public, as well as at Acronis and Parallels, the IT company of Russian-born businessman Sergei Belousov. In 2012 Galitsky nominated For the title of Best Venture Capitalist of the Decade in Europe.
After the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Almaz Capital, which had offices in the United States and the European Union, to reject From investing in Russian projects, but actively invested in Ukrainian projects. “Partners from funds, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development or private investors are afraid that our investments in companies with a significant background from Russia will create a rather bad story for us. This is sad, because I believe in the engineering potential of the Russian Federation.” to talk Galitsky in 2020.
himself belief Russia was a “land of amazing opportunities” and tried to realize them – not without state help. In 2016, the Federal Tax Service (FTS) began implementing the “Honest Sign” labeling system, launched by Galitsky in cooperation with Rostec and billionaire Alisher Usmanov. At that time, the Federal Tax Service was headed by future Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, who was a journalist He thinks Old acquaintances of Galitsky. Galitsky structures carried out contracts for the digitization of the Federal Tax Service under Mishustin, the official’s son-in-law Alexander Udodov He was One of the investors in Almaz Capital.
With the beginning of the great war between Russia and Ukraine, Galitsky began to reduce projects in the Russian Federation. He sold his stake in “Facebook Plus” Rostelecom, and in “honest sign” – “Gazprombank” out From the Board of Directors of Alpha Bank to stop Almaz Capital Fund Management. Galitsky has not spoken publicly about his political views. At the same time, the Ukrainian Forbes magazine returned in 2020 He claimedThe businessman, who holds Russian and Dutch passports, “considers himself Ukrainian.”
How did Galitsky’s conflict with his ex-wife lead to her suicide?
“My daughters are under the harmful influence of their father. The father says openly in front of them that he is with Ukraine. He considers Zelensky a hero. <…> It pains me to hear how the President of Russia is compared to a fascist leader. “It instills in our girls hatred for Russia, the whole people, our culture, our traditions.”
Galitsky’s ex-wife Aliya allegedly recorded this video message to Vladimir Putin shortly before her death. In February 2026, she committed suicide in a temporary detention center, where she was placed in a blackmail case from her ex-husband. After her death, Z blogger Anastasia Kashevarova posted this video.
Alia and Alexander Galitsky married in 2010 and separated in 2025. After that, disputes began between them over custody of their joint daughters and money. According to Galitsky’s statement, two criminal cases were opened against Aliya – for defamation and blackmail (she allegedly demanded money from her ex-husband). In the second case, Alia was detained. Two days later, she committed suicide in the detention center. It was reported that in her suicide note, she blamed her ex-husband for her death.
The anonymous telegraph channel “VChK-OGPU” claimed that Galitsky organized the criminal prosecution of his ex-wife through the “pocket” police department of Alfa Bank in Istra, near Moscow. But that wasn’t the main revelation in this entire story. After Aliya’s death, the Moscow Region’s panel of judges dismissed the judge of the Strinsky City Court, Fyodor Grigoriev, who sent the woman under arrest. Grigoriev responded by saying that the decision to arrest Aliya was issued to him from above, from the Moscow Regional Court. According to him, he decided to talk about the matter because he “realized that it had been leaked.”
How Galitsky was accused of supporting Ukraine and his properties in Russia were seized
On March 10, 2026 – 30 days after Alia’s death in the detention center – the case against her was closed due to lack of evidence of a crime. On March 11, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office demanded that Galitsky and his Almaz Capital fund be declared an “extremist association” and that all their assets be confiscated.
A month ago, in the pro-government newspaper Izvestia The material came outwhere he called Galitsky “an active investor in Ukraine.” “The billionaire structures openly declare their opposition to Russia’s policies and have invested tens of millions of dollars in the Ukrainian economy from the beginning,” the sub-president said. The text stressed that among the beneficiaries of Almaz Capital’s financing was a Ukrainian cartridge manufacturing company.
The Attorney General’s Office files cases against Almaz Capital It seemed Even more serious: since 2014, the fund has allegedly joined Western sanctions against Russia and begun withdrawing capital from the country, and since 2022 has been “directly and actively” involved in the war with Ukraine, directing at least $50 million to Ukrainian arms manufacturers.
Galitsky unacceptable All charges tried to make a deal and in person to talk In court. “I invested in Yandex [тоже] Become an extremist? You’re using the Wi-Fi network you created, and the VPN you created. Do you use extreme things? – asked Galitsky (and he added that “everything can be taken from him, but not his head, he will still work”).
The struggle was in vain. On March 23, the court declared Galitsky and Almaz Capital an “extremist association” and ordered their confiscation (about $100 million). From this decision, which was taken very quickly – two meetings were enough – not only the investor and his fund were harmed, but also the business projects they supported: some of them also fell under confiscation. The most famous of them is the used car selling platform Carprice.
Galitsky’s lawyer Kira Koroma His name The ruling is unprecedented. According to her, the court has already brought third parties to justice without filing any claims against them and without inviting them to participate in the case.
Galitsky filed an appeal. It was reviewed on May 26 and rejected. At the court session, a representative of the prosecutor’s office maleThat the businessman decided not to wait for the decision on the appeal and left Russia using his Dutch passport. And also in the prosecutor’s office maleThat before Galitsky left he withdrew money from his account at Gazprombank. It is not known how much of his wealth remains after the confiscation of his properties in Russia.