Armenian police raid billionaire’s house as tensions with PM boil over video / updated

Samvel Karapetyan, head of the Tashir Group of Companies and a Russian businessman of Armenian descent, has issued an official statement through the company’s press service. 

“I will defend the sacred sites of the Armenian people with all my strength — wherever I am and under any circumstances. I will not allow anyone, under any pretext, to desecrate our spiritual values,” Karapetyan emphasised, Caliber.Az reprots via Armenian media. 

Approximately 45 people were reportedly detained near the residence of Samvel Karapetyan in Yerevan. His brother, Karen Karapetyan, informed journalists of the incident. Karen Karapetyan said that even those simply standing near the gate of the house were taken into custody by law enforcement.

He was unable to specify exactly who had been detained but did not rule out that some of them could be relatives.

“If telling the truth is a crime, then we are criminals. I stand by every word Samvel said,” Karen Karapetyan stated.

20:03

The Armenian Interior Ministry has stated that Russian-Armenian businessman Samvel Karapetyan, chairman of the Tashir Group, was not detained. 

Karapetyan recently voiced public support for the Armenian Apostolic Church, stating that a small group of people, forgetting Armenia’s millennia-old history and the Church, have launched attacks against the church, Caliber.Az reports via Armenian media.

Following this, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made veiled references to Karapetyan on social media, threatening debauched priests and their debauched benefactors. Shortly thereafter, police conducted a search at Karapetyan’s residence.

Samvel Karapetyan’s brother, Karen Karapetyan said that Samvel is currently at home. “He has not been detained yet, but it is likely to happen soon,” Karen Karapetyan said. He added that police have taken into custody everyone who was even near the gates of the property. “We do not regret what was said. I’m here to be the first to be detained,” Karen Karapetyan noted.

When asked to comment on the prime minister’s insults, he refused.

Approximately 20 people have been taken to the police station.

19:35

Armenian law enforcement officers have raided the house of Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, head of the Tashir Group, in what observers see as a dramatic escalation of tensions between the business elite and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government. 

The raid was carried out by Armenia’s Criminal Police Division. Authorities have confirmed that several individuals have been detained, though it remains unclear whether Karapetyan is among them, Caliber.Az reports via Armenian media.

Vehicles parked near the businessman’s residence were evacuated, and his legal representatives have refused to issue a statement. Footage from the scene shows Karapetyan’s nephew, Narek Karapetyan, standing on the steps of the residence. Dozens of people — friends, acquaintances, and law enforcement officers — were seen gathered in the yard. 

The police action comes just days after Karapetyan publicly defended the Armenian Apostolic Church, amid mounting criticism from the Armenian government. In a sharply worded statement, the businessman accused a “small group of people” of attacking the Church while forgetting “Armenia’s thousand-year history.”

The response from Pashinyan was swift and provocative. In a social media post, he referred to unnamed critics as “debauched ‘priests’ and their debauched ‘benefactors,’” in an apparent jab at Karapetyan. “This is not the village in Kaluga [Russia]. This is the Republic of Armenia,” he wrote.

Karapetyan’s brother, former Member of Parliament Karen Karapetyan, declined to comment, asking journalists to clear the area as officers from the National Security Service were expected to arrive. He also urged those gathered not to interfere if force is used. “Now is not the right time,” he told reporters. “When the moment comes, I will speak.” 

On May 29, during a government meeting, Pashinyan sharply criticized the condition of the country's churches, referring to them as "closets filled with garbage." The following day, he published a scathing social media post targeting the Armenian Apostolic Church and its senior clergy, using coarse language and accusing one archbishop of sexual misconduct.

Adding fuel to the controversy, Anna Hakobyan, Pashinyan’s wife, made her own inflammatory statement, calling the Patriarch the country’s top mafia boss and branding those outraged by the church’s treatment as pedophiles. On June 9, Pashinyan escalated his campaign further, directly accusing Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II of violating his vow of celibacy. The Prime Minister claimed that the Catholicos has a child and said he is prepared to present evidence if necessary. Pashinyan declared that the Catholicos must step down.

By Naila Huseynova