Alexander Avanesov. Former Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan can join the council directors of the Russian ''Zarubezhneft'' company.This was reported by the newspaper Kommersant on October 25.

According to the source, this appointment can be both a political gesture and a consequence of Karen Karapetyan's long career in Russian state-owned companies in 2000-2010. Russia has previously invited loyal politicians from abroad: for example, German former chancellor Gerhard Schroder is on the board of directors of Rosneft. According to the newspaper's sources, Karen Karapetyan can take the place of an independent director who is currently occupied by Hrayr Simonyan, advisor to the head of Inter RAO Boris Kovalchuk. Zarubezhneft and the Federal Property Management Agency did not respond promptly to the request. The representative of the Deputy Prime Minister for Fuel and Energy Dmitry Kozak Ilya Dzhus told Kommersant that the directive on the appointment did not come out, but did not deny its possible preparation.

Karen Karapetyan became the Armenian Prime Minister in September 2016, when Serzh Sargsyan was the country's President, and finally left the government this spring after the mass protests that brought Nikol Pashinyan to power. At the end of June, Karen Karapetyan also withdrew from the leadership of the Republican Party of Armenia, whose chairman is Serzh Sargsyan. After the May events in Armenia in the public policy, the former Premier was not noticed, about any claims to him by the new government is unknown.

"Karapetyan is well-known in business circles in Russia, and he could have received such a proposal (to join Zarubezhneft's Board. -" Kommersant ")," the source's correspondent added, "Karen Karapetyan's friends are Russian friends businessmen Ruben Vardanyan and Samvel Karapetyan (owner of the Tashir holding, not a relative of the former prime minister). Karen Karapetyan has extensive experience in Russian companies, in particular, in the fuel and energy sector. In 2011-2012, he was the first vice-president of Gazprombank, since 2012 – deputy general director for strategy and development of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz, in 2015, he became deputy general director for international projects of Gazprom Energoholding. In the 2000s he headed the structure of Gazprom in Armenia ArmRosgazprom. Sources from the Gazprom system characterized Mr. Karapetyan as a man of "very energetic" and with an "innovative spirit", but impulsive, and noted that he had good relations with Gazprom's board member Kirill Seleznev.

Zarubezhneft is a relatively small oil company against the background of industry leaders in the Russian Federation. In 2017, it produced 5.3 million tons of oil equivalent, the main assets are located in the Russian Federation and in Vietnam. In this case, the board of directors of six people traditionally includes former major officials. So, it is headed by the ex-head of the FSO Yevgeny Murov, and already this year the ex-minister of transport Maxim Sokolov joined the council. The membership in the board of directors of Zarubezhneft is well paid: the amount of remuneration in 2017 amounted to 38.8 million rubles. Artur Shamilov from TopContact believes that the inclusion of Karen Karapetyan on the board of directors of "Zarubezhneft" should be interpreted as recognition of the development of bilateral cooperation. Trying to build good relations with the new government of Armenia, the government of the Russian Federation gives a signal to the Armenian elites that they do not forget the previous political leaders, he said. This is a consistent policy, adds Mr. Shamilov, citing the example of German ex-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who is on the board of directors of Rosneft.