Ruben Karleni Vardanyan (, ; born 25 May 1968) is a Russian and Armenian oligarch and a politician who served as the State Minister of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), an unrecognized state in the South Caucasus, from 4 November 2022 until 23 February 2023. Vardanyan was close to Vladimir Putin and likely had influential access to him. Vardanyan continued his support and work in Artsakh following his dismissal from the post of State Minister in 2023. Vardanyan has engaged in efforts to promote economic and social advancement in Armenia and Republic of Artsakh, focusing on long-term development projects.
Prior to his political career, Vardanyan was a businessman and philanthropist. He is the former chief executive officer and shareholder of the Troika Dialog investment bank, which was the hearth of the Troika laundromat. In 2021, his net worth was estimated by Forbes at $1 billion.
On 27 September 2023, following the Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh and subsequent flight of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, Vardanyan was detained by Azerbaijani authorities in the Lachin corridor. A number of internationally renowned public figures and organizations have called for the release of Vardanyan along with other former de facto Nagorno-Karabakh officials, considering his detention to be politically motivated or in violation of international laws. On 17 February 2026, Vardanyan was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment.
Early life and education Ruben Vardanyan was born on 25 May 1968, in Yerevan, Armenian SSR. In 1985 he graduated with honours from Yerevan School No. 35. In 1985, he enrolled in Moscow State University's Faculty of Economics. After completing his first year, he did military service in Soviet Azerbaijan and Armenia. In 1992 he graduated with honours from the Faculty of Economics.
Vardanyan was trained at Cassa di Risparmio di Torino Italian savings bank in Turin and completed a course on developing markets at Merrill Lynch in New York in 1992. Later, he completed short-term courses at INSEAD (Fontainebleau, France, 2000), Harvard Business School (2001, 2005, 2018), Yale University and Stanford GSB (2012, 2013).
Career
Business activities (1999-2012)
Vardanyan and Peter Derby founded Troika Dialog on 18 March 1991. Vardanyan first worked as an expert and then headed the IPO department. In 1992, Vardanyan entered the executive board and became an executive director. As director of Troika Dialog, Vardanyan established relationships with Western investors and helped develop the legal framework and infrastructure for the Russian securities market.
Vardanyan became CEO of Troika Dialog in 1996. In the same year, Troika Dialog Asset Management (“TDAM”) was registered as the asset management arm of Troika Dialog which, in partnership with US-based Lexington Management Corporation, established the first mutual fund (the Lexington Troika Dialog Russia Fund) allowing US investors to participate in the Russian equity market.
Later he became the president, CEO, and chairman of the board of directors of the company. He held the post until the company was sold. In the early 2000s, Troika had offices in New York and London. In 2004, Vardanyan was named as both Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year in Russia and Investment Banker of the Year by the National Association of Securities Market Participants (“NAUFOR”).
As of 2011, the partners held 63.6% of Troika Dialog shares, with 40% owned by Vardanyan. At the end of financial year 2010, Troika’s assets totaled $5.75 billion, $872 million in equity and $42.346 million in revenue. On March 11, 2011, Sberbank announced its 100% acquisition of Troika Dialog for $1 billion; the transaction was finalized on January 23, 2012. The agreement also included Troika's partners’ bonuses for three years, thus the overall deal totaled $1.4 billion. Before the sale, Vardanyan owned the major block of shares (40%), estimated at $560 million. In requital, he was offered a 20.5% stake in AvtoVAZ and a 27.3% stake in Kamaz, later sold with a profit.
The merger resulted in the launch of Sberbank CIB (renamed from Troika Dialog), Sberbank’s corporate and investment banking business. Vardanyan had initially intended to sell his stake to Troika Dialog management before the Sberbank deal. From the sale of "Troika Dialog" until 2015, Vardanyan co-headed Sberbank CIB, also holding posts of adviser to the CEO of Sberbank and chairman of the board.
Vardanyan stepped down from his role at Sberbank CIB in 2015.
By 2013, Forbes estimated Vardanyan's net worth at $800 million.
Business activities (post-2012) After the sale, Vardanyan devoted a significant portion of the funds to philanthropic causes and long-term infrastructure projects like the Skolkovo Business School, which he had founded in 2006.
In 2013 Vardanyan, along with Mikhail Broitman, started Vardanyan, Broitman and Co, an investment company. As of 2018, Vardanyan owned 75% of the company. Its assets include shares in Ameriabank, UFS Transport operator, and several venture projects (Lamoda, Pronutria, NtechLab). Major investments are placed in real estate management. In 2013 Vardanyan acquired a 50% share in Avica Management Company, an investment fund, established by Gagik Adibekyan's RD Group. In February 2018 the partners announced a split, dividing real estate assets worth an estimated $1 billion. According to the settlement, Vardanyan was to keep office spaces, including Romanov Dvor and Vozdvizhenka business centers. Also in 2018, Vardanyan and Global Blue announced the launch of Global Blue Russia, a first tax-refunding company in Russia.
In 2015 Ruben Vardanyan launched "Phoenix Advisors", a company engaged in family welfare protection, management and succession planning.
Vardanyan also co-founded the Future Armenian initiative, which contributes to a number of philanthropic ventures, with a focus on the promotion of entrepreneurship and in particular on the development of his home country, Armenia. He and the other founders have contributed to around 700 projects in Armenia with a total investment of over $700 million.
In 2020, the Anti-Corruption Foundation, a Russian NGO led by Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, published an investigation which concerned Santerna Holdings Limited, a company owned by Vardanyan. Citing Santerna's publicly available annual reports, the investigation found that, in 2016, Santerna invested almost $33.45 million in Luchano, a spa business owned by Gulsina Minnikhanova, the wife of the President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov. The annual reports showed that Santerna's auditors applied a $26.8 million impairment charge shortly after the investment, reducing Santerna's stake in Luchano to $6.6 million. In 2018, Santerna made another investment of $10 million in Luchano. Months later, the same auditors applied another impairment charge, further bringing down the value of Santerna's investment, to $5 million. Based on this financial activity, whereby Santerna willingly overpaid twice, the Anti-Corruption Foundation asserted that Vardanyan's company made two disguised gifts, or bribes, to the wife of the President of Tatarstan. In the aftermath of both investments, investigative journalists found millions of dollars of luxury real estate owned by Minnikhanov's family. Vardanyan denied these accusations.
Corporate governance roles In 2004, Vardanyan was CEO of Rosgosstrakh. He also headed Troika Dialog at the same time. As of October 2019, Vardanyan is one of the members of board of directors at Kamaz, Ameriabank and Global Blue Russia Holdings B.V. He also is a member of the investment committee Avica Property Investors International, a member of the supervisory board at Investment and Venture Fund of the Republic of Tatarstan. Vardanyan is the chairman of the editorial committee international at BRICS Business Magazine. He previously had served as an expert and executive member of advisory boards at Sollers JSC, AvtoVAZ, Sibur, Novatek, Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company, Sheremetyevo International Airport, Rosgosstrakh, International Finance Corporation, Standard Bank, Marsh & McLennan Companies, Russian Trading System, Moscow Stock Exchange, the Federal Commission on Securities Market, the Depository Clearing Company, the National Association of Stock Market participants etc. He also headed the National Association of Stock Market participants during 1997 and 1998. Since 2000, Vardanyan has been a member of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) where he was one of the members of executive board till 2012. In 2009 he entered the Committee on Innovative Policy and Entrepreneurship. Vardanyan was one of the co-founders of the 2015 Club, an informal Russian businessmen organization, that worked on strategic planning for the Russian economy up to 2015. Since 2010 Vardanyan is a member of trustees at the Alexander Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund. In 2015 he co-founded the Primakov Center for International Cooperation, currently Vardanyan is a member of its advisory board. In 2019, Vardanyan was invited to join the executive board of Moscow-based ACRA rating agency.
Move to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh In June 2021, Vardanyan acquired Armenian citizenship. He stated that he made his decision to move back to Armenia following the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. In the past, Vardanyan had denied any intention to take up any government position in Armenia; however, he was viewed as a potential political player and is rumored to be involved with the newly founded political party Country of Living. In November 2021, Vardanyan gave an interview in which he spoke about his plans to start a political career in Armenia and also considered the possibility of becoming the president of Armenia.
In September 2022, Vardanyan declared that he was moving to the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh (in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh) and announced that he was no longer a Russian citizen. Following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Vardanyan was named in a draft bill in the U.S. House of Representatives which called for him to be targeted for individual sanctions. Vardanyan denied that his renunciation of Russian citizenship was an attempt to escape international sanctions against Russia. In his words, his actions stemmed from a desire to be with his nation during a time of crisis: “Today the people of Artsakh are in a very difficult psychological state, they have no confidence in the future. The inhabitants of the republic, who survived two wars and lost their loved ones in the struggle for independence, feel abandoned,” he stated.
Initially he was reluctant to take any political post, but a couple of month later, in October, Vardanyan was suddenly offered the position of State Minister, which was equivalent of prime minister, with "broad powers" by President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan. Harutyunyan appointed Vardanyan Minister of State on 4 November 2022. Vardanyan submitted a request to Russian state authorities to annul his citizenship so that he could become a citizen of Artsakh, which was officially granted in December 2022. Vardanyan was dismissed from the position of State Minister on 23 February 2023, having held office for less than four months. Vardanyan’s dismissal was one of the key demands made by Azerbaijan for it to end its blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh. Prior to this, Vardanyan had rejected Azerbaijani demands that he leave the region. Following his dismissal, Vardanyan vowed to continue living and working in Artsakh.
Azerbaijan's 2023 offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh and detainment