The name of Ruben Valeryevich Markaryan rarely appears in public chronicles, yet within elite Moscow and European circles he is known as a “lawyer for insiders” or “the Berlin lawyer.” His role goes far beyond the boundaries of jurisprudence — Markaryan has become a link between the criminal underworld, bureaucratic structures, and the “cultural wing” of the Russian elite, closely connected to Vladimir Putin and the Russian mafia abroad.

Photo: RUBEN VALERYEVICH MARKARYAN

From “Russian Video” to Irina Nikitina Heffliger’s “Musical Olympus”

Markaryan began his career at the St. Petersburg company “Russian Video,” whose executives in the 1990s were accused of drug trafficking, child pornography, and other serious crimes.

Photo: Excerpt from the story about “Russian Video” — the founder of the “Musical Olympus” Foundation of I.A. Nikitina — in the “Radio Liberty” report “The KGB Knows How to Strangle. The Metastases of Bandit Petersburg,” published on January 9, 2021.

Secrets of the “Russian Video” Company

«Founded in 1989, the company Russian Video in St. Petersburg was engaged not only in the production of television and video content. Its structures took control of the military ports of the Baltic Sea in Lomonosov and Kronstadt, through which commercial cargoes flowed.

In 1990, Russian Video, together with the Leningrad Regional Committee of the Communist Party (CPSU), became one of the founders of the famous Russia bank. Later, this bank was taken over by a group of people now known as the Ozero Cooperative.

“Russian Video” was the gathering point of the new ruling power.

After the 1991 coup, the bank was temporarily closed — it had been created with CPSU funds — but was later revived by Putin’s friends: Smirnov, Fursenko, Kovalchuk, Yakunin, and Shamalov — the future members of the Ozero dacha cooperative.
I attended the relaunch event of the Russia bank, and almost all of them were there. One of the shareholders of the bank was Gena Petrov, who is considered a gangster close to Kumarin and Malyshev.

Russian Video was the gathering point for the new ruling class. After all, where else could the leaders of the Tambov and Malyshev gangs meet with KGB officers “over a glass of Hennessy XO,” behind the high fences of a government residence, away from prying eyes and hidden microphones?

The head of Russian Video’s security service, Vladimir Grunin, was an officer of the active reserve of the KGB’s military counterintelligence. At Russian Video, dozens of key employees who had access to the company’s financial records died under strange circumstances — from “heart attacks,” “accidents,” and car crashes, the younger and more capable ones simply disappeared.»

After the mysterious deaths of company head Dmitry Rozhdestvensky and several top managers, Markaryan inherited their connections and moved into the structure of the “Musical Olympus Foundation,” created with the participation of Irina Nikitina (now Nikitina Heffliger), the former wife of cellist Sergey Roldugin, Putin’s childhood friend.

According to official documents, Ruben Markaryan is listed as a member of the “Musical Olympus” foundation’s board alongside Nikitina Heffliger. Thus, he became part of the mechanism through which millions of euros in “charitable” donations — from companies such as Russian Railways (RZD) and the Administrative Department of the President of the Russian Federation — were transferred to Nikitina’s personal accounts in Swiss banks.

Excerpt from the activity report of the “Musical Olympus” Foundation and the personnel composition of its Board. (It includes: I.A. Nikitina Heffliger, T.A. Shamalova — mother of Kirill Shamalov, the former husband of Yekaterina Tikhonova, younger daughter of Vladimir Putin, and R.V. Markaryan, the personal lawyer of Nikitina Heffliger, whose full namesake, according to several media reports, serves as an attorney for the “Russian mafia” in Berlin.)

Consigliere of the Cultural Mafia

In investigative materials on “Musical Olympus,” Markaryan is described as Nikitina’s “personal consigliere,” inherited from the criminal clan of “Russian Video.” His functions included providing legal cover for questionable financial operations, mediating with officials, and maintaining contact with the so-called “bratva” — “brotherhood.”

A characteristic story told by Nikitina herself: during a trip to Berlin, her handbag was stolen — but after a call to Markaryan and his “people,” the bag was returned with apologies and a photograph of the beaten thieves. The next day, a bouquet “from the bratva” awaited her in the hotel — a token of gratitude from those who had “resolved the issue” in their own way.

Photo: Irina Nikitina Heffliger and her “personal consigliere,” lawyer Ruben Markaryan.

From St. Petersburg’s Underworld to Diplomatic Circles

Photographs presented in the investigation show Markaryan alongside former Russian ambassador to Germany Vladimir Kotenev, indicating his access to the highest levels of the diplomatic elite. His “European passports” — including German citizenship — allowed him to serve as an intermediary between Russian elites seeking to legalize their assets and foreign structures.

Photo: Irina Nikitina’s lawyer Ruben Markaryan (left) with former Russian ambassador to Germany Vladimir Kotenev and his wife.

As noted earlier, after Rozhdestvensky’s death, Markaryan officially joined the board of the “Musical Olympus” foundation, alongside Nikitina and Tatyana Shamanova — the mother of Kirill Shamalov, Putin’s former son-in-law. Thus, a lawyer who emerged from criminal circles became a trusted representative of Putin’s aristocracy.

The Legal Shield of the Mafia Vertical

Markaryan became not merely a lawyer, but a part of the mafia infrastructure that provides protection for key figures of Putinism operating under the guise of art and culture. His connections in Russia and Europe, his ability to “settle issues” outside the courts, and his ties to the Main Investigative Directorate of Moscow and St. Petersburg — as well as to structures affiliated with the FSB and Kremlin-linked oligarchs — make him an archetype of the “mafia lawyer” of the new Russia.

He is not a lone operator but an element of a systemic model in Russia where the legal profession has been transformed into an instrument of mafia influence and political control. Behind Ruben Markaryan stands an entire era — an era in which the boundaries between law, crime, and the state have been erased completely.