In an attempt to influence the outcome of the parliamentary elections in Armenia held on 7 June, Russia launched an unprecedented campaign against the incumbent Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. A significant development was blogger Mika Badalyan’s offer to all Armenians living in Russia to travel to their homeland at his expense to vote.
This is not the first time Badalyan has been involved in electoral fraud: two years earlier, he had taken part in the Russian campaign against Moldovan President Maia Sandu. Badalyan works for the non-profit organisation Eurasia, founded by the fugitive Moldovan oligarch Ilan Šor, who in recent years has become an indispensable collaborator of the Kremlin on various sensitive issues.
An international criminal, cryptocurrency magnate, naval commander and supporter of Eurasianism, Ilan Šor was the subject of an investigation by Novaya Gazeta Europa into his financial empire, which revealed for the first time evidence that the funds for his activities come, amongst other sources, from companies affiliated with the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.
Russian President Vladimir Putin himself listened to Šor via video link from the Far East branch of the Russian National Centre, where he had just arrived for the 10th Eastern Economic Forum, due to be held in early September 2025 in Vladivostok.
Putin’s schedule was packed, and the right to personally present one’s business to the president on such occasions is a privilege usually granted via governors or presidential envoys. In this case, the Moldovan entrepreneur bypassed restrictions and checks, presenting his “Centre for International Investments” to Putin and receiving his blessing.
In his native Moldova, Šor had been sentenced to 15 years for the “scam of the century” – the offshore transfer of around one billion dollars from the country’s banking system – and had been placed on the list of internationally wanted persons.
The businessman is subject to sanctions by the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States, and until recently was also persona non grata in Russia. Since 2016, he had been barred from entering the country on grounds of national security: as reported at the time by Kommersant, citing government sources, the ban was due to Šor’s alleged ability to corrupt “anyone he met”.
However, after Russia launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine, it was precisely this talent of his that proved indispensable to the Russian authorities. Since 2023, Šor has resumed visiting Moscow; in 2024, he announced that he had obtained a Russian passport and publicised his achievements to Putin.
In recent years, this international fraudster has built a veritable empire in Russia, creating an alternative currency transfer system for the Kremlin, which helps Russia circumvent sanctions. He controls a shadow fleet transporting Russian oil, funds media outlets and bloggers who promote Russia’s interests abroad, and openly bribes Moldovan voters to reverse his country’s course towards European integration.
In 2026, he attempted to apply some of the techniques honed in Moldova to the Armenian elections, promoting the ideological project of ‘Eurasia versus Europe’.
According to numerous sources, Šor was introduced to Putin by none other than the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, with whom he has conducted many rather shady business dealings, having met him in Israel, where he previously resided.
Šor now provides key players in Russia and their foreign partners – primarily oil companies and importers of sanctioned goods – with a turnkey service.
In early 2026, the US military had imposed a naval blockade on Venezuela, launching a large-scale pursuit of several vessels which, it claimed, were violating the regime’s laws. One of these vessels, flying the flag of Guyana, changed its registration to Russia during the pursuit, and the new owner was under the financial control of Ilan Šor.
Photo: Wikipedia / Privesc.Eu Moldova
