Russian President Vladimir Putin recently dissolved the Department of Interregional and Cultural Relations of the Presidential Administration, stating that this was done to optimize the work of the presidential administration. The new department will be called the “Department of Strategic Partnership and Cooperation.”
According to The Insider, the dissolved structure was created back in 2005 to counter the threat of “color revolutions.” However, over the years, it had turned into an ineffective, corrupt structure, where money was spent on meaningless events. The revelations regarding Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Moldova are particularly impressive.
Armenia
The direction of Armenia was headed by Dmitry Avanesov, an officer of the General Staff of the Armed Forces (formerly the GRU). According to The Insider, he had access to secret information from within the Armenian government. Even Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s movements were transmitted to Avanesov. Pashinyan was referred to in the reports under the operational pseudonym “Boroda” (Beard).
Internal reports of the department also noted that Russian initiatives in Armenian society attracted almost no attention. The participants were mainly relatives and acquaintances of diplomats, and the youth were not interested in Russian history or culture.
Azerbaijan
Secret reports on Azerbaijan stated that there were almost no organizations in the country that could counterbalance Turkish influence. To this end, it was proposed to strengthen the presence of Russian NGOs, with a focus on youth, students, education, and cultural programs.
Russia spent a lot of money on organizing events in Baku, including an exhibition dedicated to Heydar Aliyev. According to one of the former employees of the department, more than $100 million was spent on “friendship,” but the result was almost zero.
Moldova
The Moldovan direction has been controlled for many years by Igor Maslov, a former colonel of the SVR (foreign intelligence service). In 2020, a major scandal erupted when Moldovan President Igor Dodon lost his mobile phone. It ended up in the hands of journalists, who found numerous contacts with Russian special services officers on it. One of the most frequently repeated calls was to Maslov himself.
Despite this revelation, Maslov was later entrusted with the management of the entire department. However, his activities were assessed as ineffective: among his main steps in the last three years were the opening of the Russian Book House in Yerevan and several symbolic visits to South Ossetia and Kyrgyzstan.
