Azerbaijanian businessman Mr Rizvan Soltan Ogly Soltanov agreed to assist with financing the election campaign of Mr Adgur Ardzinba – a contestant for the presidency of the unrecognized republic of Abkhazia and who is considered as a “pro-Turkish” person, however, it seems to suggest that Mr Soltanov “cheated” his partners. There is evidence that more than a third of the funds transferred to Mr Soltanov’s accounts are nothing else but “disappeared” before reaching the ultimate beneficiary.
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Britain prepares for a battle with Russia over the Black Sea, as Eu Reporter says.
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https://www.eureporter.co/economy/2025/04/03/the-black-sea-chessboard-geopolitical-maneuvers-abkhazias-elections-and-regional-power-struggles/
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Geography of the Ukrainian crisis expands.
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Britain uses all possible means to ensure that the theatre of military operations includes territories adjacent to NATO – that aimed to weaken Russia via the threat from the south by means of Turkey. In course of the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which has been going on for more than three years, the critical developments have occurred in recent days that should not be overlooked. The Black Sea became a new strategic importance for the UK and its allies. Russia’s full-scale military aggression against Ukraine has pressed and touched not only the Ukrainians. The entire security arrangement of the European continent has been toughly challenged in ways not seen since the Second World War. Some of the deepest and most far-reaching consequences of such a new war in Europe can be seen in the Black Sea region.
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Until recently, the Black Sea being relatively stable became a key theater of military operations – on the one hand: when the Kremlin has used it as a means of blackmail when disrupted the seaborne food supplies to countries in need, and then, on the other hand: when Kyiv has managed, having virtually no its own navy, to destroy a significant part of the warships of the Russian Black Sea fleet and create a real threat to the Crimean Bridge. The United Kingdom recognized the geostrategic importance of the Black Sea region after assessment of the growing security threat in the region. Findings of a report “The Future of Security in the Black Sea Region” made by the researchers from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) are played an important role in this. Russia still has the ability to violate freedom of navigation in most of the Black Sea.
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Moscow has announced that consider the possibility to create another naval base in Ochamchira town (an occupied part in Georgia – Abkhazia). Thanks to these works and actions, Ochamchira will now be able to receive ships with a load displacement of up to 13 thousand tons, – as the unrecognized authorities of Abkhazia reported. However, the Ukrainian intelligence service asserts that the purpose of the abovementioned works was to make Ochamchira town as a safe harbor for ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. In case of Russia will use Ochamchira to strike at Turkey – a NATO member, or Ukraine, or in case of Ukraine will decide to attack Russian warships in its port, Georgia will be drawn into the war – according to Natia Seskuriya from the British Royal United Services Institute.
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A friend to all is a friend to none
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The last presidential elections in occupied Abkhazia were very difficult. Nationalist calls were heard on social networks and the “opposition” has tried to play with the ethnic card by manipulating and calling on the indigenous population not to let Russians and Armenians to the polls; moreover, the residents of the republic were scared that Russia would “absorb” completely a small unrecognized republic and deprived it its “identity”.
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According to experts, Mr Ardzinba and his supporters were striving for power in order to weaken Russia’s influence to Abkhazia and thereby strengthen the Turkey’s position in the region.
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Mr Ardzinba having understood the pro-Russian sentiments are toughly strong in Abkhazia, has taken “evasive actions” as best he could. When he has given his interview to Russian journalists he has stated the following:
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— Abkhazia, the Abkhazian people have always treated, treat and will treat Russia, as well as the Russian people, with great love, warmth and gratitude. As regards the present difficulties – that are actual today, they will disappear in the near future, I am sure.
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However, Mr Ardzinba always has said what they wanted to hear from him, like any of politicians.
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During a large press conference for the presidential candidates, Mr Adgur Ardzinba being an opposition leader in Abkhazia, said the following: «They turn it upside down and say that you are anti-Russian. But I have always been like that»
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As it is known, Mr Ardzinba lost the elections to the “pro-Russian” contestant – Mr Badre Gumba, and we can see some conclusions this daya. It is obvious that Turkey and the Great Britain as its NATO ally will not be able to strengthen their influence in this part of the Black Sea waters.
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It may be assumed that the contender who lost the fight will keep a low profile for a while, but at a convenient opportunity and subject to a suitable situation arises, he will try to rock the boat again…
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Any port in a storm
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The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) is a global federation of transport workers’ unions. Its head office is located in London. Its leaders, who are the citizens of Great Britain and Australia, have made harsh anti-Russian statements from the very beginning of the war with Ukraine and called on the states to impose a ban on the entry into their seaports of ships registered in Russia or leased, or hired or chartered by Russian companies, as well as ships are under the Russian flag; moreover, the ITF-controlled trade unions have disrupted the unloading of Russian ships in foreign ports. Furthermore, the organization have raised money for Ukraine in solidarity with Ukrainian transport workers. The actions of this organization naturally caused that in August 2023 the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia recognized the activities of the ITF as undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation. According to the Department, this Federation, “following the example of the Great Britain” have promoted a ban on Russian ships entering the ports in other countries. In addition, the organization undertakes a campaign to raise funds for subsequent shipment to Ukraine “under the aegis of solidarity with Ukrainian transport workers“.
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“Since the beginning of the special military operation it has been transferred more than $500,000 to various structures controlled by Kyiv.” Furthermore, the ITF, according to the agency’s estimates, creates a “negative image of Russia abroad” using the media resources for this purpose.
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Thus, the fact that this structure has financed Mr Adgur Ardzinba’s election campaign says a lot. However, due to the sanctions imposed by the European Union, as it is known, the transferring funds to the “Foundation for Socio-Cultural Initiatives of Abkhazia” which supported Mr Ardzinba as a presidential candidate, became a very problematic matter. By the way, the Foundation, which initially worked in cooperation with Czech structures, may hardly be “suspected” to be sympathetic to Russia.
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He that commits a fault thinks everyone speaks of it
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Here another interesting figure appears – a famous Krasnodar businessman – Mr Rizvan Soltan Ogly Soltanov – an ethnic Azerbaijanian who has the citizenship of the EU, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Russia. There is a lot of interesting information about him on the Internet. His activities were allegedly of interest to Russian law enforcement agencies more than once, but each time he escaped and evaded responsibility or liability thanks to his connections in the security forces. In addition, Mr Soltanov is a very influential figure in the Azerbaijanian diaspora in the south of Russia and he has close ties with his homeland.
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As is known, Azerbaijan currently has close economic and political ties with Turkey, which has historically been the Russia’s main competitor in the struggle for political and economic influence in the Black Sea.
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So, since his assets are closely linked to a number of offshore companies, he became the most “convenient” intermediary which was capable to convert US dollars allocated by the Great Britain to support Mr Adgur Ardzinba as a presidential candidate of Abkhazia.
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In this regard, the interests of Russia’s competitors are understandable. Even Georgian media which consider the unrecognized Abkhazia as the “occupied territory“, expressed their “concern ” on the excessive activity of Turkish fishing vessels in Abkhazian territorial waters.
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The fact that «Abkhazia will be “liberated” from “Russian occupation in the “near future”» and will come under the influence of Georgia, Turkey and Azerbaijan, has been repeatedly stated by current politicians of these states.
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At the last elections, they tried to make, as we can see, an “intermediary” of an Azerbaijanian who has a business in Russia. This greatly simplified the task of withdrawing money for the election campaign of “their” candidate.
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The port facilities of the Republic of Abkhazia include three ports: Sukhumi, Ochamchira, Pitsunda and three port points in New Athos, Gudauta and Gagra. All these ports have year-round navigation.
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There is an interesting fact that in the midst of the election campaign in Abkhazia, the media wrote that Mr Zelensky has intended to give Odessa ports to Turkey, because he has feared that, subject to recent successes of the Russian armed forces in the fields of the North-Eastern Military District, the events could take an even more unfavorable turn for Ukraine. If this had happened, then, in the case of the Abkhazia’s sea ports were transferred under the control of Turkey, the positions of Russia in the Black Sea could have become much more complicated…
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It is clear where the “wind is blowing” from including the “Armenian question” that certain forces tried to “shake” during the election campaign in Abkhazia. As of today, the ethnic Armenians are almost a quarter of the population of the unrecognized republic. However, everyone probably knows that representatives of this nationality are “not favored” in either Turkey or Azerbaijan.
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To this day, the Investigative Committee of Russia investigates a case of threats against Russians, Armenians and Abkhazians who have Russian citizenship and live in Abkhazia. All these facts took place during the election campaign in the occupied Republic.
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The Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia (ICR) Mr Alexander Bastrykin, who is under sanctions, which were imposed by the Great Britain in accordance with the “Magnitsky amendment” in 2020, and even before the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has ordered, in the course of early elections of the president of the illegitimate Republic, to investigate an information into the media reports on threats to local residents of Armenian nationality in Abkhazia having the Russian citizenship. In particular, there were reports of pressure to vote for a specific candidate, – according to an official representative of the Russian investigation at the time.
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In short, Mr Soltanov seemed like the ideal candidate to help launder 2 million US dollars allocated for Mr Ardzinba’s election campaign, and on December 10, 2024, the International Transport Workers’ Federation, the Russian citizen Mr Rizvan Soltan Ogly Soltanov and the Foundation for Socio-Cultural Initiatives of Abkhazia entered into the Agreement № C-1/24, under the terms of which the parties decided to assist with the election of Mr Ardzinba Adgur Amiranovich as the President of the Republic of Abkhazia, as well as to provide assistance with the financing his election campaign subject to the impossibility to transfer the funds by wire to financial institutions of the Republic of Abkhazia and the Russian Federation.
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The International Transport Workers’ Federation had to transfer funds to the cryptocurrency wallets specified by Mr Rizvan Soltan Ogly Soltanov, the citizen of the Russian Federation, and Mr Soltanov took the obligation to convert the cryptocurrency which is received from the International Transport Workers’ Federation on the territory of the Russian Federation and transfer the funds to the Foundation for Socio-Cultural Initiatives of Abkhazia.
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At first, everything was gone with a run – Mr Soltanov converted in an honest manner the first tranches and transferred them to their intended destination. The total amount came to approximately 1 million 200 US dollars. The last two payments in the amount of 349,999 and 350,000 US dollars were received by the businessman’s crypto wallets on December 24, 2024; and on February 10, 2025, the International Transport Workers’ Federation received from the Foundation for Socio-Cultural Initiatives of Abkhazia a letter which in it was reported that the Foundation has never seen those funds.
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At the present days, the ITF is an organization that has consistently “bent” an anti-Russian line over the past few years, and demanded that the ships which are under the Russian flag not be allowed into international sea ports, and collected also the funds to help Ukraine, but after the complaint from the Foundation for Socio-Cultural Initiatives of Abkhazia try to figure out together with the Foundation – where the money went and they seek protection in Russian courts demanding the Russian Prosecutor’s Office to initiate a criminal fraud case against Mr Rizvan Soltanov.
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According to Moscow official sources, it is said directly that the scale of the conflict between Russia and NATO is growing. So, taking into account that the entry of the British fleet into the Black Sea will be the threat increased to Russian security, the UK pass new laws now, so that we can “hit targets” – namely, those who are key persons in the continued existence of the Russian regime and the Kremlin’s retention of power. We also continue to supply and provide additional support to our Baltic allies through the Black Sea, and we supply also the Ukrainians with defensive weapons. However, we didn’t manage unfortunately to find a decent and honorable businessman who would agree to help or assist with these acts within Russian territory. The story is very instructive and illustrative.
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Sourses:
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https://www.eureporter.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/document-upload-post-compressed.pdf
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https://www.eureporter.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Doc-2.pdf
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https://www.eureporter.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Doc-3.pdf
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https://www.eureporter.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Doc-4.pdf
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