Russian-Armenian businessman Ruben Vardanyan, who is in Baku prison,  quits Atom car project 

ArmInfo. Former Artsakh State Minister and philanthropist Ruben Vardanyan, currently in prison in Baku, has withdrawn from the Atom electric vehicle project, selling his stake.

According to the Russian newspaper Kommersant, the businessman's 25%  stake in Voskhod LLC has been transferred to the company itself.  According to the newspaper, the remaining co-owners of the company  are KAMAZ PJSC CEO Sergey Kogogin and Spektr LLC.

The Russian publication also noted that the businessman had  previously resigned as a co-owner of KAMAZ PJSC in the fall of 2024.  "There are plans to launch serial production of the Atom electric  vehicle by the end of the year at the Moskvich plant. The estimated  cost of the vehicle is 3-4 million rubles (approximately 18 million  drams - ed.), excluding government support. However, most experts are  skeptical of the project due to the high price," the newspaper  concluded.

According to sources, Ruben Vardanyan has invested approximately $1  million in the project. The businessman became Kogogin's partner in  December 2021. Vardanyan then noted that the project had a bright  future.

As a reminder, renowned philanthropist and humanitarian Ruben  Vardanyan was detained by Azerbaijani authorities near the Hakari  Bridge on September 27, 2023, during the forced displacement of  thousands of Artsakh Armenians to Armenia and sent to a pretrial  detention center in Baku. From November 4, 2022, to February 23,  2023, Vardanyan served as State Minister of the unrecognized  Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.  After his resignation, he chose to remain  in Artsakh to share the hardships of the blockade with his people.