Gurgen Arsenyan, one of the richest members of the Armenian National Assembly, was appointed Armenia’s Ambassador to Russia yesterday.

Arsenyan, an economist by profession, also had business interests in Russia prior to 2023.

A declared communist during the Soviet era, Arsenyan founded the United Labor Party following Armenia’s independence. He then represented various political parties in the Armenian parliament, serving as an independent between 2000 and 2003.

His last stint (2021-2024) as a parliamentary deputy was with the ruling Civil Contract faction.

Upon his election to the Armenian parliament in 2021, Arsenyan declared owning eighteen units of real estate (buildings, land) in Yerevan Gyumri and Dilijan, four automobiles, a collection of paintings worth AMD 532.9 million, two watches worth AMD 133.3 million, and an AMD 32 million gold bar.

Arsenyan reported an income of 5.790 million drams, which was generated from the dividend and rent received from Unicorn Group LLC, as well as $2.343 million from securities held in Ardshinbank CJSC and the interest received from the same bank.

Arsenyan owned shares in eight companies according to his latest, 2023, financial declaration.

Seven were Armenian and one, Russian. Eldorado-Armen LLC, one of the Armenian companies, was declared bankrupt in 2020 and liquidated in 2023. Vkredit24 LLC, the Russian enterprise, closed its doors in June 2023.

Arsenyan also had shares in U.S. companies in the late 1990s that later closed due to failure to fulfill tax obligations.

Arsenyan’s son Babken founded companies in the U.S. and the Czech Republic. The son moved to the U.S. after serving in the Armenian army and getting married to a U.S. citizen in 2016.

Gurgen Arsenyan told Hetq in 2021 that his U.S. business interests were limited to investments in corporate securities quoted on the American stock exchanges.

Vkredit24, founded in 2014 in Moscow, focused on the creation of databases and information resources. It also engaged in the retail sale of furniture, household goods, hardware and other metal products both online and brick and mortar outlets.

In June 2023, Vkredit24 LLC was deleted from Russia’s corporate registry, but Arsenyan, in his 2023 annual declaration, said he owned 13% of the company at the end of the year. Before becoming a parliamentary deputy in 2021, Arsenyan gave a $400,000 interest-free dollar loan to the company. As of December 31, 2023, the amount of the loan was unchanged.

In 2021, the former deputy handed over his shares in Armenian companies to Yerevan resident Hripsime Avetisyan for five years.