CivilNet/OCCRP review finds no evidence confirming Narek Karapetyan held Russian citizenship

By Ani Grigoryan

A joint review by CivilNetCheck and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) found no independent evidence confirming that Narek Karapetyan, the lead candidate of the Strong Armenia alliance, has ever held Russian citizenship, despite a Russian corporate registry document that identified him as a Russian citizen.

The issue became politically charged after National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan published an extract from the Russian registry of the company MosPromExploitation, in which Karapetyan’s citizenship was listed as Russian Federation. The publication prompted Armenia’s Investigative Committee to open criminal proceedings into the possibility that Karapetyan had concealed foreign citizenship while participating in the election.

Karapetyan acknowledged that he was the person named in the documents and confirmed that he owns a stake in the company. However, he insisted the citizenship entry was incorrect, saying he is an Armenian citizen and has never held any foreign passport. To verify the claim, CivilNetCheck reviewed open and non-public sources and conducted additional research with the support of OCCRP partners.

The investigation found that while the MosPromExploitation records listed Karapetyan as a Russian citizen, documents from another Russian company in which he was a shareholder identified him as an Armenian citizen. Both records referred to the same individual using the same Russian taxpayer identification number.

The Russian registry entry was altered shortly after the controversy erupted. On May 19, Karapetyan’s citizenship was listed as Russian; by May 20, it had been changed to Armenian.

Narek Karapetyan’s citizenship information in the extract of MosPromExploitation LLC as of May 19 and May 20

The central finding of the review came from an examination of leaked Russian state and commercial databases conducted jointly with OCCRP partners. According to the investigation, no documents were found that independently confirmed Karapetyan held Russian citizenship. Instead, multiple records contained details of his Armenian passport and identified him either as a citizen of Armenia or as a foreign citizen residing in Russia.

Among the databases reviewed were records from Russia’s real estate registry and the Federal Bailiff Service. In both cases, Karapetyan was linked to Armenian identity documents rather than any Russian passport. The investigation also found that after 2020, when he became a shareholder in MosPromExploitation, other reviewed databases did not identify him as a Russian citizen.

CivilNetCheck and OCCRP concluded that the MosPromExploitation registry entry is the only document found so far that identifies Karapetyan as a Russian citizen. Across other registries, leaked databases, and supporting records examined during the investigation, no independent evidence was found to substantiate Russian citizenship. Instead, Karapetyan was consistently identified as an Armenian citizen or as a foreign citizen using Armenian identity documents.

The findings do not definitively explain why the Russian company registry contained a Russian citizenship entry. However, they cast doubt on claims that the registry document alone proves Karapetyan held Russian citizenship.

Read the full investigation in Armenian: Նարեկ Կարապետյանն ունեցել է արդյոք ՌԴ քաղաքացիություն․ արտահոսած տվյալների հետքով