Ruben Vardanyan is an Armenian oligarch, ex-adviser to Vladimir Putin and a politician who operated as the State Minister of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), an unrecognised area in the South Caucasus, until 23 February 2023. He has a nickname called Putin’s Wallet.
Following the Russian attack on Ukraine, Vardanyan was put on the Ukrainian government’s list of sanctioned people for his status as a board member of the Russian air cargo firm Volga Dnepr, which plays a significant function in Russian military air transport.
According to Kyiv, his commercial ventures “damage or threaten Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence.” He is wanted by the Ukrainian Secret Service (SSU). his profile was publicised in the Ukrainian database “Myrotvorets,” which lists accessories to the Russian aggression. Vardanyan is specified as a “person subject to immediate detention and handing over to law enforcement agencies of Ukraine or NATO countries.”
The reason for blacklisting him is particularly that he held positions in “the top management of a major Russian company engaged in the material support (transport, logistics and others) of actions desired at undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine”.
Also, following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Vardanyan was documented in a draft bill in the U.S. House of Representatives which called for him to be hit with individual sanctions. In 2022, 46 members of the U.S. Congress called to inflict personal sanctions on him, along with Putin and all the members of the Russian administration. “Vardanyan, one of the wealthiest men in Russia, close to Putin… He is blamed for laundering money through offshore businesses and transferring money to trusted friends of Putin,” reported The Washington Times.
Moreover, in some Armenian circles, Vardanyan was blamed and criticised for supposedly implying that Armenia be subjected to the Russian Federation in much the same way as the autonomous republic of Tatarstan.
Furthermore, in 2020, the Anti-Corruption Foundation, a Russian NGO headed by Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny, issued an investigation which concerned Santerna Holdings Limited, a company possessed by Vardanyan. Ilya Shumanov, president of Transparency International Russia also blamed Vardanyan in January 2024 for only pretending to be a philanthropist “rather than like someone who is taking money out of the bank and operating with dubious, corrupt individuals who, as is now evident, are the ones who started this war.
