The reading of the indictment in the case of Ruben Vardanyan has been completed in Baku. It took several days, a clear indication of the extent of the former “Kremlin oligarch’s” activities in Azerbaijan. As the former owner of “Skolkovo” and “Troika Dialog,” Vardanyan faces charges of illegal border crossing, arms trafficking, and plundering natural resources. However, the most attention-grabbing charges relate to terrorism, shedding light on Armenia’s alleged plans to launch a terrorist war against Azerbaijan. Some details, for various reasons, remain outside the official indictment but are worth recalling.
Vardanyan primarily played the role of the “financier” of the occupation junta, funding the so-called “Artsakh army,” “Artsakh police,” and other armed structures created by the regime in Karabakh. Legally, this already qualifies as terrorism since these were illegal armed formations. However, beyond financing the junta’s attempt to “play state” in Khankendi, Vardanyan was allegedly involved in more sinister activities.
The list of weapons he allegedly procured and delivered to Karabakh includes electronic warfare systems like “Pole-21” and “Repellent-1.” These systems are not just for countering drones—they were reportedly used to jam civilian aircraft in Azerbaijani airspace, which constitutes aerial terrorism.
Most notably, through various charitable organizations, including the “Aurora” Foundation, Vardanyan allegedly planned to create an organization called “Nemesis-2” to target Azerbaijani diplomats abroad.
Historically, “Nemesis” was a terrorist group founded by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (“Dashnaktsutyun”) after World War I. This group was responsible for assassinating officials of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) and the Ottoman Empire in the 1920s. While terrorism is condemned worldwide, Armenia continues to glorify “Nemesis” by erecting monuments in their honor. More importantly, the traditions of political terrorism in Armenia have not disappeared, and their practitioners remain active.
Since the late 1980s and early 1990s, professional terrorists from Europe and the Middle East—especially from Lebanon—relocated to Armenia, and their skills have not been forgotten. In the 1990s, Armenia allegedly waged a terrorist war against Azerbaijan, carrying out bombings in trains, buses, and the Baku metro. These attacks were reportedly carried out by militants of the Lezgin separatist group “Sadval,” trained by Armenian intelligence services.
Terrorism is often described as a “surrogate for war”—a method used when achieving military objectives on the battlefield becomes impossible, yet surrendering or negotiating is not an option. This appears to be the case with Armenia, which initiated a new war for new territories in 2020, lost, but still refuses to abandon its claims over Karabakh.
By 2023, the shift to terrorism had become evident. Armenian saboteurs planted mines along newly constructed roads in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan. In response to these attacks, Azerbaijan carried out localized anti-terror operations on September 19–20, 2023.
There is also strong evidence suggesting that the occupation junta in Karabakh, particularly in areas under Russian peacekeeper control, was preparing for a “guerrilla war.” Azerbaijani security forces frequently discovered hidden weapons caches, including improvised explosive devices (IEDs), in liberated areas. Notably, these weapons were not only stored in military facilities but also in unexpected locations, indicating preparations for a prolonged sabotage campaign.
As the indictment suggests, this covert war was not meant to be limited to Karabakh. Vardanyan’s involvement allegedly aimed to revive Armenian terrorism of the 1970s, when Turkish diplomats were the primary targets.
This is unsurprising. Despite double standards, lobbying efforts, and narratives about “blockades” and “ethnic cleansing,” Armenia failed to exert meaningful international pressure on Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani diplomacy proved highly effective, and, in response, terrorism emerged as an alternative strategy. This approach mirrors the violent protests and attacks on Azerbaijani embassies in the summer of 2020 during the July clashes in the Tovuz region—incidents that received little to no reaction from Western authorities.
Perhaps the most striking revelation is that these terrorist activities were allegedly funded through charitable foundations, including the “Aurora” Foundation.
For those unaware, this foundation awards the well-known “Aurora Prize,” with past recipients including Samantha Power, the Executive Director of USAID. She later joined the award’s selection committee.
This raises an important question: Was Samantha Power aware that funds from the “Aurora” Foundation were allegedly being used for terrorism against diplomatic missions? The U.S. has also suffered from terrorist attacks on embassies, such as the 1983 Beirut embassy bombing and the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Was Power truly unaware of these activities? If so, was she misinformed back then? And what about now?
And, as a final note, is anyone really surprised that USAID funding has reportedly ended up in the hands of individuals and organizations linked to Hamas and ISIS?
