The invader’s European nest: how the ideologist of Russian air defence conquers space and threatens Europe

Key takeaways:

The family of Russian air defense ideologist Igor Ashurbeyli owns real estate in Greece, as well as numerous businesses in EU countries and around the world, and is not under international sanctions;
Igor Ashurbeyli also threatens security in space by creating a fictional state of Asgardia, whose citizenship has been bought by more than a million people from all over the world.

On September 30, 2022, the Russian army launched a missile attack on Zaporizhzhia, firing 16 missiles from the S-300 air defenсe system. It was a targeted attack on a humanitarian convoy on the outskirts of the city. Four missiles hit a civilian convoy of about 100 people. They were waiting to leave for the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine to pick up their relatives or deliver humanitarian aid. As a result of the shelling, 118 people were injured and 32 were killed.

Consequences of Russia's missile attack on Zaporizhzhia on September 30, 2022. Photo from the Internet

Igor Ashurbeyli is the main developer of the S-300 is the JSC NPO Almaz named after A.A. Raspletin (now part of the Almaz-Antey Military Industrial Concern). This is a key enterprise of the Russian military-industrial complex (MIC). The Concern develops and produces S-25, S-75, S-125, S-200, S-300P, S-350, S-400, S-500 air defence systems. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has been actively using S-300 and S-400 systems as air defence systems, as well as for strikes on ground targets, including civilian and critical infrastructure in Kharkiv, Kramatorsk, Kyiv and other cities of Ukraine. The occupiers are also deploying the latest S-500 air defense systems to the occupied Crimea to strengthen its air defence. Igor Ashurbeyli is the main ideologist of the NPO Almaz.

Igor Ashurbeyli is a Russian entrepreneur, engineer, and a descendant of the famous Azerbaijani oil industry family of Ashurbekovs. Igor has had a brilliant career in Russia. In 2001-2011, he was the general director and scientific director of the military enterprise NPO Almaz named after A.A. Raspletin. Under his leadership, the latest modifications of the S-300 “Favorit” and S-400 “Triumph” anti-aircraft missile systems were created. Today, Igor is still listed on the website of the Socium-A holding as its founder and ideologist. The holding includes, in particular, Arzamas Instrument-Making Design Bureau LLC (AIMDB), which presented the Grach helicopter-type UAV at the Army 2019 exhibition. The company is constantly developing new models and designs of drones. Ashurbeyli also heads his own Russian Renaissance Party. Igor and his family travel to EU countries, spend vacations at their villa in Greece, and live a calm wealthy life while Igor’s companies continue supplying the Russian army with weapons. Despite this, Western allies and Ukraine have not yet imposed sanctions on the businessman and his inner circle.

Igor Ashurbeyli is a real celebrity in the Russian defence sector. He is an engineer by training, with a doctorate in engineering. Ashurbeyli was not only heading companies of the Russian military-industrial complex, but also contributing to new developments in this area. The businessman founded his holding company, Socium-A, in 1988, and continued developing it even after he became the head of the NPO Almaz. It was Igor Ashurbeyli who created the concept of the 5th generation Unified Air Defence Missile System (UADMS) at NPO Almaz, which was approved by the Russian government in 2007 and 2009. In the 2000s, when Igor Ashurbeyli worked as CEO at NPO Almaz, the company was growing rapidly. He gradually and persistently built and improved the Russian defence industry.

Socium-A is Igor’s own creation. Before the outbreak of the full-scale war, the holding was managed by his son Ruslan Ashurbeyli. The holding’s enterprises and companies are engaged in a variety of activities: they produce scientific and technical products, develop products in the IT industry, manufacture medical equipment, conduct banking activities, deal with real estate and provide security services. Since 2014, numerous companies of this holding and Socium-A itself have been reorganized and merged into new companies. Representatives of the Ashurbeyli family have always remained in the company’s management.

Maltese and British offshore companies

Igor Ashurbeyli has been having offshore b in Malta since 2015. The Paradise Papers leaks showed that Igor and his wife Victoria founded Socium-A Limited and Socium-Malta Limited, companies with the same name as the Russian ones, in Malta. They were probably established to reduce the tax burden and withdraw funds from the Russian Socium-A. The companies ceased to exist in July 2017.

Ruslan Ashurbeyli, Igor’s son, owns a stake in W.V.R.E. LIMITED in the British Virgin Islands. It is not known exactly how many offshore assets the family of the Russian air defense ideologist has. Igor Ashurbeyli was also one of the main shareholders of Seraphim Capital, a British venture capital company that invests in space technologies.

A new “state within a state”

While Socium-A was successfully operating, Igor Ashurbeyli got carried away with a new project: he announced the creation of a new pseudo-state of Asgardia, which, according to the businessman’s plan, was soon to become a member of the UN and establish a colony on the Moon. Currently, the population of the “state” is 1 117 424 people from all over the world. Asgardia also allows businesses to be registered, and has its own currency Bitcoin Solar.

In 2013, Igor Ashurbeyli founded the Aerospace International Research Center GmbH in Vienna, which he later renamed to AI Asgardia Independent Research Center GmbH. At the same time, he became the editor-in-chief of the Room Space Journal and continues to lead it to this day. The research center is 100% owned by Igor Ashurbeyli, and Markus Gronbach has been the company’s director since 2023. Until 2011, Marcus served in the German Armed Forces in various positions, and in 2012-2015 he was the representative of Rheinmetall AG in North Africa. In 2016, Markus Gronbach started working on the Asgardia project together with Ihor Ashurbeyli. They launched a special website where anyone could register and send personal data, such as a photo, into space. In November 2017, a satellite with 512 gigabytes of data provided by Asgardia’s “citizens” was launched from a US spaceport.

The inauguration of Igor Ashurbeyli. Photo from the Internet

Another legal entity associated with Asgardia is also registered in Vienna. It is Asgardia Financial Ark GmbH, which is actually an investment company whose capital is increased by the free sale of shares to Asgardian citizens and investors. In September 2023, the company was headed by Mark Allen Bogen. It became part of AI Asgardia Independent Research Center GmbH. Bogen is the so-called “Minister of Finance of Asgardia”.
In Vienna, there is also a public organization Asgardia Terra Ark (ATA), registered at the same address as the rest of the legal entities associated with the pseudo-state. The full name of the organization from the register is Nonprofit Non-Government Expert Society on Space Threat Defense. There is also a Russian organization of the same name, the Non-Departmental Expert Council on Air and Space Defence (NDEC ASD). Its official website states that the organization has concluded general agreements on interaction and cooperation with 14 leading organizations of the Russian military-industrial complex, and its official address is the registration address of “Socium-A”. In 2014, Igor Ashurbeyli published an article on the organization’s website titled “Militarization of Space is Unavoidable,” in which he emphasized the need to improve Russia’s security in the field of air and space defence due to air attacks that allegedly might threaten Russia in the future. Among the plans of the NDEC ASD is to obtain international status by accrediting it with the UN ECOSOC in Vienna, which they achieved in 2015.

In particular, the NDEC ASD wind farm was presented at the general meeting of the Russian Academy of Military Sciences in 2013, where the then Minister of Defence Sergei Shoigu, Chief of the General Staff Valeriy Gerasimov and Head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin were among the attendees.

Victoria, Igor’s wife, also started her own business in Austria. From 2011 to 2014, she was the owner of World Villas Real Estate GmbH (WVRE GmbH) in Vienna, a company specializing in real estate transactions.

In June 2022, the Russian-British Chamber of Commerce established a religious charity/church, Bury Street Community Church, with the same directors as the Russian-British Chamber of Commerce.

Yana Smelyansky in a joint photo with Igor and Ruslan Ashurbeyli. Photo from the Internet

Greek vacation of the Ashurbeyli family

In 2012, the Greek newspaper Zougla published an article about Igor Ashurbeyli’s arbitrariness on the Greek islands. Local residents of the island told the newspaper about numerous violations of the law and unauthorized actions of the Russian businessman, who owned a villa and a restaurant in the bay of Agios Spyridonas on the island of Corfu. He bulldozed the coastal cliffs, the beach and a natural road.

Igor himself does not hide the fact that he has real estate in Greece, as he actively and regularly shares post about his vacations in this villa.

In Greece, Igor is engaged not only in the tourism business and vacationing at a villa by the sea. In 2016, a branch of the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society (IOPS) was officially opened in Greece. It was headed by the former Russian Prime Minister (1999), “former” head of the FSІ (1995), and former Chairman of the Russian Accounts Chamber (2000-2013) Sergei Stepashyn. Ashurbeyli and Stepashyn have a very close relationship. Sergei baptized his grandson Igor, and the Ashurbeyli family invited Stepashyn and his wife to celebrate the New Year in 2024.

At the same time, in 2016, the Greek authorities suspected the IPPO of attempts to influence Greek internal affairs and stopped issuing visas to Russian priests. Since 2015, Igor Ashurbeyli has been the chairman of the IDFO Council in Israel. Through this organization, he defends Russian interests. In 2023, the Russian Church even awarded him for strengthening the Russian presence in the Holy Land.

Celebration of the New Year 2024, from left to right: Igor, wife Victoria, grandson Dmitry with his mother Anastasia, Stepashyns. Photo from the Internet

The society resembles an agent network for spreading Russian influence abroad. By promoting the idea that a certain building or location in a foreign country was once built by Russian pilgrims who “generously helped” people, they negotiate with local authorities to transfer the land to Russian ownership. After receiving a piece of land in another country (such as St. Sergius’ Yard in Jerusalem or an Orthodox church in Bari, Italy), Russian cultural and pilgrimage centers immediately begin to operate there; negotiations are held on additional buildings or locations to be “attached” to Russia; events with the participation of top Russian officials, etc. And this is a very dangerous trend. By inviting citizens of other countries to such events, Russia is spreading the “Russian world” and propaganda narratives to a wide range of people.

Igor Ashurbeyli, being a well-known head of numerous Russian military-industrial enterprises, is still not under international sanctions. Together with his family, he actively travels to European countries and continues buying property and developing businesses there.