Ruben Vardanyan, a Russian billionaire of Armenian origin, decided to renounce his Russian citizenship and move to the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh. Ruben Vardanyan said he came to this decision knowing all the risks he might face. He will transfer all his assets in Russia to the family fund.

"It was a difficult but correct decision," Vardanyan said in a video statement on September 1. Vardanyan stated that after the Second Karabakh war between Azerbaijan and Armenia in 2020, many people in Nagorno-Karabakh started to feel abandoned. "I believe that after the 2020 war, the Armenians of the whole world should be together with Nagorno-Karabakh."

54-year-old Vardanyan was born in Yerevan. He is a former Executive Officer and Shareholder of Troika Dialog Investment Bank. In 2021, Forbes valued Vardanyan's assets at 1 billion dollars. Many oligarchs and businessmen have left Russia since Russia began its unprovoked war against Ukraine at the end of February. The West imposed sanctions on Russian tycoons close to the Kremlin after the invasion. Vardanyan made a name for himself by donating hundreds of millions of dollars to charity and investing in social investments. A journalistic investigation published in 2019 alleged that the Troika Dialog Investment Bank used fake trade deals and a complex network of offshore companies since 2006 to facilitate the laundering and tax evasion of billions of dollars originating from Russia.