Commonspace.eu

May 31 2026

May 31 2026

UNN, Ukraine

May 31 2026

IQNA, Iran

May 31 2026

Caucasian Knot

May 30 2026

Nikol Pashinyan should apologize to all internally displaced persons from Nagorno-Karabakh for his remarks about “fleeing,” as it was his political actions that led to the mass exodus of Armenians from the region, said arrested activist Artur Osipyan. The opposition figure continues his hunger strike in prison.

As reported by the “Caucasian Knot,” on May 22, it became known that Karabakh activist Artur Osipyan, arrested in Yerevan, has gone on a hunger strike, demanding an apology from Nikol Pashinyan. Observers are confident that Osipyan’s persecution is politically motivated, as he did not break the law. Authors of Facebook comments also spoke out in support of Artur Osipyan. On May 25, activists in Yerevan came out to the Armenian government building demanding Osipyan’s release.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan used insults and threats during meetings with voters in response to questions from refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh. After this, clinic employee Armine Soghoyan, who asked about casualties in the Karabakh wars, was asked to resign, and Artur Osipyan was detained. He is charged with hooliganism, incitement to violence, and obstructing a campaign. On May 20, the court sent him to pretrial detention for two months.

On May 29, the 11th day of his hunger strike, Artur Osipyan addressed the Armenian public from the pretrial detention center. His lawyer David Hovhannisyan conveyed his appeal, publishing it on his Facebook page*.

“From the moment of my arrest, I was forced to declare a hunger strike. The reason for my hunger strike is that Prime Minister candidate Nikol Pashinyan, unable to answer my questions during the election campaign, began publicly insulting me, calling me a ‘fugitive.’ He then extended this definition to all Artsakh residents. I demand that Nikol Pashinyan publicly apologize through his Facebook page* to me personally and to all those Artsakh residents who did not shy away from the war, made their families a shield for Artsakh, defending our homeland,” Osipyan said in his statement.

The activist notes that the Armenians of Karabakh, “remaining in conditions of complete blockade for ten months and subjected to another military aggression by Azerbaijan, without receiving assistance from either the peacekeeping forces or the Armenian authorities,” were forced to leave the region “to save 30,000 children facing starvation from physical “destruction.”

Artur Osipyan led the opposition “Revolutionary Party” in Nagorno-Karabakh and was a co-founder of the “My Right” movement. He is known for fighting the corrupt system, and during the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh, he called for a peaceful march to unblock the Lachin corridor.

“And all this happened after Nikol Pashinyan recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, and after our army’s final efforts to prevent the mass extermination of civilians. What “escaped” is Pashinyan talking about? Why such disregard for his own people? This is unforgivable,” Osipyan said.

He called on “all fair political forces and individuals to take an objective approach and keep this issue on the agenda.”

Sociological candidate Hayk Trunyan supported Osipyan on his social media page. “You may have different opinions about the people of Artsakh (Karabakh), but illegally depriving a person of liberty, and especially putting them in danger of their lives, is unacceptable,” he wrote.

Trunyan believes that Osipyan “has not committed any illegal acts and does not pose a public danger.” He also emphasized that “Osipyan is a citizen of Armenia, a participant in the 44-day war, and an internally displaced person from Artsakh.”

The scholar called on society “not to remain indifferent to what is happening,” as “indifference to the fate of a person leads to the loss of the value of human life and a return to the practice of violence and humiliation.” Recalling that Osipyan is “on a hunger strike and his life is in danger,” he called on the authorities to “show responsibility and prevent tragic consequences.”

Blogger Tigran Galfayan also spoke out on his social media page in support of Artur Osipyan, describing him as “a man of high moral principles and an active civic stance.”

In his opinion, Osipyan has committed no illegal acts and his arrest should be considered unfounded. Galfayan considers Osipyan’s criminal prosecution unlawful. He expressed concern about the current situation, questioning whether “such processes correspond to the goals and expectations associated with the revolutionary changes in the country.”

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Источник: Кавказский Узел

Associated Press

May 30 2026

MOSCOW (AP) — Members of a Russia-led economic alliance on Friday warned member Armenia that it could face suspension over its aspirations to join the European Union as tensions continued to simmer between the Kremlin and the Armenian leadership.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and leaders of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, who attended a summit of the Eurasian Economic Union in Kazakhstan’s capital of Astana, noted that Armenia’s bid for the EU membership creates “significant risks” for their economic security. They ordered their officials to prepare a report in December on “possible consequences of suspending” Armenia’s membership in the grouping.

The four leaders also urged Armenia to hold a referendum to offer voters a choice between seeking a membership in the EU or staying in the Eurasian Economic Union, a single market created in 2015 to allow the free movement of goods, capitals and labor. Armenia’s Prime Ministe r Nikol Pashinyan has previously rejected the idea of holding the vote.

The warning comes just over a week before Armenia’s parliamentary elections on June 7, in which Pashinyan, in power since 2018, seeks to retain his job.

Armenia, which signed a U.S.-brokered agreement last year ending decades of hostilities with Azerbaijan, has increasingly sought to forge closer ties with the U.S. and the EU. Pashinyan has declared an intention to join the EU and his government has suspended the country’s participation in a Moscow-dominated security pact, the Collective Security Treaty Organization.

Armenia’s westward shift has angered the Kremlin. Putin has warned Pashinyan that his country would suffer massive economic damage if it pursues its EU aspirations. In recent days, Moscow warned Armenia that it could stop supplies of cheap natural gas and banned imports of Armenian brandy, fruit and vegetables, part of the Kremlin’s efforts to sway the outcome of Armenia’s election.

Putin has said Armenia can’t be a member of both the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union. He warned Friday that Armenia could lose up to 14% of its Gross Domestic Product if it opts out of the Moscow-dominated bloc.

Pashinyan has countered Putin’s warnings by arguing that for now Armenia can combine its membership in the Eurasian Economic Union with developing cooperation with the EU.

Speaking Friday, Putin also compared the current arguments with Armenia to the developments in Ukraine, whose bid to sign an association deal with the EU led to the ouster of its Moscow-friendly president, Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and Moscow’s support for a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine that erupted the same year. In February 2022, Putin sent troops into Ukraine, staring the largest military conflict in Europe since World War II.