The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan “strongly condemned” the burning of the Turkish flag in Yerevan, calling on the participants of the incident to be held accountable and claiming that such actions cannot be justified by freedom of speech.

Flag burning certainly cannot be considered an acceptable manifestation of political culture. However, the value component is certainly not the basis of Baku’s response.

First, the selective approach is obvious. Azerbaijan is in a hurry to condemn the action of private individuals in the capital of another country, when it carries out an act of vandalism at the state level, destroying the Cathedral of Stepanakert.

Secondly, Baku reacts to the burning of the state symbol of Turkey, not its own, not only emphasizing its alliance relations, but also trying to influence the internal agenda of Armenia, forming the “limits of what is permissible”.

This is, in fact, the political message of Baku, addressed both to the public and to the state institutions, trying to influence the internal relations and decisions of Armenia.
Just like the demand to change the Constitution.

This reaction of Baku is not only related to the burning of the flag. It is part of a broader strategy to put pressure on Armenia, shape its domestic agenda, and dictate what is “permissible” from the position of the “winner.”

Political scientist Suren Surenyants

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The United States administration is radically changing its approach to negotiations with Iran, abandoning long foreign trips by diplomats amid new proposals from Tehran and its active consultations with Moscow.

President of the USA Donald Trump announced the end of the practice of sending American negotiators to Pakistan to meet with Iranian officials. In an interview with the Fox News channel, the American leader emphasized the pointlessness of eighteen-hour flights, noting that Washington has a complete strategic advantage.

According to him, if the Iranian side is interested in the dialogue, it can use protected telephone communication or come to the United States in person. This decision followed the failure of the first round of direct bilateral contacts held in Islamabad on April 11, after which the planned visit of US envoys Steven Wittkopf and Jared Kushner was cancelled.

At the same time, according to information from the Axios periodical, Tehran conveyed a new initiative to Washington, offering to unblock the Strait of Hormuz and stop military operations.

At the same time, the Iranian leadership insists on postponing the discussion of its nuclear program, as there is still no unified position on possible compromises within the country. In the context of these diplomatic maneuvers and disagreements with the US, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Russia, where he will hold talks with President Vladimir Putin on April 27.

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On April 25-26, the Kyokushin Karate World Cup was held in Yerevan. This is an important event for both Armenian and international sports life, especially since the tournament is organized for the first time in our country.

The President of the International Kyokushin Karate Federation, David Pitkle, and the General Secretary of the World Kyokushin Union, Alexander Pichkunov, arrived in Armenia to watch the tournament.

Such tournaments remind us once again that our focus should be not only on Olympic, but also on non-Olympic sports, supporting the development of sports and the active participation of young people.

Armenia is hosting the Kyokushin Karate World Cup for the first time, with the participation of about 500 athletes from 30 countries.

This is not only a great honor for our country, but also a worthy evaluation of the years of work of Armenian athletes.
Sports continue to unite different nations, creating a platform for strength, respect and solidarity.

Gagik Tsarukyan

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Armenian weightlifter Varazdat Lalayan reaffirmed his status as one of the strongest athletes of the continent, winning his third gold medal at the European Championship in Georgia and adding another top award to the national team.

On the last day of the tournament held in Batumi, the stage was given to super heavyweights. Olympic runner-up, two-time world and European champion Lalayan performed excellently in both exercises. In the snatch, the Armenian athlete successfully lifted 210 kg, and in the push, he held the bar weighing 241 kg above his head, maintaining the leading position in individual competitions.

With the result of 451 kg of the duel, he was unbeatable, being declared a three-time champion of Europe.

It is noteworthy that before this championship, the national team of Armenia also recorded impressive results. Emma Poghosyan and Garik Karapetyan won the title of champion in the doubles, Garnik Cholakyan, Alexandra Grigoryan, Gor Sahakyan and Ara Aghanyan won silver medals, and Martin Poghosyan became a bronze medalist. Anna Amroyan and Liana Gyurjian also stood out in the separate push-up exercise, winning small gold and silver medals, respectively.

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Against the background of the diplomatic deadlock, Tehran has presented Washington with a new three-stage initiative for conflict resolution, offering to postpone the nuclear issue for the sake of an immediate ceasefire. While the US administration is reviewing the format of the talks, Iranian diplomacy is focusing its attention on Moscow for high-level consultations.

According to international periodicals, the leadership of Iran proposed to the United States to divide the negotiation process into three successive stages. According to the sources, the first stage implies the end of military operations and the provision of security guarantees to Tehran and Lebanon. The second step will be devoted to the joint management of the Strait of Hormuz, and only in the third step will the parties be able to return to the discussion of the Iranian nuclear program. Journalists emphasize that this strategy is designed to bypass Tehran’s internal disagreements over nuclear concessions, but the lifting of the blockade may deprive Washington of key levers of pressure in the future.

US President Donald Trump has already made it clear that he intends to maintain a tough course and continue the economic blockade in order to force Iran to compromise. The American leader also announced his refusal to hold bilateral meetings in Pakistan, canceling the planned visit of his special envoys Steven Wittgough and Jared Kushner to Islamabad due to the inexpediency of long flights. It is expected that an extraordinary meeting on national security issues will be held in the White House in the near future to develop further steps.

In the light of these events, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi left Pakistan and went on a working visit to Russia. Representatives of the Kremlin and the Iranian embassy have confirmed that strategic consultations will be held in Moscow on issues of bilateral relations, regional security and the current conflict with the US, within the framework of which a personal meeting of the head of the Iranian diplomatic department with President Vladimir Putin is planned.

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The famous TV presenter Lusine Tovmasyan has announced the termination of the contract with the Public Television Company of Armenia. The reason for this drastic decision was the management’s move to remove him from the air after an independent interview with the world-famous pianist Lang Lang and conductor Sergey Smbatyan for his social media accounts.

In her official statement, the presenter clarified that the director of the TV company Hovhannes Movsisyan instructed her to be replaced by another presenter in the already filmed project.

According to Tovmasyan, the management made this decision directly due to the above-mentioned interview, although there is no provision in his employment contract prohibiting such activity. The presenter emphasized that she has always adhered to professional ethics, avoiding political processes, winning game advertisements and cooperation with competing channels, preferring exclusively cultural initiatives.

He described the created situation not as a professional, but as a result of personal motivations of the management, categorically adding that he refuses to become a tool for solving other people’s problems. For Tovmasyan, the fact that Lang Lang’s concert, which inadvertently became the cause of the conflict, was filmed by the order and resources of the Public Television Company was particularly paradoxical.

Despite the break in relations with the management, he warmly thanked the creative staff of Channel One and expressed hope to return to the air in the future with a fairer working atmosphere.

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According to the results of the first quarter of 2026, the “Electric Networks of Armenia” company was left out of the top ten of the country’s largest taxpayers, despite the actual increase in payments to the state budget by 100 million drams. This picture was recorded against the background of the overall significant increase in the tax revenues of large businesses and the change of the leader in the national ranking.

During the months of January-March, the 1000 largest companies paid a total of more than 459.2 billion drams to the state treasury, which is about 49.9 billion drams higher than the figure of the same period last year (more than 409.3 billion drams were collected in the first quarter of 2025). In this context, the HEC index deserves special attention. although officially the company dropped from the 9th place to the 14th place, in absolute terms it transferred 4.5 billion drams to the state budget, which is 100 million drams more compared to the same period of the previous year, when payments amounted to 4.4 billion drams.

The list was headed by the company “Mobile Center Art”, which sells electronics, paying 21.3 billion drams to the state budget. A year ago, this figure was 16.5 billion drams, which secured the company the second position. Former leader “Gazprom Armenia” CJSC fell to second place, paying 19.4 billion drams in taxes. Zangezur copper-molybdenum combine completes the top three with a deduction of 15.4 billion drams, moreover, in the first quarter of last year, this enterprise was not even included in the list of 200 largest taxpayers.

The companies “Grand Tobacco” (11.4 billion drams) and “Soft Contract” (8 billion drams) were also included in the top ten. the latter has improved its position, moving up from the tenth position. They are followed by “IMVBAM” representing Wildberries (6.8 billion drams), “Digitain” (6.7 billion drams), “Philip Morris Armenia” (6.3 billion drams), as well as the “City” supermarket chain and the mining company “Teghut”, each supplementing the budget with 6.1 billion drams.

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