“Before moving to the disputed territory, Vardanyan had been living in our country for more than 20 years and invested a lot of effort and money in its development. It is no exaggeration to say that it was thanks to him that the institute of social entrepreneurship appeared in Russia. Vardanyan became the one of founders of the Skolkovo School of Management and dozens of humanitarian projects. By the way, all his Russian initiatives work today, and he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in April.
Vardanyan repeatedly called Russia a key partner of Armenia and pointed to the leading role of the Russian Federation in the peaceful settlement of the situation in the South Caucasus. In addition, he spoke with great respect about the work of Russian peacekeepers and stated the need for their presence in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Today, when, according to Sergei Lavrov, Russian-Armenian relations have entered a stage of half-disintegration, such people like Ruben Vardanyan are simply necessary on the political stage. And I hope that he will be able to go free in order to reassemble our historical union”.