Russian billionaire Ruben Vardanyan has been imprisoned in Azerbaijan for more than three months. He was arrested in late September 2023 in the Lachin corridor when another armed conflict erupted in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Azerbaijani authorities accused him of financing terrorism, participating in the creation of armed groups, and illegal border crossing, detaining him for four months.
Artsakh Prime Minister
Vardanyan, a businessman listed on Forbes, relocated from Moscow to Karabakh in September 2022, renouncing his Russian citizenship. In November of the same year, he became the prime minister of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), also officially known as the Republic of Artsakh.
Four months later, on February 23, 2023, Ruben Vardanyan was dismissed from his position as the Prime Minister of Artsakh. His resignation stemmed from Azerbaijan‘s demand to unblock the Lachin corridor, the sole road connecting Karabakh with Armenia.
Nobel Prize nomination
➤ Following his arrest, the billionaire’s family attempted to draw global attention to the fact that he was arrested illegally and demanded “the immediate and unconditional release of him and all other Armenian political prisoners.”
➤ In general, since his arrest, several prominent figures from Russia, including those considered respectable in the West, have regularly spoken in defense of Vardanyan. For example, playwright Alexander Gelman, writer and president of the Holocaust Foundation Alla Gerber, public figure Natalia Solzhenitsyn, and others.
If one does not delve into the details, it may create an impression of widespread support for Vardanyan. However, upon closer examination, it becomes evident that many of these individuals cooperate with projects that are financially linked to Vardanyan. For example, Noôdome, a club of people who “envision the future, initiate change, and build connections,” whatever that may entail. Or the Moscow-based Skolkovo School of Management, where Kremlin officials frequently visit, and which is led by Alexander Voloshin, the former head of the Russian presidential administration (from March 19, 1999 to October 30, 2003) under Yeltsin and Putin, and the current chairman of the board of directors of this organization.
➤ In early April, Kremlin media channels – Sputnik Agency and RBC – reported that a certain group of organizations and individuals, including prize winners, nominated Vardanyan for the Nobel Peace Prize for developing peace initiatives and helping people during the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. (The specific members of this initiative group are unknown).
Putin’s Proxy
Statements of support portray Vardanyan as a humanitarian, philanthropist, public figure, and businessman. However, they fail to mention that Ruben Vardanyan is not just a businessman but a Kremlin-linked billionaire and Putin’s proxy.
➤ In January of this year, BBC published a major piece on Vardanyan. In my opinion, the key point in that article were the remarks of Ilya Shumanov, deputy director general of Transparency International Russia. “His professional background and those he has worked with are a bit different from what he wants to appear to be in public. His friends are people from the cultural, theatrical beau monde, leaders of public opinion, stars,” he said.
➤ After Vardanyan’s nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize became known, deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine expressed outrage. They wrote an open letter in which they call it unacceptable and absurd to nominate for the peace prize a person who supports terrorism, is involved in corruption scandals, is a sponsor of Russian aggression, and an enemy of Ukraine.
➤ In 2022, Vardanyan was placed on the sanctions list of the SNBO (National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine).
➤ In 2019, members of the European Parliament initiated his inclusion in the sanctions lists as a “Kremlin associate.” The occasion was a global investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) about the offshore operations of Troika Dialog – a company founded by Vardanyan.
The authors of the Troika Laundromat OCCRP investigation wrote that this company had created an “offshore ecosystem” of some 76 companies. Money was secretly transferred through this company to Putin’s close friends. Between 2006 and 2013, more than $4.6 billion passed through the accounts of Vardanyan’s offshore networks.
Is Vardanyan currently connected to the Kremlin?
➤ In October last year, Vladimir Putin hinted at “Skolkovo” that for humanitarian reasons, he would stand up for Vardanyan in front of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, noting, however, that he was no longer a Russian citizen.
➤ After the sale of Troika, Vardanyan created Quinta Capital Partners (QCP), which managed Vardanyan’s own money, and at the same time, the money of Sergey Chemezov, the head of the state company Rostec. Now, according to SPARK, the company does not operate, as noted in the above-mentioned BBC publication.
➤ It was also noted that before moving to Karabakh, Ruben Vardanyan told RBC that he had transferred all his Russian assets to a family trust. According to SPARK, this trust belongs to an offshore entity in the Cayman Islands, and a small share of it belongs to Veronika Zonabend, Vardanyan’s wife. It can be assumed that the property transferred to the trust is still controlled by Vardanyan and his family.
➤ Vardanyan is linked to KAMAZ, a company that now produces trucks and armored vehicles for the Russian army. As of 2021, 24% of KAMAZ was owned by Avtoinvest, and Vardanyan still co-owns that company through his trust. He is also a member of KAMAZ’s Board of Directors.
According to Ilya Shumanov, Vardanyan is “trying to look like a philanthropist, not someone who is involved in money withdrawal and partnerships with very suspicious, corrupt people who, as is now clear, are at the root of this war [in Ukraine].”
