Russian-Armenian tycoon launches new movement from jail

Samvel Karapetyan expressed support for those who oppose Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan but said he will chart his own path

Samvel Karapetyan, a jailed Russian-Armenian billionaire and critic of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, has announced the creation of a new political movement. This comes as Pashinyan remains in a standoff with opposition protesters backed by the powerful church.

In a statement sent through his lawyers on Monday, Karapetyan said his team would build a “fundamentally new” political movement, but did not rule out working with like-minded groups. He added that he respects the groups that oppose Pashinyan’s rule but stressed that he has his own vision for Armenia’s future.

”We will go our own way, with our own team, but not excluding cooperation with political allies,” Karapetyan wrote, according to excerpts published by local media.

He said his goal is to unite Armenians around “fair and great objectives,” rejecting the “black-and-white and other artificial divisions that these authorities have imposed on society, dividing and weakening the country.” He did not, however, provide further details on the movement’s platform and ideology.

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Karapetyan, the owner of the Moscow-based Tashir Group conglomerate, was arrested in May on charges of publicly calling for the seizure of power. The charges stemmed from his public support of the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC).

The AAC emerged as the key driver of protests against Pashinyan following his decision to hand over several border villages to Azerbaijan – which the prime minister defended as necessary to normalize relations with Baku. Many Armenians view the concession as a betrayal of national interests.

As tensions escalated, the authorities arrested Karapetyan and several prominent clerics on coup-related charges. They also moved to nationalize Karapetyan’s local energy company, and last week, an Armenian court ordered the detention of opposition lawmaker Artur Sarkisyan on accusations of conspiring to stage a violent coup.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said Russia maintains contact with Armenia regarding Karapetyan’s arrest. He added that while the turmoil is an internal matter for Armenia, Moscow wishes to see it as “a prosperous and stable country that is friendly to Russia.”