Thursday, October 25 2018 13:43

ArmInfo. Former Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan can join the council directors of the Russian ''Zarubezhneft'' company.This was reported by the  newspaper Kommersant on October 25.

According to the source, this appointment can be both a political  gesture and a consequence of Karen Karapetyan's long career in  Russian state-owned companies in 2000-2010. Russia has previously  invited loyal politicians from abroad: for example, German former  chancellor Gerhard Schroder is on the board of directors of Rosneft.  According to the newspaper's sources, Karen Karapetyan can take the  place of an independent director who is currently occupied by Hrayr  Simonyan, advisor to the head of Inter RAO Boris Kovalchuk.  Zarubezhneft and the Federal Property Management Agency did not  respond promptly to the request. The representative of the Deputy  Prime Minister for Fuel and Energy Dmitry Kozak Ilya Dzhus told  Kommersant that the directive on the appointment did not come out,  but did not deny its possible preparation.

Karen Karapetyan became the Armenian Prime Minister in September  2016, when Serzh Sargsyan was the country's President, and finally  left the government this spring after the mass protests that brought  Nikol Pashinyan to power. At the end of June, Karen Karapetyan also  withdrew from the leadership of the Republican Party of Armenia,  whose chairman is Serzh Sargsyan. After the May events in Armenia in  the public policy, the former Premier was not noticed, about any  claims to him by the new government is unknown.

"Karapetyan is well-known in business circles in Russia, and he could  have received such a proposal (to join Zarubezhneft's Board. -"  Kommersant ")," the source's correspondent added, "Karen Karapetyan's  friends are Russian friends businessmen Ruben Vardanyan and Samvel  Karapetyan (owner of the Tashir holding, not a relative of the former  prime minister).  Karen Karapetyan has extensive experience in  Russian companies, in particular, in the fuel and energy sector. In  2011-2012, he was the first vice-president of Gazprombank, since 2012  - deputy general director for strategy and development of Gazprom  Mezhregiongaz, in 2015, he became deputy general director for  international projects of Gazprom Energoholding. In the 2000s he  headed the structure of Gazprom in Armenia ArmRosgazprom. Sources  from the Gazprom system characterized Mr. Karapetyan as a man of  "very energetic" and with an "innovative spirit", but impulsive, and  noted that he had good relations with Gazprom's board member Kirill  Seleznev.

Zarubezhneft is a relatively small oil company against the background  of industry leaders in the Russian Federation. In 2017, it produced  5.3 million tons of oil equivalent, the main assets are located in  the Russian Federation and in Vietnam. In this case, the board of  directors of six people traditionally includes former major  officials. So, it is headed by the ex-head of the FSO Yevgeny Murov,  and already this year the ex-minister of transport Maxim Sokolov  joined the council. The membership in the board of directors of  Zarubezhneft is well paid: the amount of remuneration in 2017  amounted to 38.8 million rubles.  Artur Shamilov from TopContact  believes that the inclusion of Karen Karapetyan on the board of  directors of "Zarubezhneft" should be interpreted as recognition of  the development of bilateral cooperation. Trying to build good  relations with the new government of Armenia, the government of the  Russian Federation gives a signal to the Armenian elites that they do  not forget the previous political leaders, he said. This is a  consistent policy, adds Mr. Shamilov, citing the example of German  ex-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who is on the board of directors of  Rosneft.