And what, generally speaking, Azerbaijan needs from Armenia after Karabakh, the author of the Azerbaijani telegram channel “Ugur Mammadov” wondered.

“The Zangezur corridor, of course. We can assume that it is already ours, unless relations with the United States deteriorate (I do not consider their appearance in the topic of Zangezur a blessing for Azerbaijan),” the author of the channel writes.

In addition, as the Azerbaijani commentator believes, Armenia will have Baku is in your pocket when and if you manage to implement what is implemented in Georgia, where the Azerbaijani state-owned company SOCAR bought a network of gas pipelines.

“Azerbaijani gas should be supplied to Armenians and distributed inside the country through Azerbaijani pipes. The interests of Azerbaijan and Russia will inevitably collide here. Russia, with its Gazprom Armenia enterprise and preferential gas supplies. To fight with the Russian Federation is not out of our hands. Therefore, Nikol Pashinyan is obliged to do the menial work. To push Armenia out of the EAEU with its almost built-up common gas market. To quarrel with Russia. And take away the gas company from the Russian Federation, nationalize it. Then Azerbaijan will come. Otherwise, why do we need Pashinyan?” — Ugur Mammadov concluded.

More details: https://eadaily.com/en/news/2026/05/21/pushing-out-of-the-eaeu-and-seizing-the-gas-market-what-baku-wants-from-armenia

May 20, 2026

At the beginning of his general audience today in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Leo XIV offered an extended public greeting to Aram I, head of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia.

The Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia, based in Lebanon, is one of the two chief jurisdictions in the Armenian Apostolic Church (CNEWA profile). The Armenian Apostolic Church is among the Oriental Orthodox churches that ceased to be in full communion with the Holy See following the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon (451).

“Brothers and sisters, I am very happy to welcome His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of Cilicia of the Armenian Apostolic Church, together with the distinguished delegation accompanying him,” Pope Leo said. “This fraternal visit represents an important opportunity to strengthen the bonds of unity that already exist between us, as we move towards full communion between our Churches.”

Pope Leo added:

Your Holiness, in these days when we prepare for Pentecost, I invoke the grace of the Holy Spirit upon your pilgrimage to the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul, and I invite all those present to pray fervently to the Lord that your visit and meetings may constitute a further step on the path towards full unity. Let us also pray for peace in Lebanon and the Middle East, once again torn apart by violence and war.

Your Holiness, I wish to express my particular gratitude for your constant personal commitment to ecumenism, especially to the international theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches.

Welcome, Your Holiness, dear bishops and dear friends! Together, let us invoke the intercession of Saint Gregory the Illuminator, Saint Gregory of Nareg, Saint Nerses the Gracious and, above all, the Virgin Mother of God, that they may enlighten our path towards the fullness of that unity we all desire.

The greeting took place two days after Pope Leo received the Catholicos.

In his address to Pope Leo on May 18, Aram I said that ecumenism is crucial in the face of secularism. Pope Leo, in turn, praised Aram I for his ecumenical zeal. Following the two addresses, Pope Leo and the Catholicos prayed together in the Chapel of Urban VIII in the Apostolic Palace (link to booklet).

Pope Leo Welcomes Armenian Church Leader, Prays for Unity and Peace

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has rejected reporting by the Russian independent media outlet The Insider that detailed the Kremlin’s efforts to influence the upcoming Armenian parliamentary elections. One of The Insider’s key claims — that Russian-Armenian tycoon and opposition figure Samvel Karapetyan had links to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) — was not directly addressed. Meanwhile, Russia has continued to escalate its economic pressure campaign on Armenia, this time by restricting the import of Armenian flowers.

The investigation published by The Insider on Tuesday had cited leaked offline databases allegedly showing that when Karapetyan was issued an international passport in Russia in 1999, his workplace was mentioned in the Information Centre of the FSB. It also detailed the various Russian operatives tasked with managing the Kremlin’s information war against Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry responded directly to The Insider on Thursday with a lengthy diatribe, saying the outlet had ‘long ago turned into a tool for media manipulation and false anti-Russian propaganda, and continues to generate fakes, fulfilling the corresponding orders of its foreign masters’.

‘The arguments presented in the “investigation” are nothing more than blatant lies and an organised provocation aimed at exerting psychological pressure on Russian diplomats and intimidating the Armenian public before the elections’.

The Russian Foreign Ministry, which published a photo mashup of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi with Adolf Hitler on Thursday, criticised the ‘professionalism’ of the investigation, claiming, without citing evidence, that it contained ‘numerous factual errors and inaccuracies’.

Links between unnamed individuals in Armenia, likely referring to Karapetyan and fellow tycoon and opposition figure Gagik Tsarukyan, were also downplayed.

‘Any contacts of such figures with the Russian side, participation in international platforms and expert events are automatically declared as “work under the supervision of Russian intelligence”, and the opposition activities themselves are considered part of a “Kremlin operation”. In other words, Armenian society is being forced into a primitive scheme of “government criticism equals a Moscow agent” ’.

The Foreign Ministry further claimed, again without evidence, that The Insider’s investigation was linked to an EU mission to Armenia to combat Russian influence operations.

Separately, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin rejected a different accusation that Karapetyan’s nephew, Narek Karapetyan, holds Russian citizenship. The previous day, Armenian authorities announced they were looking into the charges, while Karapetyan himself stated he was solely an Armenian citizen.

On Thursday, the Armenian media outlet Factor reported that the citizenship data for Narek Karapetyan in the Russian state registry had been edited to show that he only held Armenian citizenship.

Economic and rhetorical pressure

In its latest effort to put economic pressure on Armenia in response to the country’s reorientation westward, Russia announced ‘temporary restrictions’ on the export of Armenian flowers on Wednesday. The Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance said the move was made to ‘protect Russia’s export potential and phytosanitary safety’.

Russia has repeatedly been accused of imposing such export restrictions as a form of economic coercion on countries, including Armenia.

Earlier in May, Russia suspended the sale of Armenian Jermuk water over alleged regulatory violations.

Separately, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council, Sergei Shoigu, made thinly veiled threats of further economic measures against Armenia as part of wider criticisms of the country on Wednesday.

‘Cooperation with Russia is the main driver of the Armenian economy. It’s difficult to dispute this fact’, Shoigu said.

‘I wonder in what quantities and under what conditions Armenian apricots, trout, and mineral water will be supplied to the European Union’.

Shoigu further accused Armenia of taking a number of ‘unfriendly’ steps recently, including the invitation of Zelenskyi to Yerevan for the European Political Community summit earlier in May.

‘It is no secret that the leadership of that country has taken a number of steps of late that do not correspond to the spirit of allied relations with the Russian Federation’, Shoigu said.