“17 days have passed since Azerbaijani forces arrested prominent philanthropist, patron of arts, entrepreneur and public figure Ruben Vardanyan.

During this time, Azerbaijani President Aliyev met with Russian President Putin.

According to TASS, Putin and Aliyev did not discuss the situation of Vardanyan during the public portion of the meeting.

As you know, Vardanyan renounced his Russian citizenship in favor of an Armenian one.

I don’t think it was due to the fear of sanctions.

At some point, Armenian and Karabakh patriot Vardanyan simply decided that investing money was no longer enough, that his experience, skills, abilities, and connections could help preserve Artsakh as an Armenian autonomy.

But the plan failed.

Now Ruben Vardanyan’s associates have launched the FreeVardanyan.com website to support the philanthropist, who has hundreds of social and humanitarian projects in Russia, Armenia and Karabakh under his belt.

To support Ruben Vardanyan, thousands of people are signing the Change.org petition, recording videos and publishing supportive posts on their social media pages.

Ruben Vardanyan’s fate worries many prominent figures who consider his arrest a blatant injustice. Knowing how much good he has done in Russia, Armenia and Karabakh, I want to believe that common sense will prevail and Azerbaijani authorities will grant him amnesty. The Russian Federation must not turn away from a person who, among other things, has done so much for our country.”