Another incident occurred today during Nikol Pashinyan’s campaign in the Arabkir administrative district. he was caught missing in action during the 44-day war with the sister of lieutenant colonel Hrant Papikyan, an experienced military doctor. During the 44-day war, Papikyan was the head of the military unit’s medical service stationed in the direction of Hadrut.

In the context of this incident, Tigran Avinyan, the mayor of Yerevan, the candidate for deputy of the CP Party, in a conversation with Factor TV, referred to the topic of those who “flew” from Artsakh during the 44-day war of 2020.

“Those who really flew from Karabakh are speaking such loud things today. I was there almost from the first day during the 44-day Karabakh war. I know the actors very well: who was there, what was said, who ran away, and those who ran away now their languages ​​have become kilometers long. he noted.

Avinyan replied to the retort: ​​why are they not being held criminally liable?

“Unfortunately, in these specific cases, I am not sure that people can be held criminally responsible for volunteering to escape. But the fact that they almost certainly had nothing to do with the real struggle, the war, and now they are talking about the war and the victims, having absolutely no right to do so…

I was the deputy prime minister of the country at that time, and I was in Karabakh almost until the last day, my car was shot, it remained under Shushi, my driver was injured, 9 of my protocol officers were wounded on the spot, the head of my office was a participant in the night fighting in Shushi. And in fact, we know the Karabakh war very well, let the places be feared, ignored and fought. They will scold, ignore, bite their tongues, they have nothing to do with Karabakh or the Karabakh war, they have not given a finger. Maybe they did the opposite during the entire fight.”

It should be noted that about a month ago, former RA Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan addressed Nikol Pashinyan in the National Assembly, saying:

“Mr. Pashinyan says that the generals ran away. The leadership of the National Assembly and the deputies came to the place where there was a need for reservists who had left the field of combat for one reason or another. Meanwhile, the deputies did not hesitate to go, at least for a few hours, to work with the “mob resource” (reservists, – M.P.). Who ran away now? did the generals run away or the parliamentarians who were there? And I know some of them.”

Another issue is that Seyran Ohanyan did not give names. Instead, we recalled a few episodes and names, of course, we did not ignore Tigran Avinyan either, whose role we reflected on in the context of the 44-day war still in 2023.

In another article where we talked about Avinyan’s role in the 44-day war, we did not miss the episode that during the war, On September 30, 2020, Deputy Prime Minister Tigran regarding the approval of the program on the installation of photovoltaic plants implemented by the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund Avinyan is a decision made:

Then already Days before the fall of Shushi, on November 5, 2020, the then president of Artsakh, Araik Harutyunyan, on his Facebook page had reported that is in Shushi, and Tigran Avinyan was also seen in the published photos.

By the way, Tigran Avinyan mentions the head of his office in the context of the war. We are talking about Serzh-Varag Siseryan, who once made accusations against Seyran Ohanyan., that in 2020 on the evening of November 5, Seyran Ohanyan left Shushi without even informing the last group members stationed there.

In other words, government representatives were in Shushi and were involved in the operations there, but today only the former commander of the Armed Forces, General Mikael Arzumanyan, is blamed for not keeping Shushi.

By the way, the representatives of the government also participated in the famous counter strike operation discussion, which perhaps they did not have the right to. Can Tigran Avinyan say why an action plan doomed to failure was approved, or on what basis was the order to take back the fortress city after the fall of Shushi on November 7, and did the presence of random people in command posts and other places not affect the outcome of the war? And maybe those presences were needed for some “files”?

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Tigran Avinyan, the mayor of Yerevan, a member of the KP board, engaged in an active pre-election campaign, who for several years has not been able to cope with the city’s management, transport reforms, which during this time stood out, for example, with 7 million 650,000 drams by purchasing a plane ticket, and recently he is busy with prints on “t-shirt-pants”, he closed the year 2025 with an income of around 58 million drams.

But about all this in more detail. Tigran Avinyan submitted the 2025 declaration of property, income, expenses and interests to the Corruption Prevention Commission, according to which he actually owns only a private residential house built on a plot of land and has only one 2021 VOLKSWAGEN brand car, which he bought in 2022. Instead, Avinyan’s accounts and income are quite noticeable.

The mayor mentioned the bank account balances, which were 13,711,998 drams at the beginning of the year, and 5,858,209 drams at the end of the year, the monetary equivalent of ADA Cardano, Ethereum, Bitcoin cryptocurrencies, however, he did not make 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.

In the “Participation in commercial organizations” section of the statement, Avinyan mentioned the shares of his wife Mariam Pahlavunu’s “BARUR” and “LAV PRODUCTS” organizations: 100 and 34 percent, respectively.

The declarant’s membership in non-commercial organizations and representation in their management, administrative or supervisory bodies; Avinyan is the chairman of the board of trustees of the “National Polytechnic University of Armenia” Foundation, the Renewable Energy and Energy Saving Fund of Armenia.

What did Avinyan’s wife, Pahlavuni, declare?․

Tigran Avinyan’s wife, Mariam Pahlavuni, also mentioned in her declaration about the real estate that she has actually owned for 90 or more days. According to the declaration, the mayor’s wife has one car, a 2017 RANGE ROVER, which she bought in 2020.

The value of shares acquired by the mayor’s wife in 2022 and 2023 was 10,000 and 34,000 drams, several bank deposits at the beginning of the year were as follows: 14 million drams, 7.5 million drams, 25 million and 12 million drams. At the end of the year, the balances of 1,568,515 AMD, 1,272,698 AMD and 4,242,328 AMD were reduced to zero or almost reduced to zero.

Tigran Avinyan’s wife’s income of around 5 million (4,976,465) drams for the reporting year was generated from the interest and other compensation received for loans or bank deposits with a total volume of 1,148,882 drams and 3,827,583 drams, which was her own salary from “BARUR” LLC, or a payment equal to it.

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The other day we have touched on The strategic significance of the occupied Kovsak, Zangelan for Azerbaijan, and how it came under the control of Azerbaijan.

On May 10, the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev visited the occupied city of Kovsakan (Zangelan), where he specially emphasized that it is located in the transport corridor, so it will become a transport center for Azerbaijan and the entire region.

“On our initiative, the construction of the bridge on the Iranian border has almost been completed, and now the construction of border-customs infrastructure and buildings is underway. Probably, in a few months they will also be ready for operation, and it will become an international transport corridor. Both railways and roads passing through here will be of great benefit because people will be provided with jobs there. And this will be a huge investment in the economy of Zangelan and, in general, Azerbaijan.

After the opening of the border with Armenia, the “Zangezur Corridor”, Zangelan will actually become the only region of our country that will have a border checkpoint with two neighboring countries. See how important it is. Because it is both the East-West corridor, a road that stretches from Nakhijevan through Turkey to Europe, and the North-South corridor, from Zangelan through Aghbend to Iran and the Persian Gulf, and from here through Nakhijevan and Julfa, back to the Persian Gulf. Thus, Zangelan will become an irreplaceable international center. This is how we see it, and this is exactly how it will be, because until now all our plans have come to life,” he elaborated.

Now in this case, can we say that Aliyev does not attach much importance to another direction at the moment, although Nikol Pashinyan has stated that the restoration of the railway passing through Ijevan is also being discussed. At the same time during the pre-election campaign he emphasized that there are “Azerbaijani villages” in Tavush, which must be surrendered, and we will receive Artsvashen, moreover, this places both in the process of demarcation and demarcation, and alludes to About the strategic deal with Aliyev, which he proposed much earlier.

The question is that if a demarcation is made in any direction, then you will get the property that belongs to you, which is under the control of Azerbaijan, in that direction.

We have talked more than once about the risks that the handing over of “enclave” villages will lead to, that it can destroy not only the internal communications of Tavush marz, but also put under attack the highway going to Bagratashen through Tavush, the Armenian-Georgian border, and the gas pipeline entering Armenia from Georgia, etc.

But since the issue is still relevant, and in practice they will still have to be addressed, 168.am-talked about this topic Shiraz Khachatryan, expert of “Henaket” analytical center Is the second stage of border demarcation in the direction of Tavush in Azerbaijan’s interest at the moment? If so, why? If not, why, when will it be necessary?

to return, does it have a purely political and moral significance, or can it? “Today, the Armenian-Azerbaijani border demarcation process is difficult to consider equal negotiations, it is more reminiscent of a series of unilateral concessions, where Baku gets everything it wants and when it wants. If we consider whether it is currently in Azerbaijan’s interest to start the second stage of border demarcation in the direction of Tavush, then the answer is unequivocal: Baku will take that step only when it serves its main maximalist goals.

According to me, Azerbaijan has no reason to hurry, because time works in its favor, and it can extract the fulfillment of another demand with dosed pressure.

In this context, the readiness of the Armenian side to hand over the villages of Tavush under the name of Ankalv, or Tigranashen in the south, is actually a strategic disaster for several reasons. first, the territories that the current authorities are going to hand over or exchange are of vital and strategic importance for us, because they control our interstate roads to Georgia, Iran, we have talked about this several times, secondly, they are destroying the defense structures formed in those territories.

And instead of the Armenian “occupied” lands in Tavush and Gegharkunik, promoting the topic of Artsvashen is, in fact, an information-political manipulation. Artsvashen is located in the depths of Azerbaijan, and in case of de jure getting it back, de facto settlement and security provision there will be almost impossible. And Azerbaijan refuses to even discuss the issue of withdrawing its troops from the sovereign territory of the RA, including Tavush, Syunik, Gegharkunik, Vayots Dzor.

I repeat, until now the process of demarcation and demarcation has been on Baku’s agenda, therefore, even if the process is activated at this moment, there is no basis for optimistic expectations. In other words, the issue of Artsvashen is, of course, not a purely emotional issue, but considering it equivalent in the logic of demarcation with the vital areas of Tavush, Syunik, Vayots Dzor is strategic blindness, political manipulation.”

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168TVof “Trigger” the guest of the program Russian political analyst, Strategic Culture Fund expert Andrey Areshev is:

During the program, the meeting of the leaders of the USA and China, the possible consequences for the region, the possibility of the resumption of military operations against Iran, as well as the expected visit of Vladimir Putin to Beijing were discussed.

Reference was also made to the topics of the 8th summit of the European Political Community in Armenia.

Particular attention was paid to the meeting between Putin and Nikol Pashinyan, the latest statements of the Russian President regarding Armenia, the future of Armenian-Russian relations, as well as the decision of the Russian Foreign Ministry to include Armenia in the list of unfriendly countries for Russian citizens.

During the program, the upcoming elections in Armenia and the possible developments of the internal political situation in the country were also discussed.

Hayk Derzyan

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The wave of Nikol Pashinyan’s attack on the Armenian Apostolic Church also reached the Penitentiary Service. It was under the high patronage of Pashinyan that such a tense situation was created in the relations between the CCP and the church, which has not happened since the establishment of the spiritual service in the CCP and penitentiary institutions.

As in the case of the army, in order to perform spiritual service in places of deprivation of liberty, such conditions were imposed that made it impossible for clergymen to enter prisons and perform their service there.

In this regard 168.am– addressed the Ministry of Justice with a written request, because the contract was signed between the Church and the Ministry of Justice. 

Let’s note that the recent tension between the penal service of the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church is taking on new manifestations. The change in the format of the organization of spiritual service in prisons, the signing of individual contracts with the clergy and the closed information field created around the process have raised questions both in church and public circles.

The answer of the Secretary General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of RA received after a long time, or rather, the answer prepared by the CSI and addressed to us, or rather, the CSI’s point of view rather avoided our questions than answered the questions.

We tried to get answers to the following questions from the Ministry of Justice:

Has the existing contract between the RA Ministry of Justice and the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church been unilaterally terminated, and has the Mother See been informed about it?

We have not received a direct answer to this question. Instead, they report that the new contracts signed with the priests “do not contradict” the legal provisions defined by the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia. However, it is not stated whether the previous agreement is valid, has been modified, frozen, or has actually been bypassed.

It can be assumed, for example, that the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia appoints a new head of the National Security Service without taking into account the appointment order of Nikol Pashinyan. he just appoints the head of the CCP of his heart and starts working with him. I wonder how Nikol Pashinyan will react to this. The truth is, the minister will be pushed against the walls. But these people think that in the same situation His Holiness the Pope should silently watch and tolerate the arbitrary illegalities that this government is doing. Thus, one of the most important questions remains unanswered.

There was also no clear answer to the question, whether the head of the CPC is authorized to change or actually reformulate the format of the relationship between the ministry and the church. Instead, the Ministry of Justice simply refers to the legislation and states that the contracts were concluded based on the code, without clarifying whether that decision was made by political, administrative or legal procedure.

The Ministry of Justice confirms that employment contracts were signed with the clergy, without specifying the type of contract. However, important information is also missing here. the amount of remuneration is not presented. It is only mentioned that it depends on the number of serviced institutions and the number of hours. In other words, the cost of the service financed by citizens’ taxes remains secret.

In response to the question of which dioceses are the clerics who have signed a contract with the CCP, and who are they, they only say that 6 contracts have been signed, and 5 clerics have already visited various penitentiary institutions, but the names of the clergy and dioceses are not published. In fact, the public cannot understand on what principle these persons were chosen.

It is noteworthy that the question of whether there were clergymen who refused to sign a contract with the CPC remained completely unanswered. This silence is especially remarkable in the conditions when the relations between the state and the church are being discussed in the CCP and church circles.

The only question that is more or less fully answered is the last one.

CCP–n: reports is, that last the visit performed is 2026 year April 28-ին՝ “Abovian” penitentiary institution.However,

If we analyze it in general, the picture shows that the Ministry of Justice tried to present mainly legal and general wording, avoiding substantive issues.

Meanwhile, we tried to find out whether the state is changing the format of relations with the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church in the penitentiary system, and if so, by whose decision and by what procedure?

And now let’s try to present all this from a different perspective.

It all started on February 3 of this year, when the RA Minister of Justice was presented with the works carried out in 2025. In her concluding speech, in addition to a number of questions, Srbuhi Galyan touched on the spiritual service in prisons, noting that she received information that the priests are engaged in political propaganda in the institutions, naturally, not for the benefit of Nikol Pashinyan, otherwise she would not have addressed that issue. 

The head of the CPC, Tsovinar Tadevosyan, also understood the boss-friend’s “namoyok”, and everything started with Father Grigor Hovhannisyan.

The reason given was that “Nubarashe” made political statements in the Penitentiary, thus violating the terms and objectives of the permit previously granted to enter the Penitentiary, so the permit given to him was terminated, and the Penitentiary began the process.

It is interesting, in the case of Fr. Grigor, if we accept the clarification of the CCP, let’s assume that he was engaged in political propaganda, then why was the entry of priests in other CCPs also prohibited?

Another remarkable circumstance: On March 16, the last spiritual publication was made on the official website of the CPSU. In the “Vardashen” prison, spiritual pastor Ter Arnak priest Harutyunyan held a conversation-discussion with the imprisoned people, dedicated to the Council of Great Fasting and Repentance.

The Ministry of Justice replied that the clergyman last visited the “Abovyan” prison on April 28. There was no such publication on the CCP website. instead, on April 29, weightlifter Nazik Avdalyan visited “Abovyan” CSC accompanied by the head of CSC.

It turned out that a clergyman was also present that day, more precisely, Lord Poghos. The latter is from the diocese of Masyatsotn, the most faithful priest of the former leader of the disorganized diocese, Gevorg Saroyan.

In other words, Arman Saroyan, being disorganized, continues to take millions from the AAP money, and the priest who is loyal to him has also started using the CPC budget.

In fact, all the priests with whom the CCP has signed a contract are definitely from the circle of Tiradavs. I wonder if the head of the National Security Service decided to use their service himself, or was it done at the urging of the minister or, let’s say, Nikol Pashinyan? We are sure that normal, devoted clergymen of the Armenian Apostolic Church would hardly agree to sign a contract with the CCP.

And one more thing: they signed a contract, why only one of the 6 goes to the prison, why is there no information about the other 5 clergymen, although the Ministry claims that there are 6 clergymen who signed the contract. Or maybe they are afraid to be seen or have concerns about the consequences?:

As for the contract, how will the remuneration be calculated? For example, one visit to the prison is 100 drams, a visitation is 200 drams, and a conversation with a prisoner is 300 drams.

What was once not done at the expense of taxpayers, is done today, and the hands of the priests under the control of the tyrants have also reached the budget of the Republic of Armenia, that is, the pockets of all of us. It turns out that a powerful tax payer also pays for the spiritual needs of imprisoned persons.

And in fact, Reverend Ruben Zargaryan, who has been in charge of spiritual service in penitentiary institutions for about 15 years, is now the vicar of the Diocese of Masyatsotn. press conference during that he mentioned that there were no visits to institutions, barely one or two cases.

And, yes, according to our information, new priests really do not visit institutions, one or two cases have been recorded in all prisons. I wonder if they will be paid, and in general, do they have a fear of meeting imprisoned people, especially if they know inside that their visitors are members of the bandits, and whether the clerics who served on a contractual basis will not preach against the AAP and the person of the Catholicos, we are not sure, based on daily developments, and if such information reaches the ears of Srbuhi Galyan, one day, probably, they will not be banned from entering institutions, but, perhaps, will reward, of course, from the budget of the Central Committee, at the expense of us, the taxpayers.

Let’s wait for the next coverage of the religious event on the official website of the KPK.

And Srbuhi Galyan and her friend Tsovinar Tadevosyan should probably know who they are dealing with, who they are depriving of spiritual care. Tomorrow, people will come out, Pashinyan is not forever, and one day they will surely be asked the same question, even during a protest meeting on the street: why did you deprive people in a narrow place of spiritual service?: I hope the ladies have the answer to that question.

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Chairman of the “Strong Armenia” party, prime ministerial candidate Samvel Karapetyan made a statement.