In western Georgia’s Guria area, the village of Shukhuti begins with an unmarked turnoff that results in a tough, winding street. At the top lies a fenced-off plot of land, guarded by Russian safety personnel. They are defending the location of what’s slated to develop into a spaceport, or cosmodrome.
Plans are underway to construct the checkpoint for the “Kolkhida” [Colchis was an ancient kingdom on the eastern coast of the Black Sea] cosmodrome – an initiative spearheaded by two Russian ladies, Yulia Guseinova and Maria Arkhipova. The pair arrived in Georgia from Russia across the onset of the battle in Ukraine. By February, they’d established two firms, acquired land, and began utilizing a part of it, drawing on their expertise within the aerospace business.
Both Yulia and Maria have roots in house know-how. Maria (aka Maria Arkhipova-Bast) holds a grasp’s diploma in public administration specialising within the house business, earned at Moscow State University’s Faculty of Space Research. Her profession contains coordinating the development of the orbital station “Mir-2” and serving as chairperson of the Russian Consortium of Space Technologies, a non-public initiative launched in 2016 to advance business aerospace efforts.
Maria, 46, and Yulia, 45, are identified in Guria as sisters, though public data counsel in any other case. In reality, the 2 are long-time companions and, earlier than Maria underwent a gender transition, had been a married couple.
But the couple have saved extra than simply their private historical past from the locals. Leaked paperwork reveal their common communication with Russian state establishments. Among the trove: tons of of emails and formal letters exchanged with Pravfond – a basis established beneath Russia’s international ministry. The correspondence, courting again to 2014, was leaked from the muse and obtained by the OCCRP, of which iFact is a member.
Blueprints for the celebrities
Videos selling the “Kolkhida” spaceport reveal plans for a spacecraft launchpad and a facility for manufacturing drones and satellites. All are to be constructed on fenced-off land within the Lanchkhuti municipality of Guria. The movies even trace at ambitions to ship folks into house.
To realise these objectives, the Arkhipovas’ firm, Serviuk Agro, bought three land parcels in Guria’s Lanchkhuti municipality – a complete space of just about 14,000 sq. metres. These plots are meant as launch websites for orbital missions.
According to paperwork filed with Georgia’s Public Registry in 2023 by Yulia Arkhipova, the couple have begun laying the foundations: electrical programs and meters have been put in, an current construction has been repaired, and sewer and water extensions have been laid. Vegetation has additionally been cleared. However, an in depth examination of the accessible pictures and movies raises questions concerning the extent to which this infrastructure really exists.
In actuality, the Arkhipovas’ cosmodrome venture is a part of a broader, extra complicated story. On 27 August 2023, Maria Arkhipova despatched a letter to Aleksandr Udaltsev, government director of Pravfond, outlining the couple’s intention to construct an area facility in Georgia. She wrote that Russian residents had been employed in main roles and the cosmodrome might serve Russia’s wants in addition to Georgia’s.
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She additionally alleged that Yulia confronted harassment and discrimination because of her nationality, together with threats from residents with nationalist leanings. Appeals to the Russian consulate, the Georgian ombudsman, the prosecutor’s workplace, and the police had introduced no outcomes, she claimed.
A day later, Yulia adopted up with a second letter to Pravfond, together with hyperlinks to movies displaying the location. The notice detailed preliminary growth plans: connecting electrical energy, paving entry roads, and getting ready supporting infrastructure.
On August 30, the Arkhipovas despatched yet one more message, describing the state of affairs as “direct persecution” based mostly on Russian citizenship. “When a Russian citizen is brazenly referred to as a ‘Russian fascist’ or an ‘occupier’ – if that’s not sufficient for the Russian Federation to defend its citizen, then I don’t know what’s”, they wrote.
As of now, the “Kolkhida” spaceport venture stays stalled. We requested the Arkhipovas why and what their subsequent steps may be. They mentioned building has been paused on the venture settlement stage and might be accomplished inside a 12 months if permitted.
We additionally contacted the Lanchkhuti Municipality to ask whether or not the Arkhipovas had submitted any allow requests. As of publication, we’ve acquired no official reply.
What is Pravfond?
The Foundation for the Protection and Support of Compatriots (additionally referred to as Pravfond) was based in 2012 by decree of Russia’s then-president, Dmitry Medvedev. Established by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in coordination with different state our bodies, the fund’s official mission is to supply authorized help to Russian residents and diaspora communities overseas. In follow, nonetheless, Pravfond capabilities as a Kremlin software of Russian gentle energy working in Europe, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, and Central Asia. The organisation was sanctioned by each the United States and the European Union in 2023.
Pravfond funds authorized defence for Russians overseas, runs informational campaigns, and provides diplomatic assist by means of embassies and cultural centres. According to the intelligence providers of Estonia and Latvia, it additionally operates as a software of Russian intelligence, channelling funds into authorized assist centres and pro-Russian Telegram channels within the area.
Among its high-profile actions, Pravfond coated authorized charges totalling over €220,000 for Vladim Krasikov, a Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) operative who was convicted in Germany for the homicide of Georgian nationwide Zelimkhan Khangoshvili. Krasikov was sentenced to life in jail, however was launched in a prisoner trade in 2024 in return for 2 American journalists. Upon returning to Russia, he was personally greeted by President Vladimir Putin. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov later confirmed that Krasikov had been an operative within the FSB’s elite “Alpha” unit.
A joint investigation by OCCRP and Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT revealed that Pravfond has additionally funded Kremlin-aligned attorneys, propagandists, and intelligence brokers throughout Europe.
The Arkhipovas-Pravfond partnership
Maria and Yulia Arkhipova are carefully linked to the Pravfond community. They have been collaborating with the Kremlin-linked basis since round Russia’s annexation of Crimea, in 2014.
The Arkhipovas labored as human-rights attorneys in Russia. In the early 2000s, earlier than Maria underwent gender transition, she based an affiliation for Russian attorneys referred to as For Human Rights. This organisation was amongst a number of that petitioned President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in February 2023 to elevate visa necessities for Georgian residents. The Kremlin obliged a number of months later, ending the visa regime with Georgia in May 2023. Internal correspondence suggests a transparent rationale: Maria’s gender identification was seen as a public-relations asset.
As one Pravfond consultant, Sergey Panteleev, put it: “Russia retains producing stories and occasions for inner audiences, and so they’re not taken severely internationally. Hopefully, with assist from [Maria and Yulia’s] organisation, we’ll lastly discover a method round this drawback.”
At least €72,000 in grants flowed from Pravfond to the Arkhipovas’ Association of Russian attorneys for human rights (Ассоциация Адвокатов России за Права Человека). Officially, the funds supported stories on Ukraine and coated fundamental operational bills. This determine displays solely confirmed contracts: the Arkhipovas have been in regular communication with Pravfond for over a decade, submitting stories, analysis, and opinions in trade for steerage and assist. It is probably going their actions prolonged past these two documented tasks.
In 2014, their affiliation submitted a report on human-rights violations through the Russia-Ukraine battle that echoed Kremlin narratives. It portrayed the Ukrainian authorities as neo-Nazi and characterised the Russian navy’s actions in Crimea as a protecting measure for ethnic Russians.
That report was finally submitted to the United Nations. Pravfond’s Igor Panevkin praised their work in a letter after Maria’s report prompted the UN Committee Against Torture to ship a delegation to Crimea.
The Arkhipovas, Russian property in Georgia
In February 2023, the Arkhipovas wrote to Pravfond providing to convey their experience to Georgia. “Given our expertise since 2004,” they wrote, “we might be happy if our data and abilities proved helpful for on-site work – particularly in Georgia, the place we have already got good connections with activists, politicians, and different stakeholders. […] We aren’t against engaged on making a department of a neighborhood NGO in Georgia.”
After that message, Maria and Yulia started to usually replace their Russian contacts on developments in Georgia. Pravfond forwarded these to Russian state companies, together with the Ministry of Education and the Presidential Administration.
In March 2023, Maria submitted a report claiming the existence of “Russian-speaking settlements” in Georgia, naming Grigoleti, Shekvetili, Ureki, and Poti. She alleged ethnic Russians there struggled with Georgian language obstacles and confronted bullying and, in some circumstances, violence. “They haven’t any illustration in elected positions… Russian names and origins result in discrimination. People with Russian names are barred from jobs in administrative workplaces… They face extra restrictions than Georgians. Typically, Russians are the primary to be dismissed or laid off and are paid the bottom salaries”, she wrote. In the identical report, she additionally advocated for Russian to be declared Georgia’s second official language, arguing that lack of interpreters in authorized establishments results in human-rights violations.
The tone and messaging of the Arkhipovas’ 2023 report on Russians in Georgia mirrors the rhetoric they utilized in 2014 through the annexation of Crimea, once they described Ukraine’s authorities as neo-Nazi and Russian navy intervention as protecting.
Maria has since echoed this rhetoric brazenly in Russian media, warning that if Russians’ rights proceed to be violated, Russia could also be pressured to “take Georgia again,” simply as it’s “taking again Ukraine”.
From cosmodrome to jam manufacturing unit
As Maria and Yulia Arkhipova settled close to Lanchkhuti, they discovered a neighborhood ally in Gela Zoidze, a distinguished determine within the area’s enterprise group. He launched the Arkhipovas to native entrepreneurs and have become their enterprise associate, holding shares in two firms alongside them.
Zoidze at present manages the Lanchkhuti Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s regional workplace. He beforehand headed the municipality-backed NPO “Lanchkhuti Municipality Center for Economic Development and Innovation”, which operated from 2009 till its closure in 2022.
The Arkhipovas started working in Georgia in early 2022. By June, they’d arrange 4 firms, together with LLC Georgian Space Technologies. Zoize held shares within the different three. Among these, LLC Limoni owns greater than half a hectare of land in Shukhuti and had beforehand exported preserves to Ukraine. Zoidze launched the Arkhipovas to the Limoni homeowners in 2022. According to them, the Russians pledged to revive the manufacturing unit with over two million lari (roughly €638,652).
Zoidze confirmed this, saying the deal hinged on preserving the ability. Restarting operations required “strong funding”, which justified involving the Arkhipovas. When requested if he was involved concerning the origin of the cash, he merely answered: “These folks come to Georgia, they transfer round, cooperate with official constructions – how was I presupposed to test? I informed somebody from legislation enforcement about it – if there’s a difficulty, look into it.”
The manufacturing unit that by no means got here again
We met 85-year-old Tamaz Imnaishvili and 70-year-old Darejan Kalajishvili in Shukhuti on 29 June. They mentioned they’d been hopeful when the Russian buyers arrived, believing their long-idle manufacturing unit may lastly reopen.
“We went to the notary, and a contract was drawn up. It acknowledged that these Russians – Yulia Arkhipova and the opposite one – had 3,5 million {dollars} on their account. Of which, about 2,5 million was presupposed to be invested in our manufacturing unit”, Darejan recalled.
In trade, the outdated homeowners transferred 51.55% of their shares: 49% to the Arkhipovas and a pair of.55% to Zoidze. The transaction was finalised in June 2022 on the workplace of Marina Jikia, a notary in Poti. Yulia Arkhipova was appointed as director.
This gave the Arkhipovas management of the land and buildings. But inside months, the unique homeowners grew suspicious: there have been no indicators of progress, and tensions flared. The new homeowners started blocking them from getting into.
“I went there as soon as, and so they wouldn’t let me in”, Tamaz mentioned. “When I lastly did, seven Russians surrounded me and shouted, ‘Get out!’ One insulted my mom. I used to be so shaken I wanted medical consideration afterward.”
With no communication from the director and no exercise, the outdated shareholders tried to take away Arkhipova, however their request was rejected by the Public Registry.
One 12 months later, the Arkhipovas submitted a brand new doc drastically shifting the phrases. It claimed their “mental contribution” was price 30 million {dollars}, serving as their enter into the enterprise. In return, the previous homeowners had been anticipated to grant Arkhipova full management and agree to not intervene.
“That 2.5 million was supposed to enter manufacturing? It seems Arkhipova’s mind was valued at 30 million {dollars}. What do I care about her mind?” Darejan mentioned.
We requested Maria and Yulia in the event that they thought-about their actions fraud. They denied wrongdoing, claiming they’d entered the deal out of compassion for the aged homeowners however suspended funding after “provocations”.
Since her appointment, Arkhipova has failed to meet her duties as director. The manufacturing unit’s money owed stay unpaid, the land is beneath lien, and no manufacturing has resumed – solely the guard sales space has been renovated. Russians introduced in from Ukraine had been employed as safety and nonetheless reside on the premises.
For two years, the unique homeowners have tried to take away Arkhipova and reclaim their stake, submitting complaints with prosecutors and courts. No listening to has been scheduled.
When we confirmed Tamaz and Darejan Maria’s YouTube movies describing the land as a future cosmodrome web site, they had been shocked. After a protracted pause, Darejan turned to Tamaz: “Where did you discover these folks, you blessed one?”
Where are the Arkhipovas now?
In May 2024, Maria Arkhipova shared some alarming information: her blood strain had spiked, she had misplaced weight and was unable to sleep. She additionally believed that she had been poisoned. She continued posting about her well being, saying docs couldn’t diagnose her and that she was treating herself. She spoke of lacking her hometown and mates in Russia. Meanwhile, Yulia contacted Pravfond, asking for assist to return Maria to Russia for therapy, regardless of earlier claims of exile.
Their longtime contact Igor Panevkin responded with sympathy however mentioned the now-sanctioned basis couldn’t help.
While particulars stay unclear, we confirmed Maria is present process therapy in France. Social media exercise in fall 2024 additionally prompt time spent in Russia, notably in Domodedovo (close to Moscow).
In March 2023, the Arkhipovas informed Pravfond they had been defending Lali Moroshkina, a well known pro-Russian scholar, in Georgia. They claimed that she had acquired threats on account of showing on Russian TV, and requested that Pravfond present help. But once we contacted Moroshkina, she dismissed this: the ladies had launched themselves at a café as exiled Russian attorneys, then later raised suspicion with their cosmodrome plans. She reported them to Georgia’s State Security Service (SUS).
“These ladies are both charlatans, spies, or fraudsters”, Moroshkina mentioned.
The middleman who launched them was Dali (Mary) Milorava, a retired native who had briefly labored as their interpreter. She confirmed that Maria was now in France receiving therapy, and mentioned that the police and safety providers had proven an curiosity of their actions.
The Arkhipovas informed us they haven’t left Georgia, claiming they had been overseas just for well being causes. They acknowledged one assembly with the SUS, saying officers welcomed their “house” actions.
We tried for every week to substantiate with SUS whether or not any investigation had been initiated, however acquired no response.
Our first direct contact with Maria and Yulia got here on July 4 through WhatsApp, utilizing a Russian quantity. They insisted Georgian journalists ought to converse Russian and despatched us the alphabet. They refused direct solutions, demanded written questions, and later mocked us on Facebook with a photograph of bathroom paper.
They threatened authorized motion if we printed the article. We responded by stating that our work relies on verified paperwork and proof.
Their ultimate message: “А, ещё и запугивание. Понятно 🤣”. “Oh, and now intimidation too. Got it 🤣.”
