“We are closely monitoring the situation surrounding Electric Networks of Armenia [ENA] and Samvel Karapetian,” the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said on Thursday, commenting on the authorities’ decision earlier this week to strip ENA’s owner of its operating license.
“Protecting the interests of Russian businesses abroad, as you know, is an absolute priority. Moscow and Yerevan have established intergovernmental channels for discussing such issues,” she told a news conference.
Zakharova argued that Karapetian’s Tashir Group has invested about $700 million in ENA and kept electricity prices in Armenia virtually unchanged since buying the country’s power distribution network from another Russian company a decade ago.
“Investments of $795 million were planned for 2024-2034,” she said. “We hope that the new managers appointed by the Armenian authorities will be able to present a more effective management model. But the judgment must be based on [ENA’s] concrete record.”
The Armenian government forcibly took over ENA’s management in July following Karapetian’s arrest and prosecution which came just hours after his strong condemnation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s campaign against the top clergy of the Armenian Apostolic Church. It accused Tashir of mismanaging the country’s power distribution network.
Karapetian’s conglomerate headquartered in Moscow responded by appealing to the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC). It is seeking $500 million in damages for what it calls an illegal “expropriation” of its biggest asset in Armenia.
Armenia’s energy regulator headed by a political ally of Pashinian revoked Tashir’s operating license on Monday. The move is widely seen as a prelude to ENA’s formal nationalization which Karapetian’s entourage says is part of the Armenian government’s politically motivated crackdown on the tycoon. An opposition movement set up by Karapetian after his arrest is expected to be one of the ruling Civil Contract party’s main challengers in next year’s parliamentary elections.
Karapetian, 60, has made the bulk of his fortune, estimated by the Forbes magazine at $4 billion, in Russia. Although some Russian officials expressed concern at his arrest this summer, Moscow has so far refrained from openly calling for his release. Nevertheless, Pashinian’s political allies have accused him of plotting to overthrow the government on the Kremlin’s orders.
