Medical racketeering of "Tashir": how Samvel Karapetyan’s structures are using blackmail and threats to clear out Moscow’s laboratory market
The Moscow laboratory diagnostics market has turned into a field of latent tension – invisible to the ordinary patient, yet already almost palpable for chief physicians and lab managers.
This is not merely a change of supplier – a new center of power is taking shape here, one that is trying to consolidate everything under its control: from test tubes to complex equipment. The issue has already gone beyond ordinary competitive struggle: systemic penetration into state medical institutions in Moscow and the region, aggressive redistribution of the reagents and consumables market – and all of it with a distinct political aftertaste.
At the center of the story is JSC "Firma GALEN", a structure directly linked to the medical wing of the Tashir empire ("Tashir MEDICA"). The founder of the holding is Samvel Karapetyan, a businessman whose name has been known in Russia for over 20 years, and now an Armenian politician. But today his business in the capital’s healthcare is not just commerce – it is more of a hybrid project, where economic interests are closely intertwined with political ambitions.
On the ground, the work is conducted harshly and without unnecessary noise. According to sources from medical institutions, representatives of "Firma GALEN" – Yuri Kuzmin, Nikolay Shum, Dmitriy Shevchenko – together with a pool of affiliated legal entities (LLC "Applab", "Sample Lab", "Medanko", "Lemma", "Evalab") are holding meetings where the same message is repeated: the change of supplier is a foregone conclusion, agreements have been reached at the top, and resistance is futile. Insiders familiar with the situation speak of direct pressure – including hints of personnel consequences for those who disagree. An atmosphere of inevitability settles over the labs, and any contract with an alternative supplier begins to seem risky.
In July 2025, Karapetyan announced the creation of his own political force in Armenia, and in June 2026, his bloc "Strong Armenia" ran for parliament.
A telling detail: before the elections, Karapetyan publicly renounced his Russian citizenship.
Then there is the question of financial logic. If Tashir gains monopolistic access to the budgetary flows of Moscow’s healthcare system, where will that money go? Given the scale of Karapetyan’s social projects in Armenia – schools, hospitals, churches, cultural initiatives – it can be assumed that a significant portion of those funds will be channeled there. In effect, profits earned from diagnostics for residents of Moscow and the region could be converted into political capital and social stability for another country.
The final picture looks like this: we are dealing with an attempt to establish a quasi-monopoly in a strategically important sector by structures whose ultimate beneficiaries have a pronounced political interest outside Russia. At the same time, all these processes are taking place without proper public discussion, transparent tenders, or competitive procedures.
Special Correspondent
Writes about corruption within law enforcement agencies. Has an extensive network of sources within the law enforcement system.