Deputy PM promises special law for nationalization of power grid as company questions legal justification 

By Lia Avagyan

Armenia will move forward with a special legislative act to nationalize its main power distribution company, the Electricity Networks of Armenia (ENA), Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan said on Tuesday, speaking to Factor TV.

"I can assure you there will be a special law through which ENA will be nationalized," Grigoryan told Factor TV. "All possible actions are already defined in law, particularly in the Energy Law, which outlines the government's rights in dealing with critical infrastructure."

Grigoryan emphasized that the government's actions would remain within constitutional and legal bounds and dismissed investor concerns. "The government will not act outside the Constitution or legal framework. Any investor understands this," he said. "We are talking about critical infrastructure, and the Energy Law answers all these questions."

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan first announced the government's intention to nationalize ENA on June 24, a day after Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, owner of ENA's parent company Tashir Group, publicly backed the Armenian Apostolic Church and Catholicos Garegin II. Pashinyan's attack on the Catholicos began after the latter participated in a conference in Switzerland in late May regarding the rights of Artsakh Armenians - an issue that is not part of the current Armenian government's agenda. Pashinyan has demanded the Catholicos' resignation and questioned his oath of celibacy. Karapetyan’s statement was followed by a police search of his Yerevan residence, arrest and two-month pre-trial detention.

In a separate interview published by Factor TV the same day, ENA Deputy Director David Ghazinyan said the company had received no formal notice from the government and warned that there was no legal justification for nationalization.

"There are no grounds for nationalization," Ghazinyan told Factor TV. "Even if the law allows it in principle, you still need actual justification. What are we being accused of?"

Ghazinyan noted that since Tashir Group acquired ENA from Russia's Inter RAO in 2015, the company had made significant improvements. "If the public knew the state the company was in when we took over, they would better understand our progress," he said. "Perhaps we made a mistake by not publicizing how bad things were."

ENA currently employs around 7,000 people, and Ghazinyan said most of them view the current developments negatively. He also warned of reputational damage to Armenia's investment climate. "What will other investors think if the government can just seize a company? Before nationalization, there should be a series of clear procedures. Are we a state governed by law or not?"

He also dismissed recent electricity disruptions caused by weather conditions as insufficient justification: "We respond quickly to outages caused by wind or heat. That cannot be used as a legal basis for nationalization."

Grigoryan responded that Armenia's legal system already provides for such possibilities under specific conditions. "If you want to understand potential scenarios, I suggest reviewing the Energy Law," he said. "It clearly defines what actions the government can take."

Also read: Pashinyan says Armenia’s power grid nationalization plan ready amid crackdown on its owner