A wave of outrage in the Abkhazian society was caused by information about how much it would cost to fly separatist "president" Aslan Bzhania and his entourage on a so-called "official visit" to Tatarstan and Bashkortostan and back. An amount of around 10 million roubles was named on social networks.

In particular, the telegram channel RESPUBLICA reported that they traced the presidential flight and found out that the Abkhazian delegation flew in a Business jet Legacy 650E. Having contacted the airline they found out that the flight from Sochi to Kazan with a stopover in Bashkortostan and return to Sochi would cost around 10 million rubles. People immediately began to count how many flats for this amount could be allocated to young families, how much they could increase Abkhazia's poverty-stricken pension.

When on July 10th 2022 Aslan Bzhania flew to the Republic of Tatarstan on a "working visit" his press service said that the purpose of the visit was "to strengthen cooperation and develop ties in the field of economy, tourism, trade and information technology". However, the separatist Abkhazia has already signed dozens of similar agreements on "cooperation" with various regions of Russia, but their results, it seems, have no effect on the economy and nothing is heard about them in the media.

On 13 July Aslan Bzhania flew from Tatarstan on the same plane to Bashkortostan, to Ufa. At the airport of the Bashkir capital Aslan Bzhania was met in person by the head of Bashkiria, Radiy Khabirov. The purpose of the visit was officially marked as a meeting with Rady Khabirov and discussion of "economic, investment and tourism potential" of Bashkortostan and separatist Abkhazia. However, the Abkhazian society was left with questions - is it possible that such "general conversation" requires such huge spending on flights.

In response the press service of the separatist "president" was forced to respond and indicated that the visit was not paid from the budget but by some "friends of the president and friends of Abkhazia". In response, the separatist public veteran organization Aruaa demanded in its address to clarify what are those mysterious "friends and sponsors" of the Abkhazian "president"?

Chairman of Aruaa In an interview with Ekho Kavkaza, Temur Gulia once again asked indignant public questions about who is sponsoring a "working visit" of Aslan Bzhania:

"When we see the top political leadership of the country flying on such expensive planes, because it is a charter flight, this trip costs about 12 million rubles and is paid for by "friends". And when ordinary citizens of the country, who are unemployed or have small salaries, wake up every morning thinking of how to feed their families while feeling cheated by officials, who are prospering and are not hiding their wealth. We are entitled to ask questions, we want to know who these benefactors are...?

These days, even cheese in a mousetrap does not come free. We do want to know the generous sponsor of our president. When the president is sponsored by someone, how is that understood? It's very dangerous. I want to know who is funding my president's travels? If it was a private trip, I wouldn't even ask, let him do what he wants on holiday. But if it is a working trip, it is a state visit, and someone is funding it, that someone should be known to us. It is our constitutional right.

Some things of a dubious nature are happening, which causes mistrust. For example, the recent events regarding the signing of the document on the Pitsunda state property, which was also done behind the scenes and in secret from the people. This document was signed on January 19 of this year, and we learned about it just recently. Next, from the website of the press service we learn that the President had correspondence with a non-existent German company, and it was about six billion euros. What do you call this? I don't get it! Many things our officials do are not credible. And that's not all, we hear about other things too, there is a huge territory with relic forests in the Musseri reserve, it's 480 hectares, RUE "Resort Pitsunda", there are already supposed potential buyers. There is also an area, which is already designated for the construction of sanatorium and resort complex somewhere near Ritza, places have already been determined ... That is, surrender or sale, or transfer of Abkhazian land, which belongs to our people, is actively going on, you see, we are not asked, so we have many questions and doubts.

The Aruaa veterans are demanding that the president give the names of his sponsors and are waiting for an answer." – Temur Gulia stated.

Meanwhile, the answer lies on the surface. Aslan Bzhania's flights to Kazan and Ufa were sponsored by the same people who brought him to power in separatist Abkhazia. And at the same time those who brought to power in Bashkortostan its current head Radi Khabirva. It is the same super-rich and all-powerful, even by Russian standards, Armenian lobby. For them spending 10-12 million rubles on flights of their puppets, knowing that the result of such spending will be strengthening the position of the Armenian lobby in Abkhazia is a trifle.

Apparently it was time to work on his appointment as Rady Khabirov became head of Bashkortostan thanks to the support of the Armenian lobby. Contributing to this was the fact that he married Karine Babayan. Karine Babayan comes from a family of Armenians who originally lived in Akhalkalaki, in Georgian Samtskhe-Javakheti and resettled in the North Caucasus in Maikop.

For the Armenian lobby to have a "semi-Armenian" family at the head of Russia's second most important (after Tatarstan) Turkic republic is a matter of principle. As to the "first lady of Bashkortostan" and her origin there was an interesting article in the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper in spring of this year: "Ties with Abkhazian mafia, expensive cars and unlimited luxury: the whole truth about first lady of Bashkiria Karine Khabirova's family". ( https://ufa1.ru/text/politics/2022/03/21/70516160/ ):

"...Karine Khabirov, the wife of the head of Bashkiria, Radiy Khabirov, has been in the public eye in recent years. She is active in public life and takes part in various social events and charitable activities. The republic's First Lady has a very active social media presence, and she loves publicity in general. But over the years, not much was known about her background. We tried to find out more details about her past, to find out about her relatives, and to find out what she was doing before she fell in love with Radiy Khabirov.

It turned out that Karine's closest relatives were incredibly rich people connected with criminal bosses, and she herself had apparently become a very wealthy woman even before she met the head of Bashkiria.

Radiy Khabirov's wife says little about her origins. No mention of her parents, sisters or brothers can be found on the woman's social media, and her past life in general is shrouded in mystery. On 9 May 2020, Karine posted a post on her Instagram, in which she spoke for the first time about one of her relatives, the frontline grandfather Joseph Baboyan. This post was one of the main clues in our investigation.

According to the 'Memory of Nation' website, Karine's grandfather was born in February 1921 in Akhalkalaki, Georgia. In an interview with Ufa magazine, Khabirov's wife said she was from Maikop. Judging by her patronymic, her father's name was Vladimir. Based on these facts, we were able to find her father, Vladimir Iosifovich Baboyan, an individual entrepreneur engaged in logging and manufacturing of building materials in Maikop. Later, we were able to uncover other evidence of their kinship.

But first, a little more about the man himself. According to the Kontur.Focus service, Vladimir Baboyan has been in business since the nineties... Among the decisions of the Arbitration Court of Adygea you can find one which mentions that Vladimir Baboyan worked under contract for the ARV group of companies, one of the major Russian sellers of parquet and other wooden floor coverings. One of the owners of the holding company is Roman Baboyan, the 44-year-old son of Vladimir Iosifovich...

Roman Baboyan is perhaps Vladimir Iosifovich's most successful child.... Roman owned the ARV group of companies. In addition to this, according to the Kontur.Focus service, the man also ran other projects. For example, together with entrepreneur Ruslan Pipia, he was co-owner of the construction company Estet-Dent. Baboyan's business partner, according to the website of the Sochi Ministry of Internal Affairs, was placed on a federal wanted list for fraud in 2021.

Another business - Prospect Mira Investstroy - Baboyan started with Mamuka Pipia, who is described as the son of Abkhaz law thief Tamaz Pipia....

Karine herself, who is now 39, seems never to have been particularly interested in business: she graduated from Maikop Lyceum No.19 and subsequently entered Kuban State Medical University, from which she graduated as an orthodontist in 2006.... She worked in the private clinic "Rosdent", according to her biography on one of the Moscow dental guide websites. ... Conquering Moscow, where her brother had by then already settled down, Karine met Robert Avetisyan, a certified dentist and participant in a number of symposiums and seminars. Together they worked in several clinics in the capital...

In addition to his direct medical activity, Robert has his own business - he owns the company Aximea in Dubna, Moscow's science city, and is also registered as a sole proprietorship. Avetisyan is the owner of the Aximeya brand, under which medical masks of the same name are produced....

Something did not work out between Avetisyan and Karine either: despite having a son Arthur in common, their union fell apart around the mid-twenties. Karine was not alone for long - she met Radiy Khabirov, then mayor of Krasnogorsk near Moscow....

Karine came to Bashkortostan as the wife of the republic's newly minted head. Here she embarked on a public activity - it was under her auspices that the charity project "Territory of Women's Happiness" was launched in the republic, for example, which held a banquet at public expense. But that's another story altogether...".

The compatriots of Radiy Khabirov's wife have already made Bashkortostan virtually a "fiefdom" for their business and are making huge money in this resource-rich republic. However, Armenians are not interested in settling down on Bashkir lands, as it is too cold here. Armenian nationalists are much more attracted to Abkhazia. All the more that, as it follows from an article in the Komsomolskaya Pravda, the Armenian cousins of Khabirov's wife have long been associated with Abkhazian criminals and in fact they "supervise" them.

As a result, a scheme may well be set up - robbery of Bashkiria will create conditions for the Armenian lobby to settle even more massively in occupied Abkhazia by Armenians.  Their puppet Aslan Bzhanyai is in power and he is backed by Ruben Tatulyan, an Armenian criminal mastermind from Sochi. As can be seen, it is no problem for Aslan Bzhania's Armenian "masters" to organize trips of their puppet to "a member of the Armenian family" at the head of Bashkortostan who is helping the Armenian lobby to make money on resources of their people's land. All the more so if these trips serve their "strategic purposes".

Kavkazplus