Apparently, the Russian organization Virtus.Pro has a new Armenian CEO named Aram Karamanukyan, seemingly trying to circumvent sanctions against Russian organizations. After Russia attacked Ukraine, many tournament organizers also flew the flag and banned Russian teams from their events, Virtus.pro was hit particularly hard and is now trying to come back.
Not much is known about the Armenian CEO, if you search him on the internet you will find his Twitter account with 80 followers and two tweets. He calls himself “New CEO and Investor”.
According to the official Virtus.pro website, he comes from the construction and hotel industry. VP refers to the tragic events in Armenia and says that due to these circumstances, the CEO will be properly introduced at times.
Mysterious circumstances
That’s all well and good at first, but if you know the ownership structure behind VP, it quickly becomes clear that the announcement wasn’t exactly flawless. Namely, Virtus.pro is operated by ESForce Holding, which was bought by Mail.ru in 2018, which in turn was rebranded to VKontakte, the Russian equivalent of Facebook. These companies would not only have to announce the change in their management positions on social media, as is often done in the amateur sector but also via the public channels of the economic supervisory authorities, commercial registers, and the like.
Everything was still good here:
“Manager of @virtuspro Roman @dvoryrom Dvoryankin attends esports conference #ESILondon and talked about how to build, develop and motivate a team to win.”
Генеральный менеджер @virtuspro Роман @dvoryrom Дворянкин посетил киберспортивную конференцию #ESILondon и рассказал о том, как строить, развивать и мотивировать команду на победы. 🏆
Подробнее: https://t.co/oiOa3PoTfm pic.twitter.com/0bihSFBLSU
— ESforce Holding (@EsforceHolding) September 19, 2018
Connections to Putin and Russia
Virtus.pro also has ties to Putin through this involvement with ESForce Holding and VKontakte.com and Mail.RU respectively, as Gazprom gained control of VKontakte through a series of deals in December 2021. Gazprom is a state company and is therefore also subject to the Russian government, i.e. Putin. Therefore, the sanctions against Virtus.pro and ESForce Holding are more than understandable.
The suspicion that the change of CEO only serves to avoid these sanctions is probably justified. Perhaps, ESForce Holding sees no future in the Russian esports market and simply wants to sell the Virtus.pro brand to investors outside of Russia as profitably as possible. Cloud9 grabbed the old CS:GO line-up from Gambit after the start of the war.
NaVi leaves ESForce early
The Cloud9 deal was under the microscope for a long time and was criticized because money probably flowed to Russia via a Scandinavian company. In line with their Ukrainian roots, Natus Vincere also broke away directly from ESForce Holding, to which they belonged before the invasion, thereby cutting all ties to the Russian state and Putin.
— NAVI (@natusvincere) March 1, 2022
Perhaps the old Virtus.pro owners are now trying to continue under the Armenian flag, but in order to do so, they would probably have to break away from ESForce Holding just like their Ukrainian rivals. In addition, it is questionable whether the esports world will soon forget who is actually behind the name.
Header: Virtus.pro
