The Moscow Connection

by Suren Musayelyan At the age of 25 she already has an impressive career in TV journalism, becoming a role model for journalists in Russia and far beyond. And she is a presidential-appointed boss. Commencing as a reporter for a provincial TV company in Southern Russia, Margarita Simonian later became a correspondent for the Russian state-run TV company Rossiya in Krasnodar and then moved to Moscow to work as a Kremlin correspondent.

by Suren Deheryan Armen Kazarian, 53, has been president of the Moscow branch of Anelik Bank for 10 years and is the founder of the Anelik money transfer system. Yet he doesn’t consider himself a banker. Armen Kazarian has also released 11 musical CD's. Yet he does not consider himself a professional singer. He is, then, “The Singer Banker”. “I don’t look like a banker,” says Kazarian. Maybe he looks like “K-Armen”, the stage name by which he has released 1.2 million CD copies over the past three years—as many as successful Russian pop stars.

by Suren Deheryan and Arpi Harutyunyan After shutting down as a victim of post-Soviet fallout, Armenal aluminum plant reopened in late 2005 with a $100 million Russian-based investment, and a year of large-scale renovation that should make it one of the three largest foil-producing factories in the Commonwealth of Independent States by 2008.

vby Arpi Harutyunyan According to official government information, Russia’s investment in independent Armenia reached $407 million late last year. It is not so much the total that has drawn economists’ attention, but the sharp increase of business investment in the most recent three or four years. In 2004 and 2005, for example, Russian investment in Armenia exceeded $100 million—one fourth of their 14-year post-Soviet economic involvement.

by Suren Deheryan & Suren Musayelyan Senik Gevorkian, 62, has lived in Moscow for 13 years. The Zakneftegazstroy-Prometey (ZNGS-Prometey) company that he headed for nearly two decades was one of the first entities in the former Soviet Union to be privatized in 1990.

by Suren Deheryan Three years ago a group of Armenian actors formed the Moscow Armenian Theater, and already some have been cast in popular Russian feature films. The theater was created by the “Ya” studio under the management of director Slava Stepanian. Housed in the Embassy of Armenia and on Armyanski Piriulok (Armenian Lane) in Moscow, the theater has staged plays by Armenian, Spanish, French and American writers.

by Gayane Mkrtchyan, Suren Deheryan and Suren Musayelyan While headlines are made over the high-dollar investments that join Armenia and Russia ever tighter, less noted but nonetheless significant connections are regularly being made on the level of small and medium businesses. In fact, the number of such businesses is enough to warrant the formation of a council, with the sole purpose of assisting the development of trade between the two countries.

by Suren Deheryan Luxury jewelry in Russia has an Armenian connection, and not just because Moscow, and now Yerevan, are home to high-end boutiques. The link in the chain of gold is made by the Papian family, who expanded their Louvre jewelry franchise to Yerevan in 2002. Rafael Papian, 34, is one of the founders of the Louvre brand name’s presence in Moscow—one of the two largest networks engaged in the sale of famous Italian, French, Swiss and other European brands of luxury items.

by Suren Deheryan & Suren Musayelyan The Moscow business journal Profile recently named Garegin Tosunian the sixth most influential financier in Russia, and the only Armenian in the top 10. The 50-year-old, who in 2002 was elected president of the Association of Russian Banks (ARB) says ratings don’t impress him, and he attributes the accolade to the fact that he never refuses to speak to the media. Born in Yerevan, Tosunian moved to Moscow in 1971 to study at Moscow State University, where he earned a PhD in physics and then a doctorate in law.

by Haroutiun Khachatrian And even after they were disjoined in December 1991, their economies remained linked though politics separated them. While still learning what it meant to be an “independent” republic, Armenia was doing its best to preserve connections inside the “united economy space” of the former Soviet Union. Like a suckling untrained for self-survival, Armenia (as well as other suddenly-single republics) had little choice but to maintain the only lifeline it had known for 70 years.

by Suren Musayelyan When journalism student Aram Gabrelyanov spent hours reading foreign newspapers and magazines in a special KGB depository in 1984, little did he know that two decades later he would head Russia’s top-selling newspaper copying the style and design of a racy British tabloid. Gabrelyanov (Gabrielian), 45, is now the owner and editor-in-chief of Zhizn (Life) newspaper, a daily newspaper selling 150,000 copies each day and a weekly edition with a circulation of some two million in 56 cities of Russia.

by Julia Hakobyan In early January, gas supplies from Russia to Georgia and on to Armenia were cut off by mysterious explosions that destroyed a section of pipeline. Gas for Georgia was diverted from Azerbaijan, while Armenia was forced to live off reserves from its 90 million cubic meter reservoir for nine days. Georgia’s President Mikhail Saakashvili blamed the Russians for the crisis, calling the explosions an act of terror. An investigation later concluded that the pipes had burst due to mechanical malfunction.