Russian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan detained in Armenia

Employees of the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Armenia detained Russian entrepreneur and philanthropist of Armenian origin, president and founder of the "Tashir" group of companies Samvel Karapetyan.

This is reported by BAKU.WS with reference to TASS.

After the businessman's detention, his supporters gathered on Nalbandyan Street, where the directorate is located. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Armenia has not yet commented on the situation.

"I will continue to be with our church, with the Armenian people. I don't care about them or their 'Electric Networks' (Karapetyan is the owner of the company 'Electric Networks of Armenia' - TASS note). The people will still have their say, and they will understand that they were wrong," he told journalists before getting into the car.

Karapetyan's house was searched on Tuesday, this happened after he told journalists that "a small group attacked the Armenian church, the Armenian people." Karapetyan claimed that "if political figures fail to achieve anything, we will intervene in the campaign against the church in our own way."

Karapetyan is ranked 44th in Forbes' ranking of Russian billionaires, with his fortune estimated at $3.2 billion. He owns the "Tashir" group of companies and the "Rio" shopping mall chain.

The searches took place against the backdrop of Karapetyan's criticism of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. In May, the head of the RA government began actively criticizing the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC), in particular, accused Catholicos Garegin II of violating celibacy, calling on him to leave his post. After this, Karapetyan made statements in defense of the church.