The Southern Poverty Law Center, August 2023
Joseph Gleason moved to Russia from the United States in 2017 and edits a religious site that supports Russian President Vladimir Putin. Since late 2022, Gleason and a handful of American expatriates have collaborated with a pro-Kremlin politician to create a “coordinating center” to aid Western migrants intent on moving to Russia. They have established specifically designated communities, including one outside Moscow, to cater to Western conservatives. Gleason and others have said, without evidence, that such outreach could result in tens of thousands to upward of 1 million Western conservatives migrating to Russia.
Gleason works with Charles Bausman, an American extremist, pro-Kremlin propagandist, Hitlerite and Jan. 6, 2021, riot participant who has lived on-and-off in Russia for three decades. Bausman appointed Gleason as editor of the Russian Faith website in July 2018, which is part of a network of sites he runs that include radical-right content.
