A Soviet-born US investor with ties to President Donald Trump’s administration plans to expand his copper investments in Armenia and is betting on a broader opening of the region as Washington moves to strengthen its economic presence.

“The peace memorandum signed between Armenia and Azerbaijan represents a once-in-a-lifetime transformational event for the region,” Konstantin Sokolov, who bought Armenia’s second-largest copper producer in September, said in an interview. “I have a great interest in expanding throughout the region, because I strongly believe in its potential as a whole.”

The accord signed at the White House in August last year pledged an end to decades of conflict over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous enclave internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but formerly populated mainly by ethnic Armenians. It paved the way for greater US involvement in the South Caucasus, including through a proposed transit corridor called the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity.

The TRIPP corridor will be jointly managed by Armenia and an American company, as the US expands its influence in the Caucasus and Central Asia by boosting trade, securing critical minerals and building economic ties with regions long dominated by Russia and China.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is due to lead a delegation comprising dozens of US companies to Uzbekistan this month to meet with businesses and officials from Central Asia and Azerbaijan to boost commercial links.

Sokolov’s acquisition of copper producer Teghut CJSC aligns with the US push, and he has emerged as a figure associated with the Trump administration’s efforts in the region.

The 51-year-old this year became chairman of the Transcaspian Enterprise Fund, a US-backed nonprofit investment vehicle aimed at attracting private capital to infrastructure and business projects. With $201 million in US government financing, the fund will focus on developing TRIPP and the broader Trans-Caspian trade corridor, covering Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and all five Central Asian nations.

Sokolov said he and other board members receive no compensation for their roles. The fund’s leadership was selected for its private equity experience as well as knowledge of the region and sectors in which it plans to invest, he said.

Before he purchased the Armenian copper mine, the tycoon already owned a stake in the country’s largest mobile operator, Viva Armenia, which he bought in 2024. He said he began spotting opportunities in the country of about 3.1 million people in late 2021, believing it was on the verge of an economic breakthrough.

Sokolov faced competition from Russian and Chinese companies to acquire Teghut from the Moscow-based VTB Bank PJSC, but said his firm came out on top with a $228.5 million bid.

He received clearance from the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to buy the mine from the sanctioned Russian lender.

Teghut has an annual capacity of about 80,000 tonnes of concentrate and began production in 2014. It was developed by a local businessman with financing from VTB Bank, which took over the asset in 2018 and put it up for sale after the owner struggled to repay its loans.

Most of the output has been sold to China so far. Sokolov plans to redirect it to the US through new trading contracts when the existing take-off agreement expires in December.

“One of the main objectives of this transaction was to make Armenia’s critical mineral resources available to US supply chains,” he said.

Sokolov plans to increase annual production to 120,000–130,000 tonnes of copper concentrate, containing about 26,000–28,000 tonnes of copper. New capacity is expected to come online in 2030 with full production in 2031, he said.

The tycoon said he’s looking at projects linked to critical infrastructure in the broader region, particularly electricity transmission lines, pipelines, power generation and critical minerals.

Sokolov was born in Leningrad, modern-day St. Petersburg, and moved to Columbus, Ohio, aged 21 after earning a degree in mathematics. He later enrolled in the Executive MBA program at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and built a career in the US, first in telecommunications and then in the energy business, before starting his own investment firm in 2008.

His extensive US political connections include people close to Trump. Sokolov said the Transcaspian Enterprise Fund was a joint initiative with Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, and Aryeh Lightstone, a veteran of the president’s first administration and a senior adviser to Witkoff.

Sokolov traced his political connections to his early career in the US telecommunications industry during its “extraordinary boom” in the late 1990s, when he became involved in political fundraising. His donations crossed party lines, including a contribution to Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.

“I have no formal government role, but I am supportive of President Trump, and I’m very open and forthright about my conservative values,” Sokolov said. “I feel very honored and privileged to be able to support him.”Sokolov is a donor for another of Trump’s projects - the $300 million reconstruction of the White House ballroom that’s drawn criticism from historic preservation and ethics advocacy groups.

“I’m also very proud that,” he said. “As someone who immigrated to this country, I’ve had the opportunity to contribute to the development of such an iconic American landmark.”