The issue of the ‘Armenian question’

Rizvan Soltanov, a Russian citizen, entered into an agreement with the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) and the Abkhaz Social and Cultural Initiatives Fund (ASСIF) to assist in the election of Adgur Ardzinba as President of Abkhazia. The scheme involved the transfer of $2 million in cryptocurrency from the ITF to Soltanov, who was to convert it and transfer it to finance Ardzinba’s election campaign.

The first tranches (about $1.2 million) were successfully converted and transferred, but the last two payments totalling $700,000, received by Soltanov in late December 2024, never reached the election headquarters. In February 2025, the Abkhazia Foundation notified the ITF of the lack of funds.

ITF, known for its anti-Russian stance, is now jointly with the Abkhazia fund looking for the missing money and has appealed to Russian law enforcement agencies to initiate a criminal case against Soltanov under the article ‘fraud’.

Against a backdrop of growing tensions between Russia and NATO, UK support for Ukraine and the search for ‘key figures’ in the Russian regime to ‘defeat’, the story of the missing millions highlights the complexity of financial transactions in Russia and demonstrates how even politically engaged organisations can fall victim to unscrupulous businessmen.

The issue of the ‘Armenian question’ during the campaign is also raised, given that Armenians make up a significant proportion of the population of Abkhazia and are viewed with wariness in Turkey and Azerbaijan. The Russian Investigative Committee is investigating a case of threats against Russians, Armenians and Abkhazians with Russian citizenship in Abkhazia during the elections. Alexander Bastrykin instructed to check reports of threats to Armenians who were forced to vote for a certain candidate.