Although the authorities have seized the management of the HEC since July of last year, revoked its license and announced that they are going to nationalize it, the HEC remains completely the property of businessman Samvel Karapetyan. This will be the case until a sales transaction is made or an overriding interest is recognized.

It turned out that HEC legally belongs to the head of the opposition political force, but actually manages the power. The CP leader freely uses it for the interests of his own party in the elections.

On the eve of the elections, the KP manager of the HEC, probably without a second thought, disinterestedly distributes bonuses to the employees.

“About 3,700 employees of the National Economic and Social Committee were paid an additional leveled bonus for the month of March, each in the amount of 30,000 drams (taxes included).

Starting from March, the actual increase in the salary threshold of our employees will apply exclusively to all employees with a gross remuneration threshold of 250,000 drams (including taxes), regardless of their professional and service status and performance indicators, and the additional reward limit is set at 30,000 drams (including taxes).

As a result of this reform related to almost 50 percent of the employees of the HEC, their salaries have actually increased by 12-25 percent, and the financial resources necessary for the implementation of such a decision have been generated in the salary fund both at the expense of the head office of the HEC and branch managers, as a result of waiving their bonuses from the beginning, and due to the prevention and exclusion of inflated expenses in other directions,” he said the other day. Romanos Petrosyan, the temporary manager of the National Technical Committee of Ukraine, announced on his Facebook page.

Let’s leave aside the fact that those amounts distributed under the name of bonuses are not included in the tariffs and are paid to the account of Samvel Karapetyan’s property. But isn’t this an election bribe distributed by the KP governor on the eve of the elections, which is given with the expectation of wooing 3.7 thousand employees of the HEP and getting their votes in the elections?

The law enforcement bodies, which make cases against the political opponents of the government for everything, even make hiring and paying salaries in pre-election headquarters or party offices a basis for arrest, ignore such phenomena, although everyone understands its purpose, even if they don’t say it out loud. For a long time now, we have seen how the government levers are used not only to silence the opposition and remove them from the arena, but also to distribute hidden electoral bribes by various means and to woo the voters.

One such example, which we witnessed very recently, was related to the HETC owned by Samvel Karapetyan.

The Public Services Regulatory Commission decided to reduce the fees for connecting new subscribers to the network. Those fees were sharply raised not by the former “robbers”, but by today’s authorities, who stand and sit and talk about the people’s concerns. It was raised several times, through the same committee, which decided to take a small step back from its previous decision on the eve of the elections.

At one time they raised it, let’s say, 4 times, now they increased it 3 times and they are trying to present it to the consumers as the biggest achievement before the elections. It’s okay, even after that reduction, the new consumer will pay several times more for connecting to the network than he was paying before that increase.

It should be noted that this increase had nothing to do with HEC and the owner of HEC, no matter how much they try to present it that way and create such an impression. The National Energy Agency cannot change tariffs at its own will. Tariff changes are in the domain of the commission and the commission calculates, justifies and decides what it should be.

At one time, the need to increase the connection fees by several times was unequivocally justified. Since the opposition was the elections and there were many complaints about it, they started to justify the opposite. With those justifications, they reduced the connection fees. They have been talking about reducing for a long time, but they decided to do it 1.5-2 months before the elections, in order to show that they supposedly care about consumers. It seems that they had not climbed in time, and that too many times. At that time, they did not worry that they were putting a serious financial burden on consumers. Now, when the elections are near, they remembered the consumers.

No matter how much they try to put a different name on this or interpret it in a different way, it is a hidden attempt to encourage the voters. In recent months, the authorities have made such attempts neither for the first time nor for the last time. they raise pensions, invest in insurance, provide interest-free loans to farmers, subsidize the prices of fertilizers and milk, promise to provide apartments to former military officers, raise salaries in various institutions 2-3 months before the elections, give bonuses and bonuses, and so on.

There are so many such pre-election “charities” done by the authorities for the CP at the expense of the state and state funds, that it is difficult to remember them all one by one. Despite this, they are no longer satisfied with the state, and now they have moved on to doing “charity” for the CP at the expense of the owner of HEP and the head of the opposition political force.

HAKOB KOCHARYAN

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Artak Zakaryan, member of the Executive Body (GM) of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), former first deputy of the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia, writes. “Aliyev says there are forces in Armenia that hate Azerbaijan.

After forcibly deporting and depatriating a part of the Armenian people, occupying the Armenian Artsakh and RA territories, he still wants love.

At this stage of the campaign, Ilham Aliyev indirectly says: those who love KP and Nikoli also love Azerbaijan. Those who do not like KP and Nikoli spread hatred towards Azerbaijan as well.

The head of the government, who has been showing hatred for Armenians for decades, instilling hatred towards the Armenian people in their generations, is surprised that there is mutual hatred.

P.S.

Forget occupied Artsakh, forget the memory of thousands of dead Armenians, forget human honor and national dignity, forget everything and love Azerbaijan.

This is the joint pre-election manifesto of Aliyev and Pashinyan. Both openly threaten the main opposition forces of RA. One says that they should try or deport the oppositionists, the other says that they should be vigilant.

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Reverend Ruben Zargaryan, vicar of Masyatsotni Diocese, was invited to the RA Investigative Committee as a witness. He announced this in a conversation with journalists today.

“I was called at the request of the enforcer, because I allegedly do not comply with their warnings,” said the reverend.

He emphasized that state bodies, in the form of an enforcer, are trying in every possible way to obstruct his service.
“Actually, I, as a clergyman of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church, cannot offer liturgy, I cannot meet with young people, I cannot meet with the priest class, because, according to the investigation, this is an obstacle to the judicial act,” he said.

The priest informed that Arman Saroyan continues to write letters to the priests. Recently, two more cases were registered. It was written in the letter that they were removed from their pastorate.

“For some reason, everyone is waiting for the outcome of the elections. Meanwhile, the doctrine of the Armenian Apostolic Church, which also includes Orthodox ecclesiology, is not determined by the elections. If there are clerics who think that they should wait for the elections, then for them the doctrine of the church is changeable,” he said.

According to the priest’s assessment, the processes taking place in the dioceses of Masyatsotn and Aragatsotn are an attack not only on the constitutional foundations of the church, but also on the patriarchal system of the Armenian Apostolic Church, with the aim of destroying it from within.

“The processes taking place in the Masyatsotn Diocese in recent months show that Armenia is not a de facto legal state,” he added.

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State officials and businessmen of the two countries interacted in Aghveran

As expected, contacts between Baku and Yerevan are expanding, mainly through the state commission for the demarcation of the state border between the two countries, chaired by Deputy Prime Ministers Mher Grigoryan and Shahin Mustafaev. The 13th session of the commission was held on April 29 at the Aghveran resort in Armenia, which is a convenient place for various negotiations and informal contacts.

According to the official information of the host country, “during the session, the parties exchanged detailed thoughts on organizational and technical issues related to border demarcation activities.” The text of the draft instructions on the procedures for the activities of demarcation expert groups, the procedure for creating a map of the state border demarcation, as well as the procedure for preparing and issuing documents on the demarcation of the state border between Azerbaijan and Armenia were agreed upon.

In addition, co-chairs Mher Grigoryan and Shahin Mustafaev (born in the Noyemberyan region of the Armenian SSR) “exchanged separate thoughts on issues of mutual interest. It was noted that transit of goods through the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Republic of Armenia is successfully carried out and is currently ongoing. It was noted with satisfaction that Azerbaijan carries out deliveries of oil products to Armenia, which is an indicator of the formation of trade and economic ties between the two countries.”

During the meeting of the Baku delegation and the anonymous representatives of Armenian business circles, “a discussion of the development of trade and economic cooperation, mutual supply of goods and services, as well as issues of transit transportation took place. It was specially emphasized that the achieved results were made possible thanks to the political will of the RA Prime Minister and the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. According to the results of the meeting of the commissions, a corresponding protocol was signed.”

At the same time, According to the media of Baku, Azerbaijan has started the creation of transport infrastructure in the vicinity of the Sotki gold mine, which is planned to be put into operation by the AzerGold company after the completion of the works. After inspecting the area, they came to the conclusion in Baku that currently Armenia is not doing any work. The inspection was agreed upon during the previous meeting between Grigoryan and Mustafaev in Gabala.

“Caucasian Bureau”-ն writes. “After the negotiations, not so much the meeting as the composition of the (Armenian) delegation attracted the attention of the observers. A Rolls-Royce car with serial number 00-OO-006 was spotted in Sharasyan’s tail, which, according to Armenian journalists, is related to a businessman. Samvel Aleksanyan with. The name of another Armenian businessman is also circulating in the news field: Khachatur Sukiasyan (Grzo). At the same time, it was reported about the increase in security measures and the presence of snipers during the negotiations. The mentioned businessmen, who are major importers of all kinds of products to Armenia, felt good even until 2018, but it was with the arrival of Nikol Pashinyan and his team to power, they say, that they expanded “in full swing”. It must be assumed that they are the privileged list of beneficiaries of Yerevan’s “peace agenda”, including the desired trade course with its eastern and western neighbors.

But will this bring profit and prosperity to the majority of Armenian citizens? True, the issue is highly controversial, and is it only about trade? According to Artur Khachatryan, deputy of the opposition “Hayastan” bloc of the National Assembly of Armenia, the acting head of the government Nikol Pashinyan, lacking internal legitimacy and the real support of the people, is betting on Baku, and Mustafaev’s current visit was organized to show that there is peace between Baku and Yerevan, and as long as Pashinyan is at the helm, relations will remain normal.

There is no doubt that “in return for their support, they will definitely snatch something from the Armenian authorities”, Khachatryan does not doubt, assuming that Baku may demand special concessions in the demarcation and demarcation process, taking into account Mustafaev’s status as the co-chairman of the commission. As for the meeting with businessmen, it creates an illusion that the establishment of “natural relations” will open up new opportunities.

It seems that this is partly true. In the first quarter of 2026, Azerbaijan exported a record 5.8 million dollars of its products to Armenia (75% of which are oil products), while during the entire year of 2025, Azerbaijan exported 788.8 thousand dollars of goods to Armenia.

And the import from Armenia amounted to some symbolic 960 dollars. In Yerevan, they emphasize the lack of actual exports to Azerbaijan, and there are speculations in the media that the mentioned amount could have been generated at the expense of gifts (sweets, tea, etc.) “transmitted by civil society representatives” during several mutual visits that were widely covered in the media of the two countries. The last such visit took place in the first ten days of April. The Armenian delegation arrived in Azerbaijan through the demarcated part of the land border in the northern part of the Tavush region, passing through the neighboring Kazakh region, along the northern demarcated part of the border, observing all the necessary formalities.

According to Baku mass media, exports to Armenia accounted for only 0.11% of the total volume of Azerbaijan’s exports in the first three months of 2026, and the structure of mutual trade is dominated by oil products from the shores of the Caspian Sea (they also dominated Azerbaijan’s trade ties with the Armenian SSR up to and including 1990).

The Russian side has repeatedly called for the restoration of economic ties between the two countries, including the opening of transport links. The Trump administration was also not left out, which organized a noisy “peace” summit in Washington on April 8, 2025, which was accompanied by the signing of the draft peace agreement. Last January, Baku and Yerevan exchanged lists of potential products for mutual trade. they were partially updated in February. At that time, in Abu Dhabi, Aliyev and Pashinyan, let’s remind, expressed their support for the development of economic ties between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Later, the RA Minister of Economy told the media that Yerevan is negotiating with Baku on the mutual supply of aluminum foil and raw materials for its production, ferromolybdenum, some chemicals, farm animals, cognac, tobacco, textiles, roses, essential oils and other greenhouse products. As for the supply of gas through the territory of Azerbaijan by railway, “huge investments of SCR” are necessary for this, the minister clearly hinted.

Aliyev still in 2024 announced“Within the framework of expanding export opportunities, Baku allows one of the power transmission lines and the gas pipeline to pass through the territory of Armenia. Armenia can become Azerbaijan potential gas receiver.’

The latter is even more possible, because from the second half of the 1960s to the beginning of the 1970s, there is a branched gas pipeline network that supplied the Caspian Sea (methane, i.e. natural, and oil, i.e. propane-butane) deposits to the Armenian SSR. Can such a scheme be reproduced today, more than 35 years later, and in fundamentally new geopolitical conditions? Given the turbulent geopolitical dynamics of recent months and years, it is clearly premature to answer this question definitively.

Alexey Baliev

Translation by Zhanna Avetisyan

vpoanalytics.com

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