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In April 2024, Eurasia NGO was founded in Russia, posing as an autonomous non-commercial organization. According to the description on its official website, the organization implements “humanitarian projects aimed at developing international communication” in post-Soviet countries, and its main area of activity is described as “support for schoolchildren, students, and young professionals.”
It is stated that the organization “supports mutually beneficial integration processes in the post-Soviet space while preserving the national identity of peoples.”
Soon after its establishment, the organization began operating in various post-Soviet countries, including Armenia. Although it positions itself as an organization implementing exclusively educational, cultural, and humanitarian projects in the post-Soviet space, the nature of its activities, as well as the public and political backgrounds of its leaders and members, indicate attempts to interfere in the domestic political affairs of post-Soviet countries in the interest of Moscow.
The Fact Investigation Platform has compiled notable facts and investigations regarding the organization and the activities of its members, and has also summarized the initiatives carried out in Armenia.
Disclaimer: Do not confuse this organization with the similarly named international civil society support organization Eurasia Foundation, the Eurasia Partnership Foundation operating in Armenia, or with the Eurasia Chairty Public Organization operating in Armenia since 1997.
Close ties with Russian state agencies and propagandists
The Eurasia organization presenting itself as an autonomous non-commercial entity, has close ties to and receives direct support from Russian state institutions and agencies.
In particular, in the summer of 2025, the organization signed an agreement with the state agency “Rossotrudnichestvo” at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on jointly holding international educational and cultural programs and conferences, promoting the Russian language abroad, and conducting research in the field of Eurasian integration.
The organization’s activities have been highly commended, and its importance emphasized, personally by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Simonyan, Volodin, and others: trustees and members
The members of the organization’s Board of Trustees are mainly high-ranking Russian officials and propagandists, including the Speaker of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin, Deputy Speaker Boris Chernyshov, the editor-in-chief of the Russian state agency Russia Today Margarita Simonyan, the head of “Promsvyazbank” — a major financier of Russia’s military industry — Pyotr Fradkov, the pro-Russian businessman Ilan Shor, who is hiding from Moldovan law enforcement, and others.
Top left to right: Shor, Simonyan; bottom: Fradkov, Volodin.
Vote-buying, disinformation campaigns, and sanctions: oligarch Shor in Moldova’s elections
The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) has presented in an extensive investigation the activities coordinated by pro-Russian Moldovan oligarch Ilan Shor against Moldova’s EU-integration-oriented president Maia Sandu.
According to the investigation, in the period preceding the 2024 referendum on EU membership, Shor coordinated, through Eurasia, a large-scale campaign of illegal interference in electoral processes, involving the circulation of millions of dollars, vote-buying, fake charity schemes, and disinformation campaigns.
In particular, Moldovan law enforcement agencies have revealed that about 130,000 citizens of the country received a total of USD 15 million from Shor in exchange for voting against joining the European Union or persuading others to take such a step. It is noteworthy that the inflow of large sums into Moldova through criminal schemes was carried out via the same sanctioned Russian “Promsvyazbank,” whose president is a member of Eurasia’s board of trustees.
It should be noted that in Russia, “Promsvyazbank” was granted the status of a key bank for the military-industrial complex at the legislative level back in 2019: it is entrusted with military-related state orders and large procurement contracts. For this very reason, it has been under British and American sanctions since February 2022.
According to Moldovan law enforcement, the bank has assisted Shor several times in illegally transferring money to Moldova. One of the transfers was made for the purpose of vote-buying. According to the country’s police and prosecutors, who confiscated mobile phones and other evidence, those receiving money used the “Promsvyazbank” mobile application to receive funds into Russian accounts opened there.
The OCCRP investigation also revealed that payments were set for leaders and supporters of the anti-EU campaign in the information space, reaching up to 2,500 dollars per month.
The organization also arranged illicit money turnover in Moldova under the guise of charity; in particular, “humanitarian aid” was provided to tens of thousands of pensioners in several regions.
Another investigation, this time conducted by the Moldovan service of Radio Liberty, uncovered some of the shadow dealings of Shor’s party: enticing offers to young people, free trips, in exchange for only one thing-“interest in Russia.”
According to the investigation, Russian intelligence services create non-profit organizations as a cover to expand networks of sympathizers and recruit future spies, and Eurasia is one of them.
In May 2024, the Russian-language outlet The Insider published a notable investigation into the recruitment of young people through NGOs by Russian intelligence services in post-Soviet countries; it describes how, after the 2018 Velvet Revolution, Moscow became active in this regard in Armenia too.
Eurasia NGO and Shor under Western sanctions
In April 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on Eurasia NGO. The document stated that Shor has been under sanctions since 2021 under the Global Magnitsky Act. It notes that he is responsible for, or has been involved in, corruption with foreign government officials.
In 2025, during the parliamentary elections in Moldova, Shor again promoted Russian propaganda narratives through Eurasia NGO and the pro-Russian opposition Victory political bloc, and coordinated funding to influence the political situation in the Republic of Moldova.
It is noteworthy that international observers also recorded significant violations during the parliamentary election campaign. In particular, observers noted that although the elections were competitive, they were accompanied by illicit financing and disinformation.
On this account, the European Union imposed sanctions on Shor, another Moldovan member of Eurasia NGO, and the treasurer of the “SHOR” party, Nelly Parutenko.
With reference to Eurasia NGO, the document states that it serves as a conduit for providing financial flows from a Russian bank and from Shor to citizens and infrastructure projects in Gagauzia (an autonomous region in Moldova), as well as for financing training courses organized by Russia for citizens of the Republic of Moldova aimed at staging violent protests.
It should also be noted that Moldova’s national security service has applied to the court seeking to ban the activities of Eurasia NGO in the country and to designate it as extremist. The legal proceedings are still ongoing.
Opposition blogger on the Eurasia NGO board
Members of the organization’s executive bodies include representatives from various post-Soviet countries. Among them is Russian-based blogger of Armenian descent Mika Badalyan, who has been actively involved in various opposition actions in Armenia since the 2020 Artsakh 44-day war and leads a so-called “Azatagrum” (“Liberation”) movement that targets the authorities of the Republic of Armenia.
He was particularly active in 2022 during the “Resistance Movement” led by the parliamentary opposition. He was briefly detained and later released on bail.
It should be noted that Badalyan was deported from Moldova in the summer of 2024. According to Russian sources, he had traveled to Chișinău from Yerevan to attend the launch of the organization’s “Eurasia Volunteers” program. Members of the Shor-backed “Victory” bloc even came to Chișinău airport to support him, holding #FREEMIKA posters.
“Russia Is With You”: food bags for Artsakh Armenians
Shortly after its establishment, the organization began its activities in Armenia. In June 2024, the launch of the NGO’s branch office was held in Yerevan. According to Mika Badalyan, a member of the organization’s board, their goal is “to show that political disagreements between countries should not affect relations between peoples.” In the summer of 2025—two years after the ethnic cleansing in Artsakh—Moscow launched a series of humanitarian initiatives in Armenia, distributing food and hygiene bags to forcibly displaced Artsakh residents. The nags bore the inscription “Россия с вами” (“Russia Is With You”).
According to an official statement, the initiative was implemented by the Russian Humanitarian Mission and Eurasia NGO under the auspices of the state agency “Rossotrudnichestvo.” The distribution of humanitarian aid to Artsakh residents was accompanied by extensive coverage in Armenian media outlets (1, 2).
The organization has also restored a monument dedicated to Soviet heroes of the Second World War in the village of Fantan, Kotayk Province. The unveiling ceremony was attended by the Russian Ambassador to Armenia, Sergey Kopirkin, and the head of the “Rossotrudnichestvo” office in Armenia, Vadim Fefilov.
At the end of last year, the first “Eurasia” International Awards Ceremony was held in Moscow featuring also Armenian representatives among the award recipients.
Nane Manasyan
