A premiere screening of the documentary The Oligarch’s Design took place at Baku’s Nizami Cinema Center. Produced by international broadcaster AnewZ, the film presents an extensive investigation into the financial activities, political influence, and alleged manipulation of public opinion by Ruben Vardanyan, who stands accused of serious crimes against Azerbaijan.
The large-scale project was filmed across eight countries and features testimony from around 100 experts and witnesses. Structured in four thematic chapters, the documentary traces Vardanyan’s trajectory from a prominent financier to a figure facing grave criminal accusations.
The first part focuses on Vardanyan’s entry into Russia’s financial sector and his rapid ascent. Analysts interviewed in the film argue that close ties to Russian power structures enabled him to accumulate substantial wealth. Particular attention is paid to the so-called Troika Laundromat, described as one of the largest money-laundering schemes linked to a former leading Russian investment bank. According to the documentary, the system mixed funds from legal and illegal sources, obscuring their origin and effectively “cleaning” the money.
The second chapter examines how, as alleged by the filmmakers, Vardanyan concealed controversial activities behind a façade of philanthropy and patronage of the arts. The film argues that charity and cultural projects have long been used by Russian oligarchs to gain access to Western elites. In Vardanyan’s case, the documentary claims these practices went further: donations collected from ordinary citizens were allegedly used, without their knowledge, to register new entities and expand his financial reach.
The third part explores Vardanyan’s alleged role in the Russia–Ukraine war. According to the film’s authors, his largest “charitable contribution” was the financing of Russia’s war effort – a claim that directly contradicts the philanthropic image he publicly cultivated.
The final chapter centers on Vardanyan’s arrival in Karabakh after what was presented as a renunciation of Russian citizenship. The documentary asserts that he retained Russian citizenship and was sent to the region with a strategic mandate from the Kremlin. The plan, as described in the film, envisaged Vardanyan emerging as a political lever after consolidating influence in Karabakh, potentially posing a challenge to Armenia’s authorities. These ambitions, the filmmakers argue, collapsed in September 2023, when Vardanyan was detained by Azerbaijan’s State Security Service and charged as a defendant in a criminal case.
The Oligarch’s Design positions itself as an investigative account, presenting allegations and interpretations offered by its contributors, while placing Vardanyan’s actions within a broader geopolitical and financial context.
