Overview
The World Peoples’ Assembly, also known as the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly, is an international non-governmental organisation established in 2017 in Moscow. The Assembly serves as a platform for cooperation among civil society, business actors, and state institutions, with a focus on dialogue, integration, and coordination across Eurasia and beyond.
Beyond its formal humanitarian and civic profile, the Assembly also appears to function as a platform for building political, institutional, and economic connections across different regions through public diplomacy and cooperation initiatives. Its leadership structure, involvement in occupied Abkhazia, and links to actors connected with customs administration and transit infrastructure suggest that its activities extend beyond cultural and humanitarian engagement alone. In this context, the organisation may also support broader Russian strategic interests, including the strengthening of Russian-linked networks in occupied Abkhazia, the expansion of regional influence outside Western-led frameworks, and the development of alternative transit and logistical connections under sanctions-related constraints.
The organisation reports that its founding congress brought together over 2,500 participants from 67 countries, and that it currently includes more than 800 individuals and legal entities from 53 countries. Its 2021 General Assembly in Moscow was held with the support of the UN Information Center at TASS and received greetings from senior international and political figures, including Vladimir Putin, President of Russia; António Guterres, UN Secretary-General; Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General; Valentina Matvienko, Chairwoman of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation; and Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. Such references form part of the Assembly’s publicly presented institutional profile and claims to international legitimacy.
The Assembly defines its mission as the ‘affirmation of the unity of peoples based on spiritual and moral values and shared responsibility for the future of humanity.’ Its public materials frame the organisation as a platform for dialogue, humanitarian cooperation, and public diplomacy across Eurasia and beyond.
Activities and Institutional Network
The Assembly structures its activities around public diplomacy, scientific and educational cooperation, and cultural-humanitarian engagement. According to its official materials, the organisation promotes dialogue, interethnic interaction, educational initiatives, and transnational cultural exchange across Eurasia.
The institutional structure includes a network of specialised councils addressing economic and humanitarian issues.
The Assembly’s activities include youth exchanges, educational programmes, journalism initiatives, historical memory projects, cultural forums, and international networking platforms aimed at promoting transnational interaction across Eurasia, such as EURASIA KIDS, IMMORTAL MEMORY, Days of the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly, Garden of Peace, Eurasian Youth Issyk-Kul Forum, International Friendship School in Serbia, Friendship Lessons, Discover Eurasia, and the Eurasian School of Journalism.
The organisation also reports more than 140 cooperation agreements with partner institutions, including universities, foundations, research centers, chambers of commerce, and business organisations across a wide geographic range, including India, France, Serbia, Greece, Syria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Bulgaria, Russia, Azerbaijan, England, Italy, Spain, Benin, and other countries.
The Assembly’s global expansion is reflected in initiatives such as the World Public Summit, which have included over 4,000 participants from more than 150 countries, alongside grant programmes and competitions such as “Trust and Unity” and the International Contest “Leaders of Public Diplomacy.”
The organisation also participates in major international forums, including the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), demonstrating its integration into broader Russian and transnational institutional networks.
While many of the Assembly’s activities are publicly framed in cultural and humanitarian terms, its relevance in this context derives from its intersection with actors involved in transit infrastructure, customs governance, and transit and infrastructure-related projects in contested regional environments, particularly in relation to the logistics transit hub in Abkhazia, a Georgian region occupied by Russia.
Leadership and Institutional Networks
Andrey Belyaninov
The Assembly is headed by Andrey Belyaninov, who serves as Secretary General and was re-elected at the 2021 General Assembly. He is a former senior Russian state official, notably head of Russia’s Federal Customs Service (2006-2016). According to biographical data, Belyaninov is a graduate of the Plekhanov Institute of the National Economy and a former officer of the USSR KGB’s First Main Directorate (foreign intelligence).
Belyaninov’s role within the Assembly is particularly significant, given his long-standing involvement in customs administration, border governance, defence-linked state enterprises, and regional financial institutions: sectors directly relevant to questions of transit infrastructure and cross-border logistics.
Additional details indicate that Belyaninov began his post-Soviet career in the financial sector, holding a senior positionat REA-bank. He later moved to Novikombank, where he served as deputy chairman and subsequently chairman of the management board. His transition into state-linked structures occurred in the late 1990s, when he joined Promeksport, heading its financial department. He afterwards served as chairman of the Eurasian Development Bank, further extending his involvement in regional economic and financial institutions.
Subsequently, Belyaninov held several senior positions within the Russian state apparatus, including:
- Director General of Rosoboronexport (federal state unitary enterprise) (from 2000);
- Director of the Federal Service for Defence Contracts (2004-2006);
- Head of the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation (2006-2016).
During the late Soviet period, Belyaninov worked in the Soviet Embassy in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), where he became acquainted with Vladimir Putin, then a KGB officer stationed in Dresden, as well as Sergey Chemezov, currently CEO of Rostec. Some sources indicate that Belyaninov and Vladimir Putin were acquainted during their service in Soviet structures in East Germany.
Official Kremlin records confirm that Belyaninov participated in working meetings with President Vladimir Putin during his tenure as head of the Federal Customs Service, including discussions on customs administration, revenue collection, and modernisation processes. These recurring interactions took place within the framework of executive oversight of state institutions and reflect his role within the administrative system during the Putin period.
In addition to his governmental roles, Belyaninov has been involved in international and intergovernmental structures. He is listed as a member of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO, demonstrating his participation in international institutional frameworks beyond national administrative roles.
Investigative reporting further highlights the durability of Belyaninov’s position within the Russian elite. During a 2016 search conducted by officers from the FSB’s Internal Security Directorate, large amounts of cash and valuables were reportedly discovered in his residence; however, despite the scale of the findings, he was not imprisoned. According to the same reporting, President Vladimir Putin did not authorise his imprisonment. He later assumed leadership of the Assembly of the Peoples of the World, promoting narratives aligned with the concept of the “Russian world.”
Other Actors
The Assembly’s governing structure includes a Supreme Advisory Council composed of individuals affiliated with governmental and parliamentary institutions, including the State Duma, presidential advisory bodies, and regional administrations. Named members include Viktor Vodolatsky, State Duma Deputy; Ildar Gilmutdinov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Nationalities; Georgiy Muradov, Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Crimea and Permanent Representative of Crimea to the President of Russia; Andrey Nazarov, Prime Minister of Bashkortostan; and Sergei Glazyev, Russian politician, economist, and member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The Assembly also lists Igor Giorgadze, Georgia’s former Minister of State Security, among its leadership structures, including as Deputy Secretary General and member of the Supreme Advisory Council, where he is identified as president of the Moscow-based organisation “Georgia Abroad.”
Engagement in Occupied Abkhazia
The Assembly’s official materials also document engagement with actors in occupied Abkhazia. In 2021, for instance, the organisation reported plans to establish a representative office in Abkhazia following the meeting, held on May 12 in Sokhumi, which took place between Andrei Belyaninov and the de facto president of occupied Abkhazia, Aslan Bzhania. According to the Assembly’s archive, the discussions covered potential areas of cooperation, including youth-oriented initiatives developed within its broader programmatic framework, particularly the EURASIA KIDS project.
In February 2023, Sputnik Abkhazia reported that the de facto Foreign Ministry of occupied Abkhazia was planning to sign a cooperation agreement with the World Peoples’ Assembly. According to the report, the agreement was intended to expand humanitarian and business ties across the Eurasian space and establish working groups focused on sectoral and country-specific areas of cooperation.
These engagements demonstrate the Assembly’s institutional presence in occupied regions, where cooperation frameworks involve local actors, organisations, and initiatives.
External reporting further identifies Astamur Akhsalba as chair of the Assembly of the Peoples of the World in Abkhazia, as well as General Director of a transit-logistics company associated with a logistics transit hub in Gali.
Against this broader backdrop, JAMnews discussed the development of the logistics transit hub in Gali as part of wider changes in regional transport and logistics patterns. Following the Russia-Ukraine war and the imposition of sanctions on Russia, the strategic importance of alternative transit routes in the South Caucasus grew considerably. In this context, increased cargo traffic and infrastructure development in Abkhazia, including the construction of a terminal near the Enguri bridge, drew heightened regional attention.
With these developments, Russia has increasingly sought alternative transit and logistical routes capable of bypassing or mitigating the impact of Western sanctions. As a result, the South Caucasus has gained greater strategic importance in Russian efforts to develop new transport corridors and diversify regional transit connections.
Logistics Transit Hub in Gali and Infrastructure Links
A logistic transit hub located near occupied Gali on the Inguri River has been reported as a project intended to facilitate cargo flows between Russia and the occupied Georgian region. According to available reporting, the project is formally presented as a private investment initiative; however, no further publicly available information appears to confirm the project’s current status or implementation stage.
At the same time, publicly available information points to overlapping roles among individuals involved in both the project and the World Peoples’ Assembly. Statements attributed to Akhsalba further reference cooperation with Andrey Belyaninov and support from the World Peoples’ Assembly in relation to the project and broader economic activities. As cited in reporting: “We are working on all of this with the support of Andrey Belyaninov. The World People’s Assembly… is helping us not only with the project but also with broader economic cooperation,” he said.
The presence of shared actors and references to cooperation suggests a degree of overlap between the project’s actors and broader institutional networks associated with the Assembly.
Giorgadze and Public Perceptions
Public discussion surrounding the logistics transit hub has also been shaped by the figure of Igor Giorgadze, whose political biography remains highly sensitive in the Georgian and Abkhaz context.
From October 1993 to September 1995, Igor Giorgadze served as Georgia’s Minister of State Security. Following his dismissal in 1995, he fled to Russia, where he resided for an extended period. His name remains associated with the political and conflict dynamics of the early post-Soviet period, including the broader historical context surrounding Abkhazia, making his institutional presence highly sensitive in a post-war environment.
Against this background, Giorgadze’s association with structures linked to the Assembly has contributed to public and media scrutiny surrounding the logistics transit hub. Commentary circulating on Abkhaz Telegram channels and regional media has framed the project not only in economic terms, but also within a broader political and security context.
For example, commentary published by the Abkhaz Analytical Center Telegram channel argued that projects involving strategic transit infrastructure carry implications extending beyond economics, to include issues of security, territorial control, and long-term political consequences. Similarly, commentary from the Telegram channel AIASHARA criticised the initiative by suggesting that Astamur Akhsalba, who heads the Abkhaz branch of the organisation and remains largely unknown within Abkhaz society, was contributing to the rehabilitation of actors viewed as adversarial, potentially at the expense of Abkhazia’s own interests.
At the same time, Giorgadze has publicly denied his involvement in the project, stating that he neither organised nor participated in its implementation. These dynamics illustrate how the historical reputations and political associations of individual actors can shape public perceptions of infrastructure initiatives in politically sensitive and contested regional environments.
Conclusion
The World Peoples’ Assembly and the logistics transit hub in Gali appear as formally separate structures; however, publicly available information indicates a recurring overlap between the individuals, institutional networks, and cooperation frameworks associated with both.
The Assembly’s activities in occupied Abkhazia illustrate how humanitarian and integration-oriented organisations can simultaneously operate within wider geopolitical and infrastructural dynamics.
In this context, the logistics transit hub demonstrates how infrastructure initiatives in occupied regions may acquire significance extending beyond economics, leading to political scrutiny, security concerns, and competing regional interpretations.