Lopez performed at Yerevan’s Republican Stadium in August 2025 as part of an international tour. The concert financed by the government attracted at least 10,000 spectators who paid its Armenian organizer from 25,000 to 180,000 drams ($69-$493) per ticket.
The public funds allocated to the organizer, a private company called Doping Space, exceed the annual budgets of most rural communities of Armenia. Critics condemned it as reckless extravagance aimed at distracting Armenians from grave national security problems facing their country. Government officials insisted that the spending was worth it because Lopez attracted many foreign tourists to the country.
In an investigative report, RFE/RL’s Armenian Service revealed late last month that Doping Space did not use over 500 million drams (about $1.4 million) of the government funding for the show and that the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports is still unable to reclaim it. The ministry formally demanded the money back in a June 30 letter to the company. The latter rejected the demand six weeks later.
In an interview with Infocom.am published late last week, Andreasian said the ministry is continuing to “talk” to the company over the “saved sum” which it believes must be “returned to the state.”
“Their position differs from ours, and we will either reach a mutual agreement to return the funds or there will be a legal process,” added the minister.
The government would have easily reclaimed the money in question had it not dubiously exempted Doping Space from a bank guarantee requirement in their contract for the Lopez concert.
Despite the financial dispute, Doping Space was contracted by Andreasian’s ministry to organize the COP17 international environmental summit that will take place in Yerevan next month. The entertainment firm founded in 2023 is to receive 3.5 billion drams ($9.6 million) in government funding for that purpose.
