In 1991 he began to serve as Director General, Vice Manager of the Soviet-Yugoslav Joint Venture Company JSC "Sov-Yug" , a position which he held until 1994.

From February 1995 to July 1995 he worked as Director General of the Russian-Italian Joint Venture Company CJSC "MAG".

[2] On 21 September 2010, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev nominated Orlov to be Head of Kalmykia from a list of four candidates proposed by his ruling United Russia Party.

[3] After Russia re-adopted direct popular elections for Governors, he announced his ultimately successful run for re-election in 2014.

Justin Corfield - The History of Kalmykia: from Ancient times to Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and Aleksey Orlov (2015).