One of the main associates of the Russian oligarch Samvel Karapetyan was arrested in Armenia

In Armenia, Alik Aleksanyan, one of the closest associates of Russian businessman Samvel Karapetyan, was detained for two months. He is accused of laundering significant amounts of money and bribing voters.

According to investigators, Aleksanyan, acting as the head of the public movement “In his own way,” from the fall of 2025 to the spring of 2026 received from the Tashir Foundation, owned by Samvel Karapetyan, about 4.4 million dollars and 230 thousand euros, registering them as a “gift and loan.” To legalize these funds, he fictitiously employed 1.4 thousand people, who were then recruited for a fee to participate in rallies and actions of “Strong Armenia”.

Since March of this year, Armenian law enforcement officers have been actively publishing information about violations of the legislation on charity, as well as about facts of giving and promising bribes by representatives of “Strong Armenia”. The number of people detained and interrogated exceeded three hundred.

Earlier, the Anti-Corruption Committee of Armenia announced the suppression of a voter bribery scheme in the interests of “Strong Armenia”, when residents of a number of settlements were paid funds under the guise of salaries, material assistance and charity in exchange for supporting the party in elections.

Parliamentary elections in Armenia are scheduled for June 7. According to a survey commissioned by the American International Republican Institute, the ruling Civil Contract party of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is in the lead.

Samvel Karapetyan himself, known for his pro-Kremlin views and opposition to the current government, is under house arrest in Yerevan on charges of calling for a coup. Previously, his name appeared in The Insider's investigation into alleged Russian influence on the elections in Armenia, where his possible connections with the Russian FSB were mentioned. Karapetyan himself rejected these accusations, calling the publication unreliable and politically motivated.

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