Vor of the (?): the "Robson" story

Back by popular demand… the VOR OF THE WEEK!

That’s right, fans of the Late, Great, CEE CHEAT SHEET AD CRIME REPORT have demanded their vory, and yes, Yours Truly has listened. Then again… Perhaps not of the week, as war, instability and… war have mean that the infamous thieves-in-law networks are a-scrambling. That said, The Corners will from time to time give updates to let the vory anti-hero (and likely somewhat disturbed) crowd keep up.

Way back in 2017 the US State Department declared war on the vory with a press release that not only effectively sanctioned the thieves-in-law, but also immediately stated that it had hit “10 individuals and two entities linked to the Thieves-in-Law, pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13581, which targets significant transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) and their supporters. “

Among these first voy to be targeted was Ruben T. a.k.a  Robson, a notorious thief in law reported first arrested in the EU during a vor crowning ceremony in Karlovy Varr.

At the time, he was noted as carrying an Armenian diplomatic passport and Czech Police refused comment to the press. Yet much was alredy known about “Robson,” as well as his links to other infamous vory, including Zakhary Kalashov, Kamchybek Kolbayev and Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov.

That said, Robson clearly special place in the US Treasury’s heart, as noted by the following quote from the aforementioned release:

“Ruben T. is being designated [by the US Treasury] for providing material support to the Thieves-in-Law,” the release stated.

“In 2010, T. was appointed as the ‘overseer of the Sochi, Russia Thieves-in-Law operation run by a senior Thief-in-Law. In 2015, T. was detained as a participant at a meeting of Thieves-in-Law in Sochi along with Zakhary Kalashov; one of at least two instances in which Ruben T. was detained at a meeting of Thieves-in-Law,” the release added. “In addition, on more than one occasion, Ruben T. has assisted Thieves-in-Law who encountered legal problems.”

The release added that the Vesna Hotel and Spa was also designated for being owned or controlled by Ruben T., as he was both a shareholder and ceo of Vesna Hotel and Spa.

Yet T. is somewhat atypical for vory. While many are known to have come up hard-scrabble (and on the back of multiple arrests), Robson was a highly talented football player who excelled at junior sports. He also rose up through the ranks of the Sochi business community—some believe legitimately—only to, according to Russian press and sources, eventually gain support from now deceased vor “Grandpa Hasan a.k.a Ded Hasan a.k.a Aslan Usoyan,” which de facto allowed T. to take over many key resort areas in Russia.

Which leads us to the Olympics.

Taking control of Sochi…

Called by some to be the literal godfather of Sochi, Ruben T. backed both sports complexes, hotels and a local water park, but he also appears to have ridden the massive influx of money to Sochi during the Olympics—with not even Russian dignitaries attempting to deny that huge amounts of federal funds meant to prepare for the Olympics went straight into hands of the mob.

But with that much money at stake, nothing was stable in the world of organized crime. In 2010, Russian local mob boss, Carp Kagosyan, who had built a business empire supposedly worth USD 150 mln--was murdered by to motorcyclists bearing machine guns. Rather conveniently, Ded Hasan turned to Ruben T. to manage Sochi affairs.

Somewhere along the way, Ruben T. also managed to gain an Armenian diplomatic passport and automobile, quite possibly due to the fact that his daughter, Galina, married the son of an Armenian count, Vladimir Ter-Avanesov. He also made it his habit to travel in a veritable motorcade, surrounded by body guards allegedly armed with automatic weapons.

Such flamboyance was unlikely to go unnoticed, and specialist (although somewhat migrating) Russian crime blogs, such as crimerussi.ru, noted that he not only “ran Sochi” and had gotten rich off real estate [and here he was even noted in Forbes magazine], but that he was aggressively “investing” in Crimea. Supposedly, early in his career he transported stolen cars, but later he was 1) appointed commercial director of the Pearl football club 2) elected president of the aforementioned Vesna resort complex 3) and teamed up with notorious (and possibly disgraced among the vory) thief-in-law Alik Sochinski.

Despite functioning as the heir to Ded Hasan—i.e. the de facto king of Sochi (and a vor who reportedly made millions skimming off of and also calling the shots during construction for the Soch Olympics—Ruben T. allegedly found competition in the form of a local businessman,  Kagosyan Eduard Rubenovich, a.k.a. “Karas.” Karas was murdered under a hail of gunfire on Oct. 26, 2010… and from that point on Robson called the shots for the city.

Yet the gangster visage has in the past contradicted with that official Robson, who has served as an assistant to legendary Russian wrestler and Russian State Duma Representative Alexander Karelin.

Clearly, the man had influence.

The Armenian government connection…

Yet there is another more disturbing theory when it comes to the Armenian diplomatic link. In January 2017 a video from 1993 emerged showing a young, soon-to-be Armenian president, Serjik Sargsyan, at a dinner with Ded Hasan, Razmik Amoyan (Chako) and other known vors. Soon after, Sargsyan became the defense minister of Armenia, and many believe his rise to the presidency was heavily backed by Hasan himself.

Meanwhile, Ruben T. consolidated Sochi. The Russian media publication Compromat.ru at the time also alleged that Sochi Mayor Anatoly Pakhomov was “bent” under Robson’s control, and that T. had become “central” to city activities.

This effectively did make him the true successor to Hasan in the world of the vory. In the wake of the Russian Little Green Men invasion, T.  also did make real inroads in Crimea, and some theorized that both the FSB and the Armenian authorities left him alone to hold back aggressive Chechen groups.

And there was also the glamorous side… in the West, with Robson reportedly having met with celebrities in Sochi and Monaco, and in the meantime his business acumen was unquestioned. This did not, however, prevent his arrest in Czech Republic at a meeting of vors (not unlike a number of compatriots of Semion Moglievich several years ago), but it also appeared that diplomatic passport came in handy. And again, the Czech authorities refused to comment.

And in an equally serious vein, the government of Armenia also gained the spotlight, as accusations were levelled  that he worked as an “adviser” to Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian—a fact that was confirmed by the Armenian Foreign Ministry at the time. He was confirmed to have used government vehicles, but, following the US OFAC statement, which also called Robson aa regional “overseer” of a crime syndicate, he appeared to lose that position.

But all was not roses. Soon came pressures from the Russian side to shut down errant vory, not to mention COVID and the war in Ukraine. But perhaps even more relevant was a scandal in separatist Abkhazia, which during an investigation by local prosecutors revealed a quite mad passport printing scheme for “new citizens” that primarily printed passports for Armenians. Lost (but found) among the crowd was reportedly a certain Ruben Albertovich Tatulyan, who received a shiny new Abkhazian passport on December 1, 2020. Interested parties noted that he was not born in Agbhkazia, and pressure grew to investigate.

This may in fact mean that Robson lost the Armenian diplomatic passport he held at the time of his 2017 arrest in the Czech Republic. Or not.

Ruben T. publicly addressed the passport scandal, telling a chief detractor, Adgur Ardzinba, through the press that he had a right to said passport as this was “his own land,” and that both his parents and grandparents were from Abkhazia, and that he has for years invested into Azbakhia to improve schools and roads, and that the passport question should be left alone.

Local news television and print did question, however, the “diplomatic passport” issued ty Robson, with some press using the Armenian new passport issue as an example of how local Abkhazians are losing influence in their own lands—while calling Robson and company “ruthless” any who might oppose him.

But that is not all—as some local politicians and news stations implied that due to the large influx of Armenians and also Robson’s wealth and power that he technically could function as president of Azbakhia.

Robson, in the meantime, also began to get noticed from other circles. For example, the Ukrainian government sanctioned Ruben T. with an official note seen on the government’s website:

Т. Рубен Альбертович

Т. Рубен Альбертович

Ruben T.

* Date and place

of birth

08.12.1969

Credentials

member of the United Russia part

Reason for

imposing sanctions

Financial support of the occupying army of the Russian Federation. He is one of the sponsors and a member of the "United Russia" party. He has permanent connections in the government of the Russian Federation. "Thief in law" is a criminal "watcher" for the city of Sochi. It is under US sanctions. He has a diplomatic passport of the "unrecognized Republic of Abkhazia", which provides diplomatic immunity on the territory of Russia.

Thus, the person supports actions and policies that undermine the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.

 

Losing Russia…

None of the above seemed to matter as long as he was tolerated by Russia (if not under the wing of the FSB). A United Russia member, Robson did seem to have the right connections and protections. Yet past sins do have a way of coming back round to haunt the sinner, and it appears that Robson’s had pushed the quota even under the Putin regime.

Criminalaffair.com recently claimed that Robson fled and was unwelcome in Russia, following the arrest of a partner in crime, Antranik Yalanuzyan, who was charged with killing various businessmen in order to seize key real estate in Sochi. Yalanuzyan and seven others were accused of killing at least six people.

Somewhat worrying, however, were tales that officers in the Sochi police warned Robson of his coming arrest, which gave him time to skip across the border.

Further digging has revealed that Sochi police moved in to make arrests July 17, 2022—possibly due to the fact that the gang’s influence had begun to wane by 2019, and the streak of killings for real estate had gone too far even for a murder-resilient region.

Both Yalanuzyan and his driver, an alleged hitman, were detained, as were other gang members. Yalanuzyan, who is in his 70s, may or may not roll on other members of the gang. He is considered a vor through and through, and according to the rules of the vory, cooperation with police is off-limits to the point of being taboo.

That said, Robson is considered to be a fugitive. Which means he may be in Abkhazia, Armenia or even France under an assumed name. He’ll likely turn up, however, due to his vast real estate holdings.

Or maybe just because.

Bad pennies sometimes do that.