Ruben Vardanyan, whose net worth was estimated by Forbes last year at $1 billion, has announced his decision to renounce his Russian citizenship. Entrepreneur and investor Vardanyan himself declared that he had decided to abandon his Russian citizenship.

"I decided, realizing the risks I was taking, to renounce Russian citizenship and move to Karabakh (the internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan, where Russian peacekeepers are temporarily stationed) as an Armenian citizen. It was a tough decision for me, but it was the right one," he said in a video message in Russian.

Further, in the video message, the Russian oligarch of Armenian origin utters grandiloquent and banal thoughts, trying to justify such a step. And he made an effort to avoid the sanctions imposed on him.

In January 2022, the American Congressman from the Republican Party, Jim Banks, submitted a new draft of sanctions against Russia. The proposed sanctions list, in addition to other well-known Russians, included the editor-in-chief of the RT television channel Margarita Simonyan and businessman Ruben Vardanyan.

The Government of Armenia openly assists Russian companies and citizens in circumventing the sanctions imposed by the West against the Russian Federation. In this matter, one of the key figures is Ruben Vardanyan, who owns a 75% stake in the investment company Vardanyan, Broitman and Partners, who moved to Armenia after the start of the war in Ukraine.

Vardanyan, included in the sanctions list, explained his move by saying that the new situation creates new opportunities for Armenia, and now the country can become a "window" for many Russian enterprises. Figuratively, he designated Armenia as the "savior" of Russia in its confrontation with the West.

By the way, after renouncing Russian citizenship and moving, Vardanyan will transfer all his Russian assets to the family fund. "I will give everything to the management of partners and transfer it to the family fund," the businessman told RBC.

Faktyoxla Lab explains who Ruben Vardanyan is and why he fled Russia.

Let's start with the fact that the betrayal of the Armenians in relation to the country of residence is well known. How they betrayed Azerbaijan and Azerbaijanis, taking advantage of the centrifugal processes in the USSR, is well known. This is the latest story that is still going on.

At the beginning of the 20th century, most of the Armenian population betrayed the Ottoman Empire. By that time, the Armenians played an important role in the economic and cultural life of the Ottoman Empire. Together with the Greeks, they took over all the trade in the country. The Russian historian M.Pavlovich, known for his Armenianphile views, stated the following facts on the example of the Sivas vilayet:

"Almost the entire import trade of the vilayet was in the hands of the Armenians. Out of 166 large merchants - 41, out of 150 exporters - 127, out of 37 bankers - 32 were Armenians. Out of 10,000 trading shops, about 7,000, out of 153 factories and large mills - 130 belonged to Armenian entrepreneurs."

In the regions of Eastern Anatolia, the majority of the Armenian population was engaged in agriculture. In cities, not a single branch of craft could do without Armenians. The technical staff of all factories and mills consisted exclusively of Armenians. In general, in the eastern regions of the Ottoman state, where the Armenian population lived, they had 785 educational institutions with 82,000 students. After the government of the Unity and Progress (Young Turks) party came to power in the Ottoman Empire in 1908, new Armenian newspapers began to appear, and previously banned books were published. In the Ottoman government, at various times, Armenians occupied the posts of ministers of internal affairs, finance, trade, and postal services. Among the Armenians were parliament deputies, ambassadors, general consuls, and consuls.

In a word, they lived very well.

But then the First World War began, in which the Ottoman Empire fought with Russia. In mid-July 1914, the VIII Congress of the Dashnaktsutyun Party (Armenian Revolutionary Federation) was held, which lasted two weeks. About 30 delegates attended it. The Armenian leaders decided that their compatriots, who, according to the Constitution of 1908, were drafted into the Ottoman army, were obliged to desert it in the event of hostilities on the Russian-Turkish front. However, the Russian command in the Caucasus demanded that the Turkish Armenians also assist in the advancement of the Russian army. Therefore, the Eastern Bureau of the Dashnaktsutyun party, located in Tiflis, decided to create a national bureau, which began the organization of a volunteer army, transferring weapons and combat groups to Eastern Anatolia. These preparations, of course, did not go unnoticed by the Ottoman government. It becomes evident that the Turkish Armenians, like the Russians, were preparing for an active struggle against the Turkish troops. Thus, the Armenians, incited by the Dashnaktsutyun, which violated its obligations to the Ottoman government earlier, were embarking on the path of betrayal and rebellion against the state, whose subjects they had been for many centuries. What happened next is also well known.

And now, the betrayal of the Armenians against Russia and the Russians is gaining momentum.

By the way, the speaker of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin said at a forum that Russian citizens who left the country after the start of the special military operation are traitors. "Anyone who wants to wait out this time, go to warm countries and look at it all from there, must understand that he is a traitor," Volodin said.

First of all, the Armenian oligarchs are fleeing from Russia. And if earlier someone still had doubts, now it is evident that betrayal has become a national tradition of Armenia. Since the conflict in Ukraine began and the Russian Federation came under numerous sanctions from the West, the Russian Armenian oligarchs, who had been hiding behind the image of "true patriots of Russia," have shown their true colors and are trying to escape the country to save their dirty money. Armenian oligarchs have been accumulating capital in Russia for a long time, and as soon as difficult days came, they began to flee the country at breakneck speed.

For example, in March 2022, it turned out that businessman Albert Avdolyan, who is the creator of the Russian telecommunications company Yota, a member of the board of directors of Sibanthracite, the head of the Telconet Capital fund and A-Property, disappeared without a trace in the United Arab Emirates, hastily changing his surname and taking his fortune. Avdolyan became one of the first Armenians, thanks to whom Russia witnessed another betrayal.

Then news emerged about another such Armenian fugitive. Reports appeared in the Russian media that the next candidate for emigration is businessman Sergey Aslanyan.

And now Ruben Vardanyan has fled. So who is he?

Vardanyan is a native of Yerevan and the founder and former owner of the investment company Troika Dialog, which Sberbank bought in 2011. In 2021, Forbes magazine first estimated his fortune at $1 billion. He ranked 116th on the list of the 200 wealthiest people in Russia.

In an interview with Forbes Talk in the spring of 2022, Vardanyan said that he considers himself an "evolutionary visionary" and is actively involved in communities.

"I am deeply convinced that Armenia and the Armenian world – because the Armenian world is larger than Armenia, much larger than the Armenian state – have both a mission and an opportunity to play a critical role like unifying glue, which is much needed in this world," he said.

In March 2019, OCCRP released an investigation into the Troika Dialog offshore company system through which money was secretly transferred to the most influential people in Russia. After the investigation's release, the European Parliament members demanded the imposition of sanctions against Ruben Vardanyan. As it turned out, Troika created a whole system of offshore companies along with the main business. For several years, more than $4.5 billion have passed through the accounts of these companies. The money came, in particular, from companies that appeared in criminal cases on laundering, cashing out or illegally withdrawing billions of rubles from Russia.

Money from various structures flowed into the offshore universe of Troika. Not all of them were engaged in dubious operations, but among them, there were those who were seen in major scams, as well as in Russian and foreign criminal cases.

As it turned out, Vardanyan's "laundries" worked on the principle of a pipe, where different streams mixed. And the criminals who control these "pipes" often provided their services to ordinary businessmen who want to sneak their money out of the country or avoid taxes without being noticed.

In a 2019 interview, he stated: "You see, I'm not an angel. In Russia, you have three options: be a revolutionary, leave the country, or be a conformist. So I am a conformist."

In May 2021, Vardanyan gave an interview to the Russian state agency Sputnik, which Margarita Simonyan heads. The businessman said that in order to change Armenia, it is necessary to conduct an inventory of resources and attestation of personnel, as well as attract about $15,000,000-$20,000,000 of "smart" money. Vardanyan said that over 20 years, he and his partners had implemented about 700 projects worth $700 million in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. However, Vardanyan complains that this is not enough, and about $20 billion more are needed to be transferred to Armenia. Therefore, Vardanyan believes that he and his partners in the Future Armenia initiative will be more useful not only in politics.

The Future Armenia project, according to Simonyan's Sputnik, "is a public initiative created by Armenians and friends of Armenia to form a common understanding of the sustainable development of the state of Armenia and the Armenian nation. It is not affiliated with any political movement or organization. Its activities are financed by the initiators of the Armenia 2041 non-profit foundation Richard Azarnia, Artur Alaverdyan, Nubar Afeyan, and Ruben Vardanyan."

But what about "Future Russia"? Why is Vardanyan, a citizen of the Russian Federation, who has become a billionaire in Russia and at the expense of Russia, concerned about investing billions in Armenia?

And what will Vardanyan's move give to Armenia and the Armenian people?

Let's take one example. He and former Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan, who now lives in Moscow, developed a charity program called Dilijan International School, which was launched in 2014.

The construction and further functioning of the school required a lot of money. And since he did not want to spend his money but wanted to implement this project and become a benefactor, Ruben Vardanyan decided to make this money at the expense of Armenia and donate part of the funds to the historical fatherland. And so it happened.

In 2013, at the government's suggestion, the National Assembly of Armenia adopted a law, especially for Ruben Vardanyan. The meaning of this law was that Ruben Vardanyan would earn a lot of money in Armenia - at the expense of tax and customs privileges, and then spend part of the profit on school and share the other part, probably with Tigran Sargsyan.

With this law, Vardanyan was given the opportunity to make money from thin air, to make a massive fortune without any investments. What the exemption from VAT and customs duties means is well known; there is no need to talk about it for a long time. Let's just say that this is a bottomless source of money. It is difficult to say how much Ruben Vardanyan profited thanks to this law, but it can be firmly said that he embezzled enough cash, minus the amount intended for the construction of the school. In fact, the result was the following: Ruben Vardanyan wanted to do charity work but did not want to spend his money. He developed a mechanism through which he earned a lot of money. That is, he directly benefitted from the state budget of Armenia.

At that time, the media wrote that Vardanyan was given a $1.5 billion quota for imports free of all budget payments, which means that he earned about $300 million from this, while the construction of the school was estimated at 110 million. However, no one has exact figures except Vardanyan and his Armenian accomplices.

But be that as it may, it has now been finally proven that neither Vardanyan nor the Armenian lobby is interested in the future of Russia. They are only interested in personal, selfish interests and corruption schemes to increase their wealth. Armenian greed was proven before and after the 44-day war. For example, the millions collected by the Hayastan Foundation, which were supposed to be spent to help the Armenian soldiers, disappeared. Where this money went is still unknown. But everyone understands perfectly well whose pockets they went into.