RP Premier`s Staff requests $1mln to defense Armenia`s interests at  Stockholm Arbitration

ArmInfo. The Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia requests slightly more than $1 million to ensure representation and proper protection of the interests of the Republic of Armenia in the arbitration case Liormand  Holdings Limited et al. v. the Republic of Armenia, which is being  conducted by the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of  Commerce (SCC Arbitration Institute).

As stated in the explanatory note to the document, in this  arbitration case, the plaintiffs filed a Notice of International  Investment Dispute with the Office of the International Counsel on  June 30, 2019, which was followed by proceedings related to the  Emergency Arbitration. After receiving the decision on the results of  the Emergency Arbitration on July 22, 2019, the Office began work on  attracting international legal consultants to represent and properly  protect the interests of the Republic of Armenia.

"According to the Dispute Resolution Rules of the Stockholm Chamber  of Commerce, a party may file a Notice of Arbitration within 30 days  from the date of receipt of the award in the Emergency Arbitration  Proceedings. On August 12, 2019, during the consideration of the  candidacies of law firms, the Office was notified of the Notice of  Arbitration by the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of  Commerce, which had already set short procedural deadlines. Thus, the  relevance of involving a company providing legal and attorney advice  is due to the need to provide appropriate legal positions within the  established deadlines in the arbitration proceedings and ensure  effective protection of the interests of the Republic of Armenia,"  the document says.

As a result of studying the price offers, it is noted that Arnold &  Porter, a company operating in the United States of America, stood  out for the exceptional value of its services and extensive  experience, which has been successful in 53 of the last 60 decisions  (success in about 93% of cases), especially in cases on the  protection of state interests in investment arbitration. For  representing the interests of the Republic of Armenia in the said  case, the company offered a total of USD 3,250,000, which does not  include applicable taxes established by the legislation of the  Republic of Armenia, expert fees, arbitration costs, translation and  printing costs, as well as other expenses (transportation costs and  accommodation costs), etc.

"The company will have to ensure payment from the moment of actual  provision of services, even before concluding a contract with the  latter for the provision of services. Therefore, the effect of this  decision applies to the relations that have actually arisen, and it  is necessary to allocate to the Office of the Prime Minister of the  Republic of Armenia an amount equivalent to USD 1,093,750.0 in AMD  (including applicable taxes established by the legislation of the  Republic of Armenia) in the second half of 2025," noted in the Office  of the Head of the Armenian Cabinet.

Recall that on July 22, the Stockholm Arbitration Court obliged the  Armenian government to refrain from applying the amendments to the  laws "On Energy" and "On the Public Services Regulatory Authority"  recently adopted by the parliament, as well as from any further steps  aimed at the expropriation of the ENA. Following the publication of  the arbitration decision, the state bodies of the Republic of Armenia  made a number of statements, noting that the decisions of the  emergency arbitration cannot be executed by the government of the  Republic of Armenia, and in order to be executed in the territory of  the Republic of Armenia, they must be recognized by the courts of the  Republic of Armenia."

In this regard, on July 29, 2025, Samvel Karapetyan and his family  again applied to the Emergency Arbitration Court with a request to  amend the decision made on July 22 and provide the Government of the  Republic of Armenia with additional clarifications that the latter is  obliged to implement the arbitration award and restore the status quo  that existed on the date of the investors' first appeal, as well as  oblige it to submit a report on the measures taken to implement the  award. On August 4, 2025, the Emergency Arbitration Court decided not  to consider the issue of the need to amend the previously adopted  award, reiterating that the decision it made on July 22 is already  subject to mandatory and immediate execution by the Government of the  Republic of Armenia.

On August 11, 2025, Samvel Karapetyan and his family formally  initiated international arbitration proceedings against the Republic  of Armenia to hold the Republic of Armenia accountable for the  expropriation of ESA CJSC.

"The Karapetyan family alleges in their arbitration claim that the  actions of the Republic of Armenia are arbitrary, discriminatory,  politically motivated and aimed at depriving them of their ownership  rights to the ENA. In particular, these actions violate a number of  obligations undertaken by the Republic of Armenia under the bilateral  investment treaty between Armenia and Cyprus. First, Armenia failed  to ensure fair and equitable treatment and full protection of the  Karapetyan family and their investments. Second, the violent takeover  of the ENA management constitutes an unlawful expropriation by  Armenia in violation of an international treaty. The Karapetyan  family asks the arbitration tribunal to oblige the Republic of  Armenia to compensate for both the damages already incurred and those  expected. According to the preliminary assessment, the amount of  damage is 500 million US dollars and is subject to a final assessment  by the arbitration tribunal," the statement of the Council for the  Defense of Samvel Karapetyan said.