Veronika Zonabend: Ignoring nationals` fate unconstitutional

ArmInfo. Philanthropist and Noodome co-founder Veronika Zonabend spoke about what happened after the arrest of her husband, Ruben Vardanyan, in 2023, how she now  manages their family affairs and charitable projects, and what  efforts she is making to secure his release. She shared all of this  in an interview with Forbes Woman.

Ruben Vardanyan and his family rank 3002nd in the Forbes global  ranking, with a net worth of $1.3 billion. One of the founders of the  Russian stock market and the creator of the investment company Troika  Dialog, Vardanyan sold the company to Sberbank in 2011 and focused  his efforts on developing social and charitable projects. A co-author  and supporter of Ruben Vardanyan's humanitarian initiatives, his  wife, Veronika Zonabend, is an aeronautical engineer by training and  studied at the Moscow Aviation Institute.  Vardanyan and Zonabend  have been married since 1993.

As Veronika Zonabend told Forbes Woman, over 30 years, Ruben  Vardanyan and his family, along with like-minded individuals from  around the world, have invested approximately $1.5 billion in  humanitarian and educational projects. In 2022, Ruben Vardanyan  renounced his Russian citizenship and was appointed State Minister of  the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. But in 2023, he was detained by  Azerbaijani security forces, and in February 2026, he was sentenced  to 20 years in prison "for financing terrorism, creating illegal  armed groups, and planning and waging an aggressive war." Following  his arrest, Veronika Zonabend assumed control of all of the family's  charitable projects.

Zonabend said she last saw her husband in the fall of 2022 in  Stepanakert, when she and her youngest son visited him. "And  literally two weeks later, the blockade began, preventing anyone from  entering or leaving. Essential goods stopped arriving. By the end of  the nine-month blockade, famine had effectively set in. And if it  weren't for Ruben, who managed to introduce a rationing system,  organize mobile ambulance crews, and free canteens, there would have  been even more casualties," she noted.

According to her, when Azerbaijani troops entered the area in  September 2023, a mass exodus began, and it became clear there was no  hope. "And Ruben was illegally detained at a border post in the  Lachin corridor.  That was on September 27, 2023. Almost a year  later. After Ruben was arrested, while the Red Cross was there (the  Azerbaijani government closed the Red Cross office on September 3,  2025 - Forbes Woman), they visited the prisoners once a month and  recorded video footage. That means we could see Ruben on video every  three weeks. And we could record messages for him. There has been no  video communication for over a year. Only recently, through a lawyer,  I was able to send photographs of our granddaughters, who were born  while Ruben was in prison. Our eldest granddaughter is already two  years old, and our youngest will be three months old. The ability to  forgive, the ability to love, and the ability to be generous give  meaning to our lives," Vardanyan's wife added.

Touching upon the international women's humanitarian delegation she  initiated, which will travel to Baku in September, Zonabend noted  that the initiative's goal is purely humanitarian: to meet with the  Ombudsman of the Republic of Azerbaijan, visit Armenian citizens held  in Azerbaijan, and hand them letters, photographs, and permitted  personal items from their relatives.

"The Azerbaijani side acknowledges that 19 Armenian convicts are  currently in prison, some of whom have been there since 2020. No one  has seen them in all these years, and no one knows their condition.  Many of them are ordinary soldiers, and they have had no chance to  contact their families. Many more are missing.  No one knows the fate  of the rest. After the closure of the Red Cross, there is no longer  reliable information. My desire is to take a humanitarian step. In  all cultures, the image of women is associated with motherhood,  humanism, and life. Our call is to allow people to preserve their  human dignity and receive human treatment," she said.

In her words, every person deserves to be treated as a human being,  not to be humiliated. "Many wives and mothers have already responded  to my call to go to Baku. But everyone is asking about safety.  Judging by the way the trials in Azerbaijan were conducted and the  charges against the prisoners, anyone who has ever visited  Nagorno-Karabakh could be arrested. One of the charges at the trials  was illegal border crossing.  However, according to the trilateral  ceasefire agreement in Nagorno-Karabakh signed on November 9, 2020,  by Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia, Azerbaijan guaranteed unimpeded  and safe passage to Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia through the Lachin  corridor, where Ruben was detained. I have sent letters to several  international organizations," Vardanyan's wife said.

She said that she first contacted Azerbaijani Ombudsman Sabina  Aliyeva, who, in a conversation with Ruben, expressed her willingness  to help organize the visit, but so far there has been no response.

"I sent a letter to the Prime Minister of Armenia. In April 2026,  Ruben appealed to the Armenian Ombudsman, Anahit Manasyan, urging her  to come to Baku and visit Armenian prisoners along with their  relatives, with the support of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

The Armenian Human Rights Commissioner responded to Ruben that she  did not have such authority; a trip to Azerbaijan was not within her  purview. Then, in May, Ruben contacted the Prime Minister of Armenia  asking who was responsible for organizing the protection and support  of Armenian citizens imprisoned in Azerbaijan. Ruben never received  answers to his questions. I believe that ignoring the fate of one's  citizens is unconstitutional. According to the constitution, the  government must first and foremost care for the fate of its citizens.  I wrote to Mirjana Spoljaric-Egger, President of the International  Committee of the Red Cross, and Kaja Kallas, High Representative of  the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, asking  them to facilitate the delegation. For the Azerbaijani side, our  delegation is an opportunity to demonstrate genuine goodwill. "I'm  asking for the most basic things: to see my loved ones, to deliver  packages with essentials, letters, and photographs," she continued.

She also reported that Vardanyan's family had filed a complaint with  the ECHR regarding procedural violations. She added that the text of  the verdict was obtained with a significant delay. "International  defense lawyers were not allowed into the trial. The President of  Azerbaijan said that the trial in the Baku Military Court against the  former leadership of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic was a Nuremberg  Trial.  But the Nuremberg Trials featured defense lawyers chosen by  the defendants themselves, an international tribunal, an  international prosecution, and observers. Nothing of the sort took  place in Baku, nor was any evidence presented against Ruben. The  trial was declared open, but not a single international observer was  allowed in. International lawyers were not allowed in. Ruben's lawyer  was unable to visit him or speak with him. Only a local Azerbaijani  lawyer was allowed to see him, who, by definition, could not be  independent.  The proceedings and court hearings were conducted in  Azerbaijani. There was translation into Russian, but it's unclear how  adequate it was. The minutes of the hearings were not provided. And  when the lawyer was able to see them, he discovered a number of  factual errors. The court didn't even bother to verify the facts,"  Vardanyan's wife continued.

According to her, Ruben is accused of absurd crimes, all but  infanticide-41 charges in total, under 19 articles. Zonabend is  certain that all Armenians held in Baku were subjected to collective  responsibility and tried for wanting to speak their own language,  practice their own religion, and live by their own traditions in  Nagorno-Karabakh. "This is blatant xenophobia. They were tried for  their politics under criminal law.  But the criminal trial was  conducted in violation of even Azerbaijani law, not to mention  international law.  Therefore, Ruben declared that he will not  support this farce. The children believe he treated the family  unfairly. Yes. But these are the laws of life," she added.

When asked whether Vardanyan's family had developed a plan B,  Zonabend emphasized that they must be prepared for anything. Touching  on the resources needed today to change the situation, Vardanyan's  wife noted that it is absolutely necessary to increase the  international community's attention to this issue.