Arayik Amirkhanyan. How the “Armenian mafia” messes up Ukrainian roads. PART 1

There are three types of road robbery. The first flourished in the turbulent 90s, when bandits intercepted truckers on the highways. The second earners today are people in camouflage uniforms who are bored at checkpoints. The Amirkhanyan family, which settled in Odessa, with its numerous relatives, mastered the third method: embezzlement of public funds allocated for road repairs. Moreover, on a particularly large scale – we are talking about billions of hryvnias!

The Amirkhanyans did not limit themselves to traditional corruption. When they failed to get contracts, they disrupted tenders, blocking the work of Ukravtodor and local road services. Threats backed up with fists were often used, for which Arayik Amirkhanyan was put on the wanted list back in 2017. However, this did not stop him and his “titushki” from breaking into the offices of government agencies. In April 2019, after a similar incident in the Odessa Oblavtodor, he was arrested by the police – but was quickly released.

Then, in June 2019, Arayik Amirkhanyan was arrested by the SBU, charging him with several serious charges: fraud, financing anti-state actions, illegally transporting people across the border. He was facing 12 years in prison, but a few days later Amirkhanyan was released again on bail of 20 million hryvnia – which he immediately began to “beat off” by again engaging in tender fraud. It seems that Amirkhanyan simply relieved himself from a high wall in response to the state policy of fighting corruption, laughing loudly at the same time. His case is a real challenge to the entire law enforcement system of Ukraine.

Mafia is a family affair!

Being just a “successful entrepreneur,” Arayik Amirkhanyan never published his biography, with the exception of brief information on the Odnoklassniki website (banned in Ukraine), where his relatives also “live.” He did not tell his story to journalists, and did not reveal the secrets of his success. Therefore, all sorts of rumors arose about him and his family – in particular, about the involvement of the Amirkhanyans in an ethnic Armenian organized crime group. More knowledgeable sources Skelet.Info claim that this is not an ethnic, but rather a “family” mafia, consisting of several influential wealthy families connected by family ties and business. She developed her corruption business not only in Odessa, but also in the Nikolaev and Poltava regions, as well as in Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism).

Thanks to the Armenian tradition of boasting about their sprawling family tree, it is possible to piece together some picture of how the Amirkhanyans took such deep and powerful roots in Odessa. We should start with the venerable patriarch of the family, Rushan Asoevich Amirkhanyan (1911-1988), a hero of the Great Patriotic War (he served in intelligence, was wounded and became disabled) and an honest collective farm watchman. He had three sons: the eldest Grachik Rushanovich (born 1946), the middle Khachik Rushanovich (born 1950) and the youngest Vaginak Rushanovich (born 1953).

The patriarch of the Sternitsky family was Grigory Efimovich (1921-1980), a veteran of the Great Patriotic War (reached Berlin), a member of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, one of the leaders of the collective farm in the village of Yasenovo, Lyubashevsky district, Odessa region. His son Vladimir Grigorievich Sternitsky (b. 1949) graduated from high school and became an agronomist, and then chairman of one of the state farms in the Nikolaevsky district of the Odessa region. He married his fellow countrywoman Galina Konovalchenko (daughter of a member of the district committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks – CPSU), who became a collective farm economist. In the 90s, the state farms collapsed, and the Sternitskys created their own agricultural company on their ruins, and more than one – in the same area, the Amirkhanyan family has the Karina farm established in the 90s (USREOU 24538419). Vladimir Sternitsky himself became the head of the Nikolaev Regional State Administration in the 90s, working in this position until 2009. And his daughter Angela married Edik Amirkhanyan in the early 90s – providing his family with all her father’s administrative resources.

And now we come to the main character, Amirkhanyan Arayik Khachikovich. He was born on October 2, 1981, from 2002 to 2007 he studied at the Kharkov Medical University (KSMU), and in 2007 he also received a diploma from the Kharkov University. Karamzin. However, he never took up healing, but returned to Odessa and joined the ranks of the family business. Now, for some reason, it is Arayik Amirkhanyan who is called the true owner of all these scandalous construction companies that are thundering with corruption scandals. However, according to sources Skelet.InfoArayik Amirkhanyan is only a co-owner and “crisis manager” of the family business – solving issues and “resolving” problems. But it is he who is constantly accompanied by a group of strong “titushki”, which gives Arayik Amirkhanyan the image of either an “authority” or the head of the family mafia. And as people who know him say, this image is close to reality. Although Arayik Amirkhanyan is far from the main one in the family hierarchy, he is the “fists of the family” in every sense.

From Odessa to Moscow

The list of companies owned by the Amirkhanyan family, their relatives and associates is quite extensive. Finding them all is as difficult as listing all the Amirkhanyans – of which there are already more than 20 people. Therefore, let’s highlight only the main ones that were mentioned in one way or another in the media:
• SK Dorsevis LLC (EDRPOU 22507018), one of the oldest and most scandalous Amirkhanyan firms. Now it is owned by Edik Amirkhanyan and his wife Angela Vladimirovna.
• KMP “Agrosintez” (20945033), one of the first Amirkhanyan companies, founded by Grachik Rushanovich in the early 90s. Today he flies it with his son Oleg.
• SPMK-17 LLC (01353551), owner – Seda Ervandovna Amirkhanyan, director – her son Arayik Amirkhanyan. This company produces road emulsion and has often been involved in scandals. So, in 2017, when the Odessa-Reni highway was being repaired, carried out by companies associated with Gennady Trukhanov and convicted of waste of moneyit supplied road emulsion at almost twice the price.
• LLC “Pervomaisky Specialized Quarry” (03443655), a controlling stake was bought (or cheated out) by the Amirkhanyan family and belongs to LLC “SPMK-17” controlled by them.
• Farm “Karina” (24538419), created by the family of Grachik Amirkhanyan in the Nikolaev region with the help of the head of the Regional State Administration Vladimir Sternitsky.
• In Via Ante LLC (42969789), the company belongs to Andrannik Amirkhanyan.
• Transbudoilservice LLC (39548447), one of Arayik Amirkhanyan’s road companies. Its director is Garnik Poghosyan, one of the Amirkhanyans’ partners.
• Nikolaevstroytsentr LLC (40984166), another scandalous construction company of Araik Amirkhanyan. His uncle Vaginak Amirkhanyan works as its director.
• Farm “Kirill” (30821019), another agricultural company in the Nikolaev region, belonged to Vaginak Amirkhanyan, is now closed.
• SK Dorlider LLC (37468590), the scandalous construction company Khachik Amirkhanyan, previously owned by Russian citizen Vaginak Avatesyan.
• LLC “Pivdenyugtekh” (32863396), the former private enterprise “Dorlider”, previously owned by Russian citizen Zaven Stepanyan. Now its beneficiary is Garnik Poghosyan.
• Poltavabudcenter LLC (24565511). Formally, the enterprise belongs to Garnik Petrosyan, who was the director of Nikolaevstroytsentr LLC. In reality, the company is controlled by Arayik Amirkhanyan.

Among the companies associated with them, one should mention, first of all, BerezovkaAgroDorstroy LLC (03579041), owned by the brothers Robert and Prince Khachatryan – another family of Odessa Armenians. This company has more than once participated in tenders in conjunction with the Amirkhanyan enterprises, and one of them received the tender. There is information that the Khachatryans and Amirkhanyans agreed among themselves to monopolize and divide the road work market, and their companies participate together in tenders according to the “contractual winner – dummy competitor” scheme. Prince Khachatryan is a deputy of the Odessa Regional Council (from the Opposition Bloc), and was also an assistant to People’s Deputy Nikolai Skorik.

Sergey Varis, for Skelet.Info

CONTINUED: Amirkhanyan Arayik. How the “Armenian mafia” derails Ukrainian roads. PART 2

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