http://www.snopes.com/2017/01/30/calexit-campaign-supported-russia/ "When President Donald Trump claimed electoral victory on 8 November 2016 to become the 45th American head of state, it prompted a backlash in historically liberal-leaning California and lent momentum to an effort known as #Calexit to break the nation’s most populous state off from the rest of the country. If the secession movement garners the necessary support, a related initiative will be presented to voters for approval on state ballots in 2018. On 27 January 2017, the right-wing web site Breitbart posted a story questioning the motivation for that effort, based on media reports that the founder of the Yes California campaign has Russian ties: California Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced that a ballot initiative called “California Nation” has been approved by the state to begin collecting signatures to qualify for the 2018 ballot. The effort is supported by the “Yes California” campaign, an organization that enjoys the support of the Russian government and whose founder, Louis Marinelli, now lives in Russia. Marinelli has indeed made no secret of the fact that he not only lives at least part of the time in Russia but also works with a group reportedly backed by the Kremlin, although he denies knowledge of the latter. While he has a San Diego address, as of December 2016 he was interviewed by Bloomberg from his home in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, where he has a Russian wife and teaches English: As president of Yes California, Marinelli is organizing a statewide referendum on independence to be held in 2019—if he can collect half a million signatures by next fall. He runs the secession movement from 10,000 kilometers (6,000 miles) away while teaching English at a language school in Yekaterinburg. He is preparing the ground for an “embassy of California” in Moscow, with the help of a vehemently anti-American group supported by the Kremlin. The avatar on his professional Facebook page shows him posing in front of the Voskresenskiye Gates that open onto Red Square..."