Tuesday, December 18 2018 11:01

ArmInfo.Former Prime Minister of Armenia, former First Deputy Chairman of the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) Karen Karapetyan leaves the party.  

According to the chairman of the RPA Organizing Committee, Ruben  Tadevosyan, Karapetyan submitted a letter of resignation from the  party and, according to the party's charter, he is no longer  considered a Republican. Earlier, on June 21, Karen Karapetyan  submitted a letter of resignation from the post of first deputy  chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia, which was reported at  the meeting of the party's executive body. Karapetyan joined the  party on November 24, 2016, two months after his appointment to the  post of prime minister.

To recall, Karen Karapetyan, before that, deputy general director for  international projects of Gazprom Energoholding LLC, and prior to  that  the head of Gazprom-Armenia was appointed to the post of Prime  Minister of Armenia on September 13, 2016. Mainly thanks to the  figure of Karen Karapetyan, independent observers believe, the ruling  Republican Party of Armenia managed to facilitate its victory in the  parliamentary elections, which at that time became the "face and  voice" of the RPA campaign. Karen Karapetyan continued to fulfill his  duties as acting Prime Minister until the election of the new head of  government on April 17, 2018, Serzh Sargsyan, after which he was  appointed the first deputy prime minister. In the days of the velvet  revolution- after the resignation of Serzh Sargsyan from the post of  prime minister, he continued to fulfill his duties as acting prime  minister. However, on May 8, Karapetyan submitted a petition to RA  President Armen Sarkissian about the termination of his powers as the  first deputy prime minister, as well as the acting prime minister.

Meanwhile, on October 25, the Kommersant newspaper reported that the  former Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan could join the  council of directors of the Russian company Zarubezhneft.  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. Kommersant named Russian businessmen Ruben  Vardanyan and Samvel Karapetyan (the owner of the Tashir holding, not  a relative of the former prime minister) as Karen Karapetyan's close  friends. 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 the six people traditionally includes former  senior officials. So, it is headed by the former head of the Federal  Security Service, Yevgeny Murov, and already this year, the former  minister of transport Maxim Sokolov joined the council. 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 Karen Karapetyan's appointment in the  board of directors of Zarubezhneft should be interpreted as  recognition of his achievements in 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 Germany's former Chancellor Gerhard Schroder,  who is on the board of directors of Rosneft.