Business built on blood of Ukrainians
War profiteering Armenians

ANALYTICS  29 March 2023 - 17:54

The full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war has been going on for almost 400 days. It has caused enormous destruction, tragedy and the deaths of tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians and soldiers. The war has caused millions of people in Ukraine itself to become internally displaced, while millions more have been forced to flee abroad. There is no end in sight to this war. But we can already see the shameful role that Armenia is playing in this war.

The secret of the Armenian economy's "growth"

The European Union's Special Representative for Sanctions David O'Sullivan will arrive in Armenia for a reason, to check whether Yerevan is helping Russia circumvent the sanctions. It was reported by Armenian media. O'Sullivan is currently in Kyrgyzstan, before travelling to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia and Armenia.

"Our task is to ensure effective implementation of the sanctions. After analysing trade flows, we are seeing significant growth that we have not seen before. We need to monitor closely the situation in partner states and signals that suggest sanctions are being circumvented," O'Sullivan said.

“I am sure that an objective analysis of the situation will easily reveal how Armenia is helping the Russian Federation to circumvent Western sanctions. For example, according to the Statistical Committee of Armenia, in January-February of this year, the volume of industrial production increased by 1 per cent, while export volumes increased by 96․4 per cent! The published data indicate that export volumes from Armenia to Russia have increased significantly, which experts attribute to an increase in re-exports.”

The volume of machinery, equipment and mechanisms exported from Armenia increased by 12.3 times in 2022 compared to 2021. Overall, Armenia's trade turnover with Russia increased by 91.7% in 2022 compared to 2021, including a three-fold increase in exports to Russia. The fact that Armenia is re-exporting was also acknowledged by Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan. According to Kerobyan, last year, Armenia's exports grew by 77.7 per cent and re-exports accounted for a significant portion of that. In essence, this was a veiled admission by Kerobyan that suspicions about Armenia assisting Russia to circumvent Western sanctions were justified. The answer given to Lragir.am by Hayk Mnatsakanyan, a doctor of economics and head of the department at the Armenian State University of Economics, who openly admitted that such a problem exists, is also revealing.

"There is no need to avoid discussing it. At this stage, the arrows are directed towards Russia, not Armenia. And everyone knows that Armenia's main trading partner is Russia. I understand that the world is treating this issue delicately, trying not to harm Armenia. But we should remain vigilant, act reasonably, and not cross borders, which can lead to threats to our economy," Mnatsakanyan said.

This is how, quite shamelessly, Armenia profits from the Russian-Ukrainian war, from Ukrainian grief, blood and casualties. But, clearly, neither French President Emmanuel Macron, nor the French Senate, nor the MEPs will ever raise this topic. They, figuratively speaking, prefer not to see the logjam in Armenia's eye, relentlessly looking for a straw in Azerbaijan's eye. Meanwhile, there are even more shocking facts.

Armenians living in Rostov rob Ukraine

According to the Ukrainian newspaper Obozrevatel, grain terminals in Mariupol, granaries in Svatovo and Kherson, private grain-processing and grain-saving enterprises in Ukraine have been robbed. The Rostov region of the Russian Federation has become a gateway for the import of looted goods. The theft of Ukrainian grain from the occupied territories of Ukraine and its export to Russia is controlled by a group of Rostov Armenians - a known mafia subordinate to the diaspora, i.e. Armenians settled in the Rostov region.

And it is not just about grain. The Armenians in the Rostov region have also taken over the entire agricultural production market, as well as the sales markets. Without the permission of the Armenian mafia, no one in Rostov can sell vegetables - the businesses of those who disobey will be burned down and they themselves will be killed. With the occupation of Ukrainian lands, Armenians from the Rostov region immediately took control of all agricultural machinery abandoned by the owners, who had saved their lives or were killed by the occupiers. The trucks carry Ukrainian goods without documents directly to the Rostov and Krasnodar regions of Russia, they are not stopped by traffic police, tax authorities, customs and border guards. At the same time, Rutratranstorg is active in social networks, putting up advertisements, looking for grain carriers to transport grain from Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions to Crimea, Belgorod, Stavropol Territory, Rostov Region and even to Yerevan.

Ukraine's main agricultural website “Latifundist” conducted its own investigation into the theft of Ukrainian grain, which not only found all the company's founders, registered capital, registration details, addresses and phone numbers but also recorded a conversation in which the owner Artur Azizyan confirms the plunder of Ukraine and the export of Ukrainian grain from Russian-controlled territories. The Russian company Rutratranstorg, which exports stolen grain from Ukraine's occupied territories, was registered in 2017 in the city of Krasnodar. Its head is Artur Azizyan and its founder is Marina Viktorovna Trubnikova.

Interestingly, according to Russian registers, Marina became the owner of Rutratranstorg in March 2022. She is also the founder of another company listed in the ads - Miroyan. This company provides transport and logistics services and its head is Maxim Viktorovich Trubnikov. It was registered in 2018 in Belgorod. This is an example of Russian Armenians' involvement in robbing Ukrainian grain. Which also goes to Armenia.

Against this background, it is worth noting that Azerbaijan, on the contrary, helped Ukraine. And it is not only about supplying humanitarian aid worth tens of millions of manats, not only about sending generators and other equipment to Ukraine, which helped to survive the consequences of the strikes on the Ukrainian energy network. Exactly a year ago, on March 28, 2022, Azerbaijan expressed its readiness to provide Ukraine with fuel for the sowing campaign. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made the announcement after a conversation with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

Thus, the war in Ukraine has shown us a lot. Including which states and peoples are truly friendly to Ukraine and which are, to put it mildly, hostile, ready to make money, literally, from the blood of Ukrainians.

Akbar Hasanov

Caliber.Az