Russia seeks to revive its assets in Armenia, Kocharyan says

By Lia Avagyan

Russia’s state property agency has urged conglomerate Sistema to resume management of two major industrial assets in Armenia — the Mars factory and part of the Mergelyan Institute complex — Armenia’s former president Robert Kocharyan said on Thursday during a press conference.

Kocharyan said the request came from Russia’s Federal Agency for State Property Management (Rosimushchestvo), adding that the facilities are owned by the Russian state rather than by Sistema or its subsidiaries.

According to Kocharyan, a management contract between Rosimushchestvo and Sistema expired in 2023, after which the company exited Armenia. Russian authorities have now encouraged the group to take back operational control of the enterprises, he said.

“The assets are not owned by Sistema; they are state property,” Kocharyan told reporters, adding that he no longer holds a management role in the company but retains a small shareholding from his years on its board.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan later confirmed that the discussions concern a possible investment program aimed at reviving production facilities that have long remained underutilized. He said he had earlier raised the issue with Russian officials, noting that parts of the sites were being used mainly as storage facilities.

Russian billionaire Vladimir Yevtushenkov, owner of Sistema, met with Pashinyan in Yerevan last week, though it remains unclear whether ownership or management arrangements have formally changed.

The Mars factory and several research institutes were transferred to Russia in 2002 under the controversial “property-for-debt” agreement between Armenia and Russia, which settled roughly $95 million in Armenian state debt accumulated in the 1990s. In exchange, Armenia handed over ownership of several strategic industrial assets, including the Mars electronics complex and research institutions in Yerevan. Management of these facilities has since periodically been assigned to Russian companies, including Sistema subsidiary Sitronics, while debate continues in Armenia over the long-term economic impact of the deal.