International scandal around Armenia: Oligarch close to Armenian PM illegally imports stolen diamonds?

Today, Russian law enforcement agencies uncovered a high-profile crime, apprehending members of a criminal group who stole diamonds from "Alrosa" and then smuggled a large quantity of them into Armenia.

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) reported that the stolen diamonds were transported to Armenia to "ADM Diamond LLC," whose beneficiary is Khachatur Sukiasyan, an oligarch close to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and a Member of Parliament from the ruling faction of the National Assembly, known by the nickname "Grzo."

The Armenian Prime Minister himself had participated in the opening of the factory that became central to this scandal.

It's worth recalling that the first facts about diamonds being illegally imported into Armenia were revealed by Mikayel Minasyan, the former Armenian Ambassador to the Holy See, in 2021. Ambassador Minasyan stated that a large quantity of diamonds was being illegally brought into Armenia, then marked as Armenian, and subsequently exported. According to Mikael Minasyan, all of this occurred with the direct knowledge and patronage of Nikol Pashinyan.

"According to state statistics, as of the first quarter of 2020, Armenia had 20 billion worth of diamonds. To process such a quantity of diamonds, there should be more than 1400 workers, whereas only 400 workers are registered in that sector in Armenia. Consequently, it's impossible to process that quantity with the existing workforce. I'll add one more thing: to do this in Armenia, large factories would be needed, and these factories would consume a lot of electricity and pay taxes for 1400 people. None of this exists; there is only a figure indicating that 20 billion worth of diamonds and gold were exported from Armenia. This system was created and is controlled by Nikol Pashinyan and his family, because these individuals, at the expense of Armenia's international reputation, have organized an international mafia system of import and export," Minasyan noted.

Following this statement, the political persecutions carried out by the Armenian authorities against Mikael Minasyan and his family became even more intense.

Meanwhile, today, during an attempt to steal another batch of diamonds worth over 1.7 million rubles, Russian law enforcement officers arrested Valentina Matyushchenkova, an employee of the company that stole the diamonds, her son Alexey Matyushchenkov, who acted as an intermediary, as well as Armen Petrosyan and Arman Sahakyan, who were transporting the stones illegally. A criminal case has been initiated on charges of theft and illegal circulation. During searches, approximately 200,000 carats of industrial diamonds, money, and jewelry were confiscated from the criminal group.

In August 2024, the investigative journalism publication "Hetq" also reported that an unprecedented volume of 29.1 tons of semi-processed or unprocessed gold was exported from Armenia in 2023. This is gold that has not undergone final processing and is refined abroad. The overwhelming majority of the gold, 71%, was exported to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Armenia imports this gold from Russia. The total value of the exported gold amounted to 1.8 billion US dollars, a 4.4-fold increase compared to 2022. Diamonds rank second in the top ten exports. Here too, the volumes are unprecedented: approximately 4.5 million carats, valued at 593 million US dollars. "Hetq"'s investigation revealed that this mainly concerns diamonds brought from Russia, which are exported in an unprocessed state—before becoming cut diamonds. Armenian, Russian, and Arab businessmen are involved in this business. From the Armenian side, the ADM Diamonds factory in Abovyan and its partners are actively involved. The factory's name is linked to Khachatur Sukiasyan, a Member of Parliament from the Civil Contract party.

It should be noted that Khachatur Sukiasyan is an Armenian oligarch who is also close to the Prime Minister of Armenia and an MP elected from his party's list.