Russian Intelligence Cover Group Holds “Traditional Values” Conference in Tbilisi
The Russian National Research Institute for Communication Development (NIIRK), which is led by former foreign intelligence and FSB officials, co-organized a discussion on “Traditional Values as a Factor of Connecting Countries and People” on April 22 in Tbilisi, according to the agenda of the event published by NIIRK. The meeting was held at an undisclosed location and hosted by two Kremlin-affiliated entities in Georgia, the Eurasian Institute and the SIKHA Foundation.
According to the announcement of the event, Gulbaat Rtskhiladze, Director of the Eurasia Institute, and Archil Sikharulidze, founder of the SIKHA Foundation, were to address the conference participants. Rtskhiladze is also affiliated with several other pro-Kremlin organizations and media outlets and represents Russian racist and imperialist ideologue Alexander Dugin.
The discussion was organized within the framework of the conference “Russia and the World: Dialogues – 2024. Forces of Attraction”. “Foreign sessions” of the conference have already been held in Belarus, Tajikistan, and, on April 19, in the Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region of Georgia. In Tskhinvali, the theme was “The Role of the Partially Recognized States in the Modern World. Mechanisms of the Development of the Alliance Relations.” The conference will conclude with a key event in Moscow on 23 May.
What is NIIRK?
The NIIRK was reportedly founded and is run by foreign intelligence (SVR) and FSB veterans and works closely with Russian government agencies.
Agentstvo, an independent Russian media outlet, reports that NIIRK’s director, Vladislav Gasumyanov, is a former intelligence officer. It also reports that NIIRK was co-founded in 2020 by Lieutenant General Nikolai Gribin, a former head of the 3rd KGB Division and former head of the Academy of Foreign Intelligence. “In addition to Gasumyanov and Gribin, the supervisory board of the NIIKR includes three other former Soviet and Russian special services employees,” Agentstvo reports.
The NIIKR supervisory board includes the former head of the Operational Information Department of the FSB’s 5th Service (in charge of FSB relations with foreign partners), Lieutenant General Anatoly Bolyukh, former deputy head of the FSB Counterintelligence Operations Directorate Lieutenant General Boris Miroshnikov, as well as former deputy director of the Federal Counterintelligence Service and former Secretary of the Russian Security Council Colonel General Valentin Sobolev.
The speakers at the session held in Tbilisi included Valentina Komleva, NIIKR’s deputy director; Evgeny Minchenko, President of the Russian Association of Public Relations; Alexander Yakovlev, the leading researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences; and Evgenia Goryushina, researcher at the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies.
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