Ten years ago, in September 2013, I received a call from Ruben Vardanyan.

- Carlos Ghosn is in Armenia. If you want, you can interview him, I have his prior consent.

I knew that Ruben had broad international ties, but it was still hard to believe that the legendary Carlos Ghosn, Chairman and CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, was in Yerevan at his invitation. Born in Brazil and having a Lebanese origin, Ghosn gained worldwide recognition after lifting Nissan out of a deep crisis with a tough cost-cutting program.

At the time it was Ruben Vardanyan’s Troika-Dialog that attracted Renault-Nissan to invest in AvtoVAZ.

I interviewed Carlos Ghosn, who, in particular, said:

“It has been a while since I wanted to visit Armenia and this was a great occasion as I was invited by my friend Ruben Vardanyan. I am of Lebanese origin - there is a strong Armenian community in Lebanon and I was already familiar with the Armenian food, habits and the language. I also have a lot of Armenian friends in many countries.”

Five years after that interview, in November 2018, world media reported about the detention of Carlos Ghosn in Japan. Next March, he was released on bail, and in December 2019, Carlos Ghosn was secretly transported to Lebanon on a private jet from Tokyo, hiding in a musical instrument case.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to imagine Ruben Vardanian to be able to escape from the Baku prison with the help of such a trick. We can only hope that Carlos Ghosn and other people having world recognition and influence will do their best to help Ruben.

Ara Tadevosyan is the Director of Mediamax.