Who is Ruben Vardanyan? Unveiling enigmatic oligarch's intriguing saga

The "Back to Garabagh" Public Union has unveiled a report shedding light on the fraudulent activities of  Ruben Vardanyan, a former leader associated with the Karabakh separatist movement. Caliber.Az reprints the report.

Ruben Vardanyan, born in Yerevan on 25 May 1968, is a Russian oligarch of Armenian descent, a billionaire and former minister of state of the so-called "Nagorno-Karabakh Republic", an entity not recognised anywhere in the world.

Vardanyan was the initiator, one of the founders and first president of the Moscow School of Management in Skolkovo. President Vladimir Putin attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the campus in 2006.

According to the Washington Times, Vardanyan is a friend of Vladimir Putin. Vardanyan was once the head and main partner of Troika Dialog, an investment company that created an extensive network of offshore companies involved in money laundering from Russia. Since 2011, Forbes has included him in its ranking of Russia's richest people.

In September 2021, Ruben Vardanyan renounced his Russian citizenship, but continued to actively participate in Russian business, where his partner is the head of "ROSTEC", Sergei Chemezov. Together they hold positions on the Board of Directors of KAMAZ OJSC and receive significant payments for their work. In addition, Vardanyan owns a stake in the car manufacturer KAMAZ through a consortium of investors in which ROSTEC also participates.

In 2018, Vardanyan's foundation and a subsidiary of ROSTEC invested in facial recognition technology by buying shares in the company. In addition, Vardanyan was a former co-owner of Avtovaz, but sold his stake for $180 million in 2013, remaining in partnership with ROSTEC.

Back in 2009, Alexei Navalny investigated Skolkovo's financing scheme and noted in his blog that, despite Vardanyan's statement about the charitable nature of Skolkovo, the school's project was estimated at $500 million, with half of that amount coming from the founders' donations and the remaining $250 million coming as a loan from Sberbank.

"The loan was granted under unclear conditions and with unclear guarantees. Both the Skolkovo school and Sberbank categorically refuse to disclose the terms of the loan," Navalny said.

"The construction of the Skolkovo school was financed from the funds of the state-owned Sberbank, and no one was going to pay back the money, but Vardanyan and the rest of the gang of tycoons told the naive public and journalists that this was a very 'cute' commercial project," Navalny added.

For more than two decades, Ruben Vardanyan was the face of Western-style investment banking as the founder of Troika Dialog during the birth of Russian capitalism, with successes that earned him billionaire status and ties to the Kremlin.

The system, dubbed the Troika Laundromat by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, involved at least 75 offshore companies and exported about $4.8 billion between 2006 and 2013, often through fictional deals, with the help of a now-defunct Lithuanian bank, according to the OCCRP's investigative journalists.

Sergey Roldugin, a cellist and friend of Vladimir Putin, was among the ultimate recipients of the funds.

While Vardanyan wasn't personally accused of wrongdoing, he was president, chief executive officer and chairman of Troika during this period, as well as its main partner. According to the OCCRP, he used the bank to pay millions of dollars in personal expenses.

In March of 2019, the European Parliament members wrote a letter to the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, in which they stated the need to introduce sanctions against the ex-owner of Troika Dialog Ruben Vardanyan and others linked to Troika Dialog 'offshore eco-system'. The letter is signed by 22 MEPs representing Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, Germany, Great Britain and other countries.

Vardanyan’s involvement in aggression against Ukraine

Known for his active pro-Russian stance, Ruben Vardanyan was included in the Ukrainian “Peacekeeper” sanctions database for his assistance to the Russian invaders and his involvement in crimes committed by the Russian authorities against Ukraine and its citizens. He is also accused of denying and publicly justifying Russian aggression and financing military actions in the post-Soviet space. The list designates him as a person subject to “immediate arrest and transfer to law enforcement authorities of Ukraine and NATO countries”.

Bob Blackman, a Conservative member of the British parliament, said Vardanyan was an accomplice to aggression against Ukraine. "We have to understand that this is someone who has been sanctioned as part of Russia's involvement in Ukraine, and it is believed that Russia is trying to strengthen its capabilities in terms of its war effort. His companies have been well used and well involved in the whole process of expanding the military presence in Ukraine and Nagorno- Karabakh," the British MP said.

Vardanyan also has links with Tehran, which is helping Moscow in its regular attacks on Ukraine. His ties to Iran can be traced through Russia's Gorchakov Foundation, which organises events in various countries, including Armenia, with government-approved speakers from Tehran.

In September 2022, Vardanyan renounced his Russian citizenship to avoid Western sanctions, but Ukraine included him on its sanctions list for providing logistical support to the Russian occupation army.

After renouncing his Russian citizenship to avoid Western sanctions, Vardanyan came to "power" in Karabakh and illegally seized copper, molybdenum and gold deposits in the region, which belongs to Azerbaijan. The resources, guarded by the Russian military, were plundered in violation of environmental regulations. The Azerbaijani authorities demanded that experts be given access to the deposits, but this was repeatedly blocked.

According to Canada's Geopolitical Monitor, the Kremlin appointed Vardanyan to the post of "Minister of State of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh" in order to thwart the European Union's potential success in reaching a peace agreement.

Bulgarian National Radio noted that Vardanyan was engaged in active propaganda that did not contribute to the resolution of the conflict between Baku and Yerevan.

There are reasonable grounds to suspect that Vardanyan has committed offences under Articles 214-1 (Financing terrorism), 279.3 (Participation in the creation and activities of paramilitary groups or groups not provided for by law) and 318.1 (Illegal crossing of the state border of Azerbaijan) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan.