Gurgen Arsenyan Previously Owned Business in Russia

On August 14, Gurgen Arsenyan, appointed as the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Armenia to Russia, was noted to be the owner of a business in Russia until last year, according to the newspaper 'Hetq'. According to Arsenyan's latest annual declaration for 2023, the former parliament member held shares in 8 companies, 7 of which are Armenian and 1 Russian.

However, one of the Armenian companies, 'Eldorado-Armen' LLC, in which Arsenyan had a 51% stake, was declared bankrupt in 2020, and by the end of 2023, the bankruptcy case concluded with the liquidation of the company. Since June 2023, the only Russian company, 'Vkredit24' LLC, has also ceased to exist, but the former parliament member's 2023 annual declaration does not indicate that the company is no longer operational.

Gurgen Arsenyan also owned companies in the United States in the late 1990s, which, however, ceased operations due to failure to meet tax obligations. The United States was not the only foreign country where Arsenyan had business interests. As mentioned above, he also had ventures in Russia. Thus, in January 1993, 'Ars-Trade' LLC was established in Moscow, co-owned by Gurgen Arsenyan and his ex-wife, Editha Gharagyozian. This now-defunct company was removed from the Russian registry in August 2006.

In February 1994, another company, 'Nefko' LLC, was founded in Moscow, which Arsenyan led. This company was removed from the Russian registry in March 2007 as a non-operational entity. The aforementioned 'Vkredit24' LLC was established in May 2014 in Moscow. Arsenyan stated in his declaration that he purchased a 13% stake in the company on its founding date, which is peculiar since, under those circumstances, he would have been a founding member. However, according to Russian sources, the company's first founder was Koryun Yuriki Grigoryan, and in 2015, the company’s ownership was shared between Arsenyan (13%), Mikayel Sergei Badalyan (34%), and the offshore registered Sync Technologies Ltd. from the British Virgin Islands (53%).

In June 2023, 'Vkredit24' LLC was removed from the Russian registry, yet Arsenyan indicated in his 2023 annual declaration that he still held a 13% ownership stake in the company as of the end of the year. Furthermore, before becoming a member of parliament in 2021, Arsenyan provided a $400,000 interest-free loan to this company. As of December 31, 2023, the loan amount remained unchanged.

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