A former Russian citizen of Armenian descent, billionaire Ruben Vardanian, has been appointed to the post of prime minister of the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian leader, Arayik Harutiunian, appointed Vardanian to the post on November 4.
Earlier in October, Harutiunian offered the post to Vardanian, who said he was ready to start working as prime minister only if people supported his decisions and methods.
Vardanian publicly renounced his Russian citizenship in September and said he made the decision to move to Nagorno-Karabakh with an understanding of all the risks he may face.
Vardanian said that after the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijan war over Nagorno-Karabakh, which resulted in Baku regaining control over large swaths of the disputed region and seven adjacent districts, "many people in Artsakh started feeling that they have been abandoned," using the Armenian name for Nagorno-Karabakh.
"I believe that after the 2020 war we, Armenians of the whole world, must be together with Artsakh," Vardanian said, adding that after settling in Nagorno-Karabakh he will move all his assets in Russia to his family fund.
Nagorno-Karabakh, which along with the seven adjacent districts that had been under ethnic Armenian control for nearly three decades prior to the war in 2020, is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.
The 2020 war ended with a Russia-brokered cease-fire under which Moscow deployed about 2,000 troops to the region to serve as peacekeepers.
Vardanian, 54, was born in Yerevan. He is the former chief executive officer of the Troika Dialog investment bank, which was bought by Sberbank in 2011.
Last year, Forbes estimated Vardanian's assets at $1 billion. Forbes has called Vardanian one of the "founding fathers" of Russia's stock market.
Since Russia launched its ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in late February, many oligarchs and businesspeople have left Russia amid Western sanctions targeting some Russian tycoons close to Kremlin over its aggression against Ukraine.