[11] From 1995 to 1998 he was the State Secretary of the Bank of Russia, was responsible for interaction with government bodies, public organizations and the media.

[11] In January 2001, Alexander Torshin becomes a member of the Federation Council from the government of the Russian Republic of Mari El.

He served in the Federation Council of Russia, the upper house of the Russian parliament, from 2001 to 2015, and as its acting Chairman for four months in 2011.

[13] Torshin is closely associated with Vyacheslav Vasilyevich Kalashnikov (Russian: Вячеслав Васильевич Калашников), who is president of the private military contractor (PMC) Moran Security Group (MSG), a colonel in the FSB reserve and an adviser to Russian Senator Torshin.

Torshin remained as acting chairman until the election of Valentina Matviyenko also from the United Russia Party.

[2] In 2016, a Spanish investigation connected Torshin with Alexander Romanov, the leader of the Taganskaya Gang, who had been arrested in Spain and sentenced to four years in prison in May 2016 for illegal transactions.

[18] According to Spanish police, he gave instructions to members of the Gang on laundering, through banks and real estate in Spain.

When asked if this had any relationship with politics in the US, José Grinda, a Spanish prosecutor, replied "Mr. Trump's son should be concerned.

[27][28] Torshin has been a subject of an investigation by the Senate Intelligence Committee into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.

[7] Torshin is also the subject of a probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation into whether the Russian government attempted to illegally funnel money to the NRA in order to help Trump win the presidency.

[7][29][30] On May 16, 2018, the Senate Intelligence Committee released a report[31] stating it had obtained "a number of documents that suggest the Kremlin used the National Rifle Association as a means of accessing and assisting Mr. Trump and his campaign" through Torshin and Butina, and that "The Kremlin may also have used the NRA to secretly fund Mr. Trump's campaign.