Argentina’s State Intelligence Secretariat (SIDE) has uncovered a network of agents operating in the country on behalf of the Kremlin, presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni announced:
“Russian operatives in Argentina were presumably carrying out suspicious tasks in support of Russia’s geopolitical interests, working closely with Argentine nationals. The investigation uncovered the existence of an organization linked to the Russian government, known as ‘The Company.’ It is connected to the Lakhta Project, headed by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in August 2023. The leader of the organization was identified as Lev Konstantinovich Andriashvili, a Russian national residing in Argentina. He was responsible for securing funding and fostering ties with local members of the organization, together with his wife Irina Iakovenko.”
According to Adorni, the clandestine organization sought to establish a Kremlin-loyal group in Argentina in order to carry out disinformation campaigns targeting local authorities. Andriashvili and Iakovenko were tasked with creating and distributing content on social media. They also established contacts and worked to exert influence on civil society groups, foundations, and non-profit organizations— all while gathering political information that could be used in furthering Russia’s interests. Argentine presidential spokesperson Adorni did not disclose whether the Russian nationals had been detained and did not provide information as to their current whereabouts. However, he noted that he was sharing with the press only part of the material obtained by SIDE. He also released photographs of Lev Andriashvili and Irina Iakovenko to the media.
Two LinkedIn profiles appear to match the individuals named in the investigation. Lev Andriashvili, who lives in Buenos Aires Province, identifies himself as a sales and export specialist for VMPAVTO, a Russian lubricants manufacturer based in Saint Petersburg. According to Andriashvili’s profile, he studied at Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University from 2008 to 2013 and has been working at VMPAVTO since 2020.
Irina Yakovenko lists Buenos Aires Province as her place of residence and details a professional background in digital marketing, social media, and the pet care industry. She studied public relations at St. Petersburg State University and international relations and foreign policy at the Northwestern Institute of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA). In 2016, she participated in a student exchange program at Kiel University of Applied Sciences. From 2019 to 2020, she also worked at VMPAVTO.
On May 29, Argentina launched a radical immigration reform that directly affected thousands of Russians who were seeking to legalize their status in the country. The new regulations significantly tightened the procedures for obtaining both residency and citizenship. One of the reasons cited by Argentine authorities for the reform was the need to put an end to birth tourism. Over the past three years, thousands of pregnant Russian women traveled to Argentina specifically to give birth so that their children could acquire Argentine citizenship by jus soli (right of the soil), thereby simplifying the parents’ path to citizenship. An Argentine passport allows visa-free travel to more than 170 countries, including EU member states.