The Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC) ordered the government earlier this week to stop the ongoing seizure of the Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA) company pending its consideration of an appeal filed by Karapetian’s Tashir Group. The body said the authorities in Yerevan must specifically refrain from confiscating ENA from Tashir, changing ENA’s top management or revoking its parent company’s operating license.
The authorities made clear that they will not comply with the restraining order unless it is upheld by an Armenian court. Accordingly, they refused to reverse the appointment of a senior member of the ruling Civil Contract party, Romanos Petrosian, as ENA’s “interim manager.”
Petrosian installed several new senior executives of the power provider late on Thursday. They include the company’s sales director, chef financial officer and the head of its internal security service. Like Petrosian, none of them is known to have worked in the energy sector before.
Armenia - Romanos Petrosian talks to journalists outside the ENA headquarters in Yerevan, July 21, 2025.
As of Friday evening, Tashir did not say how it will respond to the government’s clear defiance of the arbitration order. According to some legal experts, it can use the order to ask foreign courts to freeze Armenia’s assets. Karapetian and his family warned late last month that they would seek “full compensation” for the loss of the Russian-Armenian tycoon’s biggest asset in his native country.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian pledged to “quickly” nationalize ENA on June 18 hours after Karapetian was arrested in Yerevan following his strong criticism of the premier’s campaign against the Armenian Apostolic Church. The Armenian parliament controlled by Civil Contract hastily approved on July 2 a bill allowing the government to “temporarily” take over ENA’s management before nationalizing the company or changing its owner.
Opposition lawmakers denounced the bill as unconstitutional. They also said ENA’s seizure would scare away major foreign investors who have already shown little interest in the South Caucasus nation during Pashinian’s seven-year rule.
The bill allows a government takeover even before Armenia’s Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) rules on government allegations that Tashir has mismanaged the electricity distribution network. The supposedly independent regulatory body is headed by another political ally of Pashinian.
Tashir, which is headquartered in Moscow, has dismissed the allegations, saying that they are part of Pashinian’s politically motivated crackdown on Karapetian. Earlier this month, the latter was also charged with tax evasion, fraud and money laundering after pledging to set up a new opposition group that will strive to unseat Pashinian. He denies these accusations as well.