Business
Moscow Accuses Armenia of 'Hostile Takeover' of Russian Business Assets
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Min
Two of Russia's most senior security officials have publicly accused Yerevan of orchestrating a "hostile takeover" of Russian-owned businesses in Armenia, and the Russian Foreign Ministry has followed up by quantifying Russian Railways' exposure and warning of an "appropriate response."
The escalation, delivered across three days, is Moscow's sharpest intervention yet over two separate assets: Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA), the country's sole electricity distributor, and the South Caucasus Railways (SCR) concession held by a Russian Railways subsidiary.
The numbers Moscow put on the table
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin set out SCR's investment case on 18 September. According to ARKA, citing the Russian Foreign Ministry website, SCR has invested 30 billion rubles — roughly $388 million at current rates — in Armenian rail infrastructure since the concession began in 2008, and paid 15 billion rubles, about $194 million, in taxes.
Galuzin said the operator has repaired more than 520 kilometres of track on a network of roughly 700 kilometres, replaced half the sleepers, rebuilt more than 50 structures, and employs over 2,500 people.
"We closely monitor the observance of the legitimate interests of Russian economic operators in Armenia," Galuzin said. "Violating these interests will not only damage the republic's investment climate but will also provoke an appropriate response from the Russian side."
Security Council language hardens
Sergei Shoigu, Secretary of the Russian Security Council, said on 17 September that "an unfriendly line and blatant 'double standards' are clear in the treatment of Russian businesses operating in Armenia," adding that what is happening "can hardly be called anything other than a 'hostile takeover.'"
His deputy, Aleksei Shevtsov, went further a day later: "We are also recording signs that Russian industrial and infrastructure enterprises in Armenia may be the next targets." Shevtsov claimed arguments about underfunding, environmental damage and low wages were being deployed "to devalue Russian assets and force owners to get rid of them."
Shevtsov did not specify which enterprises he meant, and Armenia has not publicly proposed appropriating Russian businesses as a class. OC Media noted the absence of any such stated policy.
Two assets, two disputes
The cases are distinct and frequently conflated. ENA has been owned by Samvel Karapetyan's Tashir Group since 2016. Armenia's parliament adopted amendments on 3 July 2025 allowing state intervention in the company's management, and Romanos Petrosyan was installed as interim manager on 18 July. Karapetyan, a Russian-Armenian businessman who had by then entered opposition politics, was arrested on 18 June 2025.
Galuzin called the ENA case an "ongoing nationalization" and argued the authorities' actions "are more akin to a politically motivated crackdown on a competitor in the domestic arena," noting there had been "no complaints" about the utility's performance before Karapetyan's political turn.
The railway dispute is contractual rather than proprietary. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has floated transferring rail management to Kazakhstan, the UAE or Qatar, and raised the possibility of claiming roughly $2 billion from Russia in the concession context. Russian Railways chief executive Oleg Belozerov has said Moscow expects a return on its investment if the concession is terminated or amended — the commercial crux of any settlement.
The wider squeeze
The rhetoric lands amid Russian agri-food import bans imposed on Armenia between April and June, a ten-day Gazprom supply suspension for pipeline maintenance, and explicit warnings from Moscow that Yerevan's EU rapprochement would cost it Eurasian Economic Union preferences.
For investors, the signal is less about either specific asset than about the widening gap between Armenia's westward policy drift and the Russian capital already embedded in its infrastructure.
