How A Monarchist Ex-Arms Manufacturer Founded His Own Space Kingdom Of Asgardia

IIgor Ashurbeily is a Russian businessman who built a career in weapons manufacturing. But in 2011, he was kicked out of Almaz-Antei, the state-run company he managed, got bitter with the Russian state, and decided to create his own country, on the moon. He named it Asgardia, and now boasts of 170 000 citizens. The population is 84% male, 15% female and 1% "other", and most citizens speak English as their main language.

Currently, Ashurbeily is the only person bankrolling Asgardia, which hasn't yet started to colonize the moon, but has launched a satellite with its citizens' personal data into the low-Earth orbit. Igor Ashurbeily is a character worth studying in and of himself: his ugly feelings towards the Russian state have led him to monarchism, rather than liberalism. In his newly founded space kingdom, he previewed the widest privileges for himself: life-long immunity and the title of Founder of the Nation. Back on Earth, he builds Orthodox churches and believes that Russia will also become a monarchy one day: "a young tsar of about 40 would be best".