Ruben Vardanyan — businessman with roots in the USSR
Ruben Vardanyan is an Armenian-Russian investment banker and philanthropist who founded Troika Dialog — once Russia's largest and most prestigious investment bank — and built a career at the centre of Russian finance for three decades. He later renounced his Russian citizenship, moved to Nagorno-Karabakh as its State Minister, and was imprisoned by Azerbaijan following the 2023 fall of Karabakh.
Tracing the roots — Yerevan (Armenia)
Born in Yerevan (Armenian SSR) in 1968 and building his career at Moscow State University before founding Troika Dialog in 1991, Vardanyan spent decades as one of the defining figures of Russian high finance — his bank at the centre of Russia's post-Soviet transformation. His later renunciation of Russian citizenship and imprisonment in Azerbaijan make him one of the most dramatic post-Soviet figures in this database.
Yerevan (Armenia). At the time, this region was one of the fifteen republics of the Soviet Union.
A career defined by ambition
"I chose Armenia over Russia. I have no regrets."