Businessman Samvel Karapetyan`s arrest fraught with serious  consequences for Armenia 

ArmInfo.  The arrest of the president of the Tashir Group, philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan and the mechanism for its implementation by placing an order on Facebook,  directed by unbridled posts, may have serious consequences for  Armenia. A similar point of view is shared by expert, member of the  Alternative Projects Group Vahe Hovhannisyan. 

In his article, the author notes that this is not only about internal  stability, which has long been in the field of turbulence, dangers  come from other sides. In particular, extremely dangerous events may  begin for the Armenians of Russia. In addition, the development of  events will lead to a sharp reduction in investments in Armenia,  which will end with an influx of "Turkish kopecks", there will be  "Batumization with kopecks". The country will see an outflow of  Russian capital, which will lead to the collapse of the country's  economy. Against this background, the struggle for Armenians held in  Baku prisons will become much more difficult. The formation of a new  "poor Armenia" will begin.

"After the 44-day war, the Azerbaijani lobby in Russia has gained  enormous momentum. On the wave of victory, the Azerbaijani community  and influential circles are trying to establish new rules of the  game.  More than 2 million Armenians live and work in Russia. After  the war, the Azerbaijani lobby set itself the task of defeating the  Armenian community in Russia, neutralizing influential Armenian  circles, weakening all their levers, minimizing their spheres of  influence and turning the Armenian community, which had great  authority in Russia for centuries, into a mass of secondary people.  They have already achieved some success in this matter, because the  state of Azerbaijan stands behind the Azerbaijani community in  Russia.  They have already created numerous problems for the  Armenians of Russia, but this was not what the Azerbaijanis were  trying to achieve. Their efforts to defeat the Armenians in Russia  were largely thwarted thanks to the efforts of Samvel Karapetyan and  a number of other influential Armenians, who were able to raise  issues with the Russian authorities and, thanks to their personal  authority and human values, maintained normal relations with the  Russian authorities at various levels," the expert noted.

He added that Russia is a large and complex country, and if you don't  work with it for even a day, you can have serious problems.

"Yes, it was Samvel Karapetyan and a number of other influential  figures who were able to work in the most difficult conditions with  the authorities, and with the elites, and with spiritual structures,  and with Armenian structures, and with other influential circles, in  order to protect the interests of the Armenian community in the most  difficult conditions.

If Samvel Karapetyan continues to sit in prison, then in a matter of  months we will get a new "Poor Armenia" in Russia and Armenians who  are oppressed and humiliated. The consequences of this are very  difficult to explain to those who do not understand, or to those who  do it intentionally. It is very important to form broad public  support in defense of Samvel Karapetyan. This is really very  important. Otherwise, from Vladivostok to Kaliningrad, we will have  impoverished Armenians, and millions of Armenians will feel it. At  all stages of independence, there has always been a silent struggle  for the influence of communities. When Armenia existed as a viable  state, all three of its presidents knew this, and always solved the  problem silently, but with significant results. The situation changed  after 2018, and after 2020 it became very difficult, but people like  Samvel Karapetyan were able to maintain some kind of balance through  indescribable efforts, including working behind the backs of healthy  circles of the Russian government. Now an extremely dangerous phase  is beginning, when we are depriving ourselves of the levers of  resistance," says Vahe Hovhannisyan.