The so-called diversification of RA’s foreign policy and the strategic turn towards uncertain European integration have led to an open polarization of relations between Yerevan and Moscow, where the Kremlin directly turns the economic toolkit into a lever for political pressure.

Launching a chain of asymmetric dependencies, Russia applies restrictions against Armenian exports and creates obstacles in the EAEU economic area, with the aim of inhibiting the rapprochement of Yerevan and Brussels and showing the “economic price” of changing the foreign political vector. And while Moscow at the highest level calls on Yerevan to take a stand, even hinting at its intentions to withdraw from the EAEU, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexey Overchuk announced that no one wants Armenia to leave the Eurasian Economic Union, but the situation, in his assessment, is extraordinary.

“It is a very strange, unusual situation. We are in favor of Armenia staying in the EAEU, prospering and continuing to develop at the same pace as it did in recent years when it was in the EAEU. The leadership of Armenia also declares that it wants to remain in the structure,” the Russian Deputy Prime Minister emphasized.

“No one is pushing Armenia out of the EAEU, they just said that they want to join the EU. It is necessary to decide. The sooner this is done, the better it will be for everyone,” Overchuk added.

The Russian official also claimed that the fact that the Prime Minister of Armenia will not participate in the EAEU summit to be held in Astana at the end of this month indicates his priorities. In turn, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that the West is trying to divide Russia’s allies, especially its neighbors, and this tactic is now being applied, including to Armenia.

“The West is trying to divide our allies, first of all, starting with our neighbors, as it did with Georgia, Moldova, as it is now doing with Ukraine, as it is now trying to drag Armenia into the same wrong logic,” Sergey Lavrov stated. These days, while the pre-election campaign in Armenia was divided, Shoigu, Volodin, Lavrov, Overchuk, Putin, Galuzin and other Russian figures harshly criticized Yerevan.

In parallel with the Russian State Consumer Protection Agency: From “Rospotrebnadzor”. today, another unpleasant information appeared that low-quality alcoholic beverages produced in Armenia were discovered, and their sale in Russia was suspended.

According to the structure, they did not meet the mandatory requirements Products of “VEDI-ALCO”, “Abovyan brandy factory” and “Shahnazaryan” wine and brandy house: The day before yesterday, “Rospotrebnadzor” announced that it had temporarily suspended Armenian of all batches of “Jermuk” mineral water import and sale in Russia, on the grounds of higher than normal content of certain substances, although the Food Safety Inspection Authority of Armenia announced that it had checked and found no violations in “Jermuk”.

Since yesterday, “Rosselkhoznadzor” has temporarily restricted The import of flowers from Armenia to Russia. According to the report, “Rosselkhoznadzor” plans to check Plant breeding enterprises operating in Armenia. There are problems related to supplies from Armenia, not only flowers, but also in terms of vegetables and fruits, according to the TASS agency, the head of “Rosselkhoznadzor” Sergey Dankvert announced yesterday on the air of “Vesti”.

The activation of economic restrictions and sanitary bans applied by Moscow against Armenia is definitely not accepted in the Russian expert and analytical circles. Although the Kremlin’s official agenda is aimed at “punishing” Yerevan’s political leadership and preventing a foreign policy turn, industry analysts are increasingly speaking out about the opposite effect of this tactic. According to this approach, harsh administration and export bans may weaken the positions of the current government of Armenia, but they become an additional tool in their hands to mobilize the public around the “external threat” and to justify their own political failures with external force majeure.

In this context, the key thesis of the expert discourse is that the economic strikes are not targeting the political elite, but ordinary producers, farmers and businessmen, most of whom have always been pro-Russian. The applied sanctions, whether they are restrictions on the import of flowers or other products, directly hit those layers that are connected to the Russian market. Therefore, “shooting at the political power, but touching the whole of Armenia”, Moscow runs the risk of eliminating the remnants of public trust and with its own hands creates the foundations of anti-Russian sentiments in friendly circles.

In conclusion, experienced representatives of the expert community call for separating political conflicts from public diplomacy and economic partnership.

The idea is emphasized that waging an economic war against the people is strategically losing, as it closes the future doors of dialogue and accelerates Armenia’s departure from the Russian economic orbit. Political expediency should not prevail over long-term alliances and human ties, and Moscow’s current tactics need to be reviewed to avoid more disastrous geopolitical consequences.

And the representatives of the Russian political elite and the key wing of decision-makers perceive the situation in a cardinally different way, being guided exclusively by strict geopolitical pragmatism and the rules of power balance. In these frameworks, sentimental memories and theses about friendship have long been excluded from strategic calculations, taking into account the policy of the RA authorities and the nature of the statements. For Moscow’s ruling elite, Armenia’s foreign policy rapprochement with the West is considered a violation of “red lines”, which implies the most drastic, clear and demonstrative opposition.

Proponents of this course are convinced that the period of selective approaches has passed, and the full use of economic instruments is the only effective method to prevent the rapid geopolitical turn of Yerevan.

According to their interpretation, the “shock therapy” of economic pressures should be comprehensive, so that the Armenian political and business elite clearly realize the immediate and irreversible price of breaking security and economic ties with Russia. Therefore, judging by the statements, this radical wing of the Moscow elite is inclined to continue and tighten the tactics of strict restrictions.

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Questions about the reasons for the defeat in the 44-day war of 2020 have not yet been fully answered. In the pre-election period, this topic is mentioned from time to time. naturally, different reasons are mentioned from the government and opposition circles, but they are mainly political assessments.

Meanwhile, there are questions, episodes that are a military assessment require Shouldn’t a military assessment be given: how much of the defeat of the 44-day war is due to the problem of weapons and ammunition, how much is the fault of Azerbaijan, how much is the fault of personnel appointments, etc.? In other words, it is necessary to understand how much is the fault of the political leadership, the share of the political factor, how much of the military leadership, command and military factors.

On these and other issues 168.amhas talked With Tigran Abrahamyan, secretary of the NA “I have the honor” faction.

– Yes, from a military point of view, a detailed study of the topic and drawing appropriate conclusions after that can provide an opportunity to ensure the restoration of the armed forces and start the development process. The military component and the factors in your question seem to have been pushed to the background, because the political factor, in terms of responsibility and the Armenia-Azerbaijan negotiation process, has always been manipulated by the government, and the government tried to fill the entire field with these speculations.

In reality, those figures who will not have a military assessment of the situation during the period of subsequent governments, will not have a clear analysis of what happened, did the statutes work or not, how effective were the orders, what were the problems related to weapons, their losses, etc., naturally, it will not be possible to make any rational assessment. And only those people think about the military component, for whom the problem is not to take power at any cost, but to restore the RA military component and carry out the process of modernization in the army.

– In the pre-election period, talks about the return of “enclave” villages, getting Artsvashen back, did Aliyev need this now, and this readiness of the Armenian side what risks will it lead to?

– During the period following the 44-day war, various government figures came forward and announced that there are 8 villages that are allegedly Azerbaijani, and they should be handed over to Azerbaijan at some stage. Moreover, in the context of the demarcation and demarcation process, I want to remind you that before the adoption of the delimitation charter and landmarks, 4 villages were already handed over to Azerbaijan in 2024.

It is obvious that the RA authorities have reserved certain concessions for the post-election period, because talking about it in advance will cause a voting problem for them, and due to this, Pashinyan made a vague statement on that topic a few days ago. The main principle of this government is as follows: they are ready to make concessions to the end, as long as their power is not shaken in any way and there are no unresolved issues with Azerbaijan.

– By the way, the former Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia Vagharshak Harutyunyan, who submitted an application for participation in the elections and ambitions to become the Prime Minister, stated that 11 km of the 21 km Goris-Davit Bek road actually passed through the territory of Azerbaijan. Moreover, at the beginning he stated that it derives from the document of November 9. Moreover, during this period, he even tried to consider the issue of adjusting the Armenian-Azerbaijani borders in the logic of the tripartite statement of November 9, 2020.

– As for Vagharshak Harutyunyan’s statements, I consider handing over that road without the delimitation process illegal, and Vagharshak Harutyunyan is one of the people responsible for it. he not only has to talk about that process, but also has to give an answer. I think that after the change of government in RA, not only Vagharshak Harutyunyan, but also many others who were in the current government team, will have to answer for various situations and episodes, many before the courts.

– How do you imagine the future of TRIPP today, in the future?

– The US-Israeli attacks against Iran have created a very fragile situation around the “Trump Way” project, and a lot depends on whether the deal between Iran and the US will take place or not, and what arrangements it will entail. And I think that also due to this, the situation around TRIPP has been somewhat pushed to the background, because everyone understands that a lot depends on the events taking place in our region, and the actions against Iran have made the implementation of that process much more “subtle”.

– When was the last time you were in combat positions? Did you visit often? And recently you seem to have been in Meghri, what are the moods there?

– The Ministry of Defense has created obstacles in terms of going to the front line and getting answers to questions related to the armed forces in the military unit, in general, getting to know the nature of the service.

This also applies to professional and journalistic circles that do not represent the government or have no association with them. The priority for this military-political leadership is the visits of their propagandists, which enables them to provide “positive” news related to the army in the information field. The authority has also shown that the armed forces, the processes taking place there or some of them are particularly interesting for pre-election propaganda purposes.

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This election is not just a process of distribution of seats in the National Assembly. In this entire region, the collective West has neutralized the Russian presence, and Armenia remains the last place. If the ruling political power is reproduced, this entire area will come under the control of the West as an anti-Russian and anti-Iranian area. Russia’s goal is the opposite: to prevent the re-establishment of the ruling political power in Armenia, that’s why this is the battle of Stalingrad from a political point of view for Russia, and Sardarapati for us. 168TVof « expressed such an opinion during the program civil technologist Armen Badalyan.

“Participating political forces offer several semantic contents. One is CP, which implements the West’s program, and with its reproduction, Armenia will not only become a subject, it will not even remain an object, but will turn into just an asphalt road with hotels, restaurants, and will serve trucks carrying raw materials from Central Asia to the EU through our territory. It is not even an intersection, even the North-South highway will not work, it will be closed,” said the civil engineer.

“The main opposition forces – “Strong”, “Prosperous Armenia” and “Armenia” alliance declare a different plan, at least saying that Armenia should remain an object, and we should not turn into just a road.

In other words, national values ​​must be preserved here. Unlike them, the CP has started a campaign against the church, it is erasing Mount Ararat. In other words, whatever is national must disappear with the CP’s globalist program, and all you need is as a waiter in a restaurant or hotel. In the proposals of the opposition, at least the national one remains, and the economy is developing to a greater or lesser extent,” said the civil technologist.

According to Armen Badalyan, the task of the ruling political force is to make the elections less serious and reduce the participation rate.

“The opposition broke the script of the ruling political force’s campaign. CP does not have 52 or more percent to form a sole power. But in 2021, foreign political intervention was not as large-scale and strong as it is now.

Together, the three forces: “Strong Armenia”, “Prosperous Armenia” and “Armenia” alliance gather more votes than CP. And the degree of participation also depends on the degree of tension in the elections. The ruling political force, no longer having the previous ranking, will most likely try to keep the power by force. For example, the opposition members of the commissions can be intimidated or bought, so they must be highly reliable people.”

“This force will try to stay in power because it has an order from the West that needs to be completed. He has done the first: the Artsakh issue is gone, it has been closed, the second, the “Zangezur Corridor”, is in the process of being provided, and the third, the Russian military-political presence must be neutralized. Pashinyan said that with the mandate given to them, they will fulfill all the demands of Azerbaijan,” said Armen Badalyan.

Details in the video.

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Year 2018: Nikol Pashinyan and his team promised citizens the prospect of a happy individual, assuring them that there is a future. After 8 years, it is already visible that those visible happy individuals are the shrill CP members. at least, their declarations testify to that. Also, those CP members who, before the so-called revolution of 2018, were with empty pockets and cafe bills…

We will look at all of them in turn. Today we will talk about Tigran Avinyan. What did it have before 2018 and what does it have now?

Thus, today the mayor of Yerevan, Tigran Avinyan, who is engaged in an active election campaign and terrorizes the citizens with a “three-headed dragon T-shirt-rabbit”, closed the year 2025 with an income of about 157,000 dollars, about 58 million drams.

Avinyan also mentioned the balances of the bank accounts, which at the beginning of the year were 13,711,998 drams, and at the end of the year – 5,858,209 drams, the monetary equivalent of ADA Cardano, Ethereum, Bitcoin cryptocurrencies, however, he did not make it public. The cash funds of the CP official amounted to 24,430,000 drams at the beginning of the year, and 20,887,335 drams at the end of the year.

Tigran Avinyan’s income of 57,671,356 drams for the reporting year was generated from other incomes of 26,523,000 drams received from the Poolin platform, remuneration for work received from the municipal administrative institution “Yerevan Municipality Staff” and/or other payments equal to it, first in the amount of 1,936,152 drams, then also in the amount of 29,212,204 drams.

And who was Avinyan at the opening of the velvet event?

According to open sources, declarations, in 2018 Tigran Avinyan, who was appointed deputy prime minister for the first time in a paid state position, presented 14.6 thousand dollars as income under “Other”.

As of the date of submission of the declaration, the available funds amounted to 2,475 dollars and 600 thousand AMD. The official presented $7,000 (in the Array organization) under the line Securities and other investments. He declared a garage as the only immovable property.

According to the 2018 annual declaration, Avinyan’s funds and income had already increased compared to the previous year. At the end of the year, the funds amounted to 7 million drams and 12.4 thousand dollars. Incomes: 13.2 million drams and 14.6 thousand dollars.

According to the annual declaration of 2019, the salary of Avinyan, who continues to serve as the deputy prime minister, increased by about 50%, amounting to 19.6 million drams per year.

According to the data presented in the 2020 annual declaration, his salary continued to increase, reaching 24.6 million drams.

As you can see, the velvet of 2018 had a good effect on the life of a happy individual Avinyan.

And this is only in his case and that too according to the declarations. but, of course, the persons related to him, family members, relatives, about whom there are various publications in the media, were not left out of this happiness.

Thus, Tigran Avinyan personally closed the 2018 Velvet Revolution tax year with 13 million 271,256.00 drams, which is about 50 thousand dollars at today’s exchange rate, and 58 million drams, which is already about 157 thousand dollars, in the tax year of 2025.

There is a future.

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In the “Pressing” program Satik Seyranyan the guest Member of the board of the “Strong Armenia” party, number 4 on the pre-election list, Armenia’s electric networks (HEC) Former General Director of CJSC Davit Ghazinyan is

The main theses of the interview are below.

• The citizen should choose “Strong Armenia” primarily due to the personality of the leader, who is an accomplished figure, a successful businessman, and a national person. There was nothing in Samvel Karapetyan’s life that he promised and could not do.

• I have a strong suspicion that this is a temporary peace arranged with Aliyev to help this regime keep the power, because the Prime Minister of our country is 100% hand to the neighboring unfriendly country, that’s why he does not shoot for this re-election. It is nonsense when a man who brought 3 wars and lost territories talks about peace today. When you explain to people, they understand that a weak leader cannot dictate the rules of the game, let alone be at the negotiating table. When the leader of their small group is humiliated, they say: we didn’t beat you, we beat your exes, I wonder how a person with dignity can remain after that of power. And today they are trying to berate Samvel Karapetyan.

• They are in a zeitnot and are already getting tangled up. HETC is a company with $1 billion in assets. And the lost person, Samvel Karapetyan, does not talk about that company, because he considers it immoral to talk about it in this state of the country. Either he and his small group say that Putin sent Samvel Karapetyan, but on the other hand, he declares that he and Putin are good friends, they have talked on the phone more than 200 times.…

• It is very wrong for the state when people with a biography of only 8 years start talking in a vulgar lexicon about a person who has dedicated a very large part of his work to his state. In fact, he didn’t talk about it.

• How can a man say something and then realize it was wrong and not apologize? They were talking about dozens of criminal cases related to the HEC. where are those cases, what happened? They told us that the lights were turned off during the government session, that the HEC was to blame, even though they checked with the NSS, the PPS, they saw that the HEC was not to blame, but when the lights in Nikol Pashinyan’s hall were turned off during the press conference a few days ago, he suddenly announced that the HEC is not to blame, it is a private area…

• As long as the list of victims of the 44-day war is not published with names and addresses, any number can be used.

• We have lost a second Motherland, 200 sq/km of the country’s territory is occupied, they are talking about strengthening the positions. Reinforced what to do?

• There is a slave system in KP. Let someone try not to speak in that language, they will commit suicide:

• They have no plan, the only thing they say is false peace. Our compatriots should know that peace comes through guarantors. What’s more, Nikol Pashinyan has done the opposite of what he said during these 8 years. used to say: “Artsakh is Armenia, and that’s it.” Now where is Artsakh…

• The topic of 300,000 Azerbaijanis coming to Armenia is very relevant. Schools and new roads are being built, not in line with these areas and their population. Who are they making it for… In my opinion, Azerbaijanis?:

• Once a year, PSC has to review the tariff to increase, decrease or leave the same. By mathematical calculation, 2026 for 2025 At the end of November, PSC held a meeting and said that the price remains the same. But there was no solution for the nuclear power plant. I am sure that the amount of 12 billion given for the nuclear power plant was given from the budget. Moreover, the nuclear power plant had a loan, the repayment of which was postponed. If Pashinyan is re-elected, the price of electricity will definitely increase. Or they will take money from dubious sources, inject it so that the price does not increase for some time. Both are very dangerous. Let me remind you again: Samvel Karapetyan bought the company that was in danger of being declared bankrupt and got it back on its feet. But even in that situation, he promised not to increase the price of electricity for 10 years:

• No one trusts this person. Not only is he weak, he is also not a reliable partner for the European Union. Hugs, kisses, stands up and says: Putin is my friend with EU leaders. Russia’s response, in terms of sitting on two chairs, is completely adequate. Now, in order to deepen anti-Russian sentiment, they say that Samvel Karapetyan was sent by Putin. I assure you, there is nothing like it.

• If Samvel Karapetyan would take half a step back and agree to these preconditions, they would return the HEC and ask for forgiveness.…

• It is one thing to have meetings at home, another thing for Samvel Karapetyan to leave the house, walk down to the city, meet with his voters. That’s why they don’t change the regime of Karapetyan’s house arrest, so that people don’t communicate with him.

• We have to get rid of these authorities as soon as possible, because in case of their reproduction, there will be very serious consequences. Their main job is to reproduce. We say that a balanced policy should be pursued for the benefit of the state, not for the benefit of one’s seat. 

• I can’t imagine how so many people go on vacation at once. all campaign, who works from them? They are irresponsible, they don’t think about how the state will work. There are losers everywhere, including the HEC.

• An employee of the HEC, who was 30 meters away from Narek Karapetyan during the campaign, was called and told to write an application and be released.:

• They announced that the people are paying for the loans of the National Energy Agency. Thanks to the journalists, we got to the point where the President of the PSC announced that interest on loans is not included in the electricity tariff.

• HETC is a big institution, someone was committing a crime, they said it was Karapetyan. I directly declare that if every corruption case occurs in the Republic, then it can be said with certainty that the Prime Minister is a briber. Because that’s their logic. 

• The state has offered $370,000 for the HEC, the cost of a normal apartment in Yerevan. No one will invest in the HEC, unless it is Turkish or Azerbaijani money coming in other ways. Currently, the situation is very bad in HEC, investments are not being made at all. Something light happened, they started proceedings in our time. Now they do so many things, they don’t go in, they don’t monitor, at least to save their face. I’ll say it directly, the PSC is afraid, it can’t enter the National Security Agency, check it. Just as the state budget is treated like one’s own pocket, so is the budget of the National Energy Agency.

• Samvel Karapetyan is the owner of HETC, but the company is managed by a small group. Samvel Karapetyan cannot get involved in the management, but they put an obligation on him to invest, which he does. 

• Under no circumstances would I want Armenia to be expelled from EAEU. It would be disastrous for our people. We have the right of VETO, of course, but Russia and other countries can bypass both that VETO and the mutually beneficial gas price agreement mentioned by Nikol Pashinyan if they really want to.:

• Dear people, it will be too late for you to warm your heads. Know, if these are repeated, those 300,000 Azerbaijanis will come. You need to get rid of them a day before. It’s treason not to participate in the election, da-wa-cha-nu-tyu. One day the national government will come, the questions will be asked: what did you do to remove them? Please, dear citizens, do not vote for the forces that will not pass. Dear political forces, you still have time, resign, come, be a hero, you also follow the opinion polls, don’t mislead our people, get out of the election campaign:

Details in the video.

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