In this article, we will look at the government’s 2021-2026. to another remarkable and at the same time problematic record in the report on the progress and results of the 2025 implementation of the activity plan. It refers to the following wording on page 8 of the report. “Within the economic and investment plan for 2021-2025 The sum of the actually implemented, as well as signed, approved and soon-to-be-launched projects amounted to around 900 million euros.։

At first glance, this can be perceived as a serious investment achievement. However, if we go a little deeper, the picture will be completely different. We are talking about the “Economic and Investment Plan” formed within the framework of cooperation with the EU, regarding which as early as 2021. the government announced about 2.6 billion euros of investments in Armenia. Now, according to that report, 900 million euros of that volume are already “in motion” in the form of a signed, approved, or in the beginning project. But there is an important subtlety here, which the report tried to hide as much as possible.

A significant part of that 900 million euros is not really an investment. we are only talking about the loan funds provided to the RA government. In other words, external financial resources that Armenia attracts within the framework of cooperation with the EU and is obliged to return in the future. In other words, what is presented as an “investment package” is mostly public debt.

This is not just a wording problem, but a substantive one. When a loan is presented as an investment, an artificial impression of “success” is created. Meanwhile, real investment implies risk-taking capital, private sector activity and long-term confidence in the country. The loan, on the other hand, is a liability that sooner or later must be repaid at the expense of RA citizens, “proud” taxpayers.

Moreover, if we talk about the investment environment, the picture here is more than worrying. Despite the official assurances that Armenia remains an attractive destination for investors, in reality, the opposite assessment is being heard more and more often by various international organizations and experts: high risks, unpredictable environment, weak institutions, self-righteousness by the ruling power. The investor is primarily looking for stability, predictability, protection of rights and clear rules of the game. However, the problems of property rights protection in Armenia, political or arbitrary interventions and lack of transparency of decisions have significantly undermined that trust.

When talking about the quality of the investment environment in Armenia, it is impossible not to mention a number of scandalous cases in recent years, which have caused additional doubt among investors. For example, the processes surrounding Armenia’s electric grids, which are accompanied by high political tensions and conflicting public assessments, show how quickly an unstable situation can develop around private property. In the same way, the questions and lack of transparency surrounding the activities of the ANIF Foundation undermined the trust in public-private cooperation. The fact that the Zangezur copper-molybdenum combine applied for international arbitration cannot be ignored. These examples create an environment where the investor not only calculates economic profitability, but also political risks, which remain high in Armenia.

The general picture is unequivocal: when the debt was presented as an investment in the most important state document, and the actual results were not compared with the own program targets, it is not just a mistake, it is a conscious manipulation. This is not a report, but a political text written in the language of “good numbers”. And no matter how much an attempt is made to package the reality, it is obvious that it is not about achievements, but about failed management, missed opportunities and yet another unfulfilled promises.

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On April 15, in the National Assembly, the government’s 2021-2026 on the progress and results of the project in 2025. During the discussion of the report, Nikol Pashinyan mentioned several things related to the army statement did, which we will look at separately. And so.

 The different numbers presented by the military academy cadets Pashinyan and Papikyan

Pashinyan said in the parliament. “Last year, the number of people admitted to the Vazgen Sargsyan Military Academy increased 2.7 times compared to 2018.” Then he continued.

“Nobody notices that in 2018 the Military Academy was on the verge of closing due to the lack of cadets, they don’t talk about it, they don’t talk about it. It has increased 2.7 times, and students receive a scholarship of 175,000 drams, moreover, when they graduate, they will be considered certified and have the opportunity to receive a salary of up to 750,000 drams as an officer. Starting from 2026, those admitted, graduates who have completed their service will receive an apartment.”

Here we consider it necessary to recall several episodes.

On April 17, 2025, Deputy Chairman of the Standing Committee on Defense and Security of the National Assembly, Armen Khachatryan, speaking about the changes recorded in the field of military education, made unacceptable statements in the parliament.

“Until 2021-2022, what was the military academy? It was some kind of institution between a colony and a military unit. There was almost no physical education chair, everything was destroyed inside, there were no normal lecture chairs. There was a year when the number of applicants to the academy was only 16 people, and under these conditions, did we want to have an army without basic education officers, without a military academy?” he said.

We not only argued we have responded to the claims and inadmissible wording of the former “Gaishnik”, but immediately, on April 19, 2025, we sent written requests to the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia with the following questions:

– Before the April war, starting from 2010, and during the period after, RA Defense Minister V. When was the highest and lowest number of applicants to the Sargsyan Military University recorded, specify the specific year, until 2018? the change of power.

– After 2018, RA Defense Minister V. When was the highest and lowest number of applicants to the Military University named after Sargsyan recorded, specify the specific year, including 2022?- Before the April war, starting from 2010, and during the period after, when was the highest and lowest number of applicants to the Military Aviation University named after Marshal Armenak Khanperyants recorded, specify the specific year, until 2018. the change of power.

– After 2018, when was the highest and lowest number of applicants to the Military Aviation University named after Marshal Armenak Khanperyants of the RA Ministry of Defense recorded, specify the specific year, including 2022?

– Please submit to RA Defense Minister V. The number of applicants to the Sargsyan Military Academy for the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 academic years.

However, about 20 days later, in its reply, the RA Defense Department provided the information requested by us had refused provided by reference to the State Secret of the law to Article 29 (Service information of limited distribution), According to Article 8, Clause 1, Clause 1 of the RA Law “On Freedom of Information” and the Government of the Republic of Armenia dated 11.01.2024. to the requirements of paragraph 8 of the N5З-Н decision.

In other words, the government deputy publishes the number of applicants to the Military Academy, regardless of specifying a specific year, and when we try to find out when this happened, how valid this accusation is, the RA Ministry of Defense considers it not subject to publication.

Moreover, let’s note that, for example, for the 2006-2007 academic year, digital data related to 2016 and 2020 were published, so the question arises: why did the RA Ministry of Defense not want to show the digital data, especially when it is for the benefit of the current authorities and the Minister of Defense? After this, of course, we again tried to get digital data from the defense department, but to no avail.

And since already in April 2026, Nikol Pashinyan again raised the issue of the number of applicants to the Military Academy, this time we once again asked the structure headed by Suren Papikyan to provide already public digital data. Will they give it or will they avoid it again, even though they think the statistics are in their favor?

Note that in 2023 By the decision of the RA Government No. 914 A of June 8, the “Military University named after Vazgen Sargsyan” and the “Military Aviation University named after Marshal Armenak Khanperyants” were reorganized and the state institution of the Ministry of Defense “Military Academy named after Vazgen Sargsyan” was reorganized and created.

Therefore, taking this fact into account, and also if we accept that due to the small number of applicants, according to Pashinyan, the Military University was on the verge of closing in 2018, then under the conditions of the privileges granted in recent years, the Military University and the 2018 2025 A comparison of the number of applicants to the Military Academy and the claim that 2,7 even increased, is it a very significant figure?

Moreover, 5 months ago, on November 13, 2025, RA Defense Minister Suren Papikyan from the NA podium had announced. 

“The number of academy cadets increased by 26% compared to 2018. which proves that the attitude of our public towards military education and the attitude of our young people towards this profession has changed significantly.

Let’s admit that the numbers presented by Nikol Pashinyan and Suren Papikyan are different.

By the way, Pashinyan “taught” the generals in January this year had forgotten  that the Military University named after Vazgen Sargsyan has the status of an academy from June 2023, and that those studying in military institutions are not students, but cadets, there were no mistakes in this regard yesterday in the National Assembly. Positive record.

And we will wait for the response of RA Defense Minister Suren Papikyan and the structure he leads, to provide at least the number of cadets of the Military University in 2018 and 2025, and then the academy, and to confirm or deny whether it was on the verge of closure.

On May 28, Pashinyan will only give a pre-election report at Republic Square  

Yesterday, April 15, Nikol Pashinyan claimed in the National Assembly that they are on the way to a professional army, capable of retaining both conscript and non-conscript soldiers. And from this there is a transition to fortified regions.

“When we talk about additional six and six billion dollars, where is that money?” Go to fortified areas and see where the money is. Go to the fortified regions and see how the security and the comfortable and comfortable service of the soldier is. Fortified regions – we are asking the opposition, we are begging, we are saying: listen, come, we invite you, let’s go and look, let’s go and look, and you show me anything even close to 73 km, just show me one. Because they were allegedly opposing us, saying: our fortified regions… you did something with canned coconuts, your alternative was canned coconuts, they were upset here…” he stated, presenting some things done for the army as “aldage”, not as a duty and responsibility.

By the way, in 2022 we are in the positions of the Tavush sector we recorded “canserva coconuts” and a photo we took later Nikol Pashinyan’s Deputy Chief of Staff Taron Chakhoyan presented: as a photograph of former positions. Moreover, the representatives of the ruling power at the time they were mocking the presence of tires in positions, but even today you can see tires in positions.

Of course, no one ignores the works of furnishing the army positions engineering the solutions about which Suren Papikyan shared a video again the other day, but when you have lost a war, when you have had significant human and territorial losses during positional conflicts, and you constantly remember the “can-bottle” of the former, is it honest or correct? Maybe it was possible to do more in the past, but is it moral to make fun of former Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan, from whom, one month after the April 2016 war, he went to dig a ditch and received a certificate and a medal for it…

And at the end, Pashinyan couldn’t help but remember from the podium of the National Assembly the expected display of weapons on Republic Square on May 28, which we talked about much earlier. to report. 

“Well, what about the acquisition of weapons, which, yes, including due to a number of objective and subjective circumstances, was also acquired with funds from external sources. Do you remember that I constantly responded to those speculations about Armenia’s foreign debt, national debt, I am not talking about weapons now, because as they say, it is better to see once than to hear 100 times, and we, I want to emphasize again, we absolutely did not have such an intention, nor did we have such a desire, especially since there is a lot of secret information, that is, there are some things, one thing, all countries do, of course, and, one way or another, international what we have acquired has been circulated in the press, but in any case, we want to be accountable to our people for what weapons we have acquired in recent years. On May 28, on the occasion of the Republic Day, we will display in the Republic Square, by the way, only the weapons that we have acquired after 2022 and we just want to be accountable to our people, so that we can hope that the issues will be closed, and also produce them”, on April 15 in the National Assembly, the government’s 2021-2026 on the progress and results of the project in 2025. Pashinyan said during the discussion of the report, adding that on that day what needs to be covered will be covered.

In other words, this is not so much a demonstration of the army’s fighting ability, or, as they say, defensive ability, but a report for its own name. In other words, the hero of the day will not be the army, but Nikol Pashinyan and his government.

Let’s add that recently Suren Papikyan announced that during his tenure “5.4 times more was spent on armaments than during the years of the previous two presidents”.

Of course, any achievement related to the army is positive, but the combat capability of the army is not determined only by weapons, there are a number of components, including the number of personnel, the degree of its combat training, etc., not to mention that the state is judged by the results of the war.

And before this announcement, we sent a written request to the Minister of Defense to find out from which countries, apart from Russia, Armenia acquired weapons and military equipment before the 2018 revolution, and what exactly, and what percentage of the increase in the state debt goes to the purchase of new weapons, but Suren Papikyan had refused provide us with that information.

168.amthe wrote also that before the 44-day war, the former head of the RA Armed Forces General Directorate, Onik Gasparyan, presented an arms development project worth 8 billion dollars to Pashinyan, which, in fact, was not implemented, even if it was not rejected at the time.

It is interesting that Nikol Pashinyan and his government are somehow forgetting the period between 2018-2022, when in 2019 they were proud of the unprecedented acquisition of weapons at every opportunity. Shouldn’t there also be a report on expenses and war losses in this regard…

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International expert Grigor Balasanyan is convinced that the cease-fire announced between the United States and Iran will not last long, and the Americans and Israelis are simply gaining time through the two-week ceasefire to reorganize their forces, prepare and launch a new attack. 168 TVof Revue on the air of the program Grigor Balasanyan spoke about the current situation around Iran, predicting that the coalition of the United States and Israel will launch a ground attack against Iran.

“The Americans are gaining time to carry out a ground operation against Iran. Now, very active work is going on with all of Iran’s neighbors to see who will be able to become a participant or provide space for it. This is what the ongoing shadow negotiations are about. How Islamabad will present itself, how many times the commander of the Pakistani army will go to Tehran and come back is not important. this is done to divert attention, and the Iranian side already clearly understands this, that’s why they announced that they do not consider Pakistan as a mediator. The main preparatory work is going to carry out a ground operation. Trump is trying to do it, at least to save his face. If this also failed, and there are all chances that this will also fail, Trump has no choice but to simply resign,” Grigor Balasanyan thinks.

The international expert emphasizes that, although the Americans and the Israelis attacked Iran twice during the negotiations, the Iranians, being an Aryan people, usually keep their word, and when the foreign minister of an entire country comes to negotiate with them, they accept him in the same way, but even the world’s No. 1 superpower does not think to negotiate in parallel, “negotiate with one hand and pull the sword out of the sheath with the other to kill the other side.” purpose”.

According to the international expert, “the world no longer takes US President Trump seriously” especially after his recent speeches, and “Iran was a very tough nut to crack” for the United States and Israel.

“The United States understands that it is left alone,” notes the international expert, recalling that NATO allies did not support Trump’s anti-Iranian campaign.

Grigor Balasanyan is confident that after confronting the world’s No. 1 superpower and its ally and coming out victorious from this confrontation, Iran is not only acting from a position of actual strength in Iran-American negotiations, but it can also act from a position of strength and dictate its terms in matters related to the programs planned in Armenia and related to the Armenian-Iranian border, particularly TRIPP. Pointing to the sad experience of the Gulf Arab countries, which were considered allies of the United States during the Iranian conflict, Grigor Balasanyan warns. “Now is not the time to play friendship with the United States.”

According to the international expert, as a result of the war, Iran is becoming a leading state in the region, that’s why “Erdogan’s cover does not come out”.

“We will be the first to gain from the strengthened withdrawal of Iran, Aliyev’s appetite will be shut down very quickly,” added Grigor Balasanyan.

Regarding the topic, Grigor Balasanyan also expressed his point of view about the meeting between Putin and Pashinyan in the Kremlin on April 1 and the famous meeting that took place in front of the cameras. conversation, including regarding the discussion of the subject of Artsakh and the possible consequences of Putin’s transparent hints.

The international expert notes that after Putin’s speech in the Kremlin, problems with several types of Armenian products exported to Russia began to arise. Grigor Balasanyan also considers it wrong for Pashinyan to “bite” and “bait” Putin in response, saying to his face that Armenia is a more democratic country and there are no restrictions on the freedom of social networks in Armenia. The international expert criticizes other parts of Pashinyan’s speech as well.

“Was it necessary to go to that meeting so unprepared? What does it mean: the Armenian-Azerbaijani border corresponds 100 percent to the borders of the Armenian SSR and the Azerbaijani SSR?  What does current Azerbaijan have to do with Soviet Azerbaijan? What does Soviet Azerbaijan have to do with this Azerbaijani constitution? Well, was it possible to go to the meeting so unprepared, was there no one to tell that person? Who wrote the text? Have you looked at the constitution of Azerbaijan? He is the Prime Minister of Armenia, we put the personality aside. The Prime Minister of Armenia goes to Moscow, meets with the President of the Russian Federation, participates in interstate negotiations. Why are you putting that person in a bad situation?

Have you not read the constitution of Azerbaijan, where 1991 is written in black and white? The constitutional regulations of Azerbaijan of October 28, which is the first, Azerbaijan considers itself 1918-20. Successor of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan, and secondly, Azerbaijan 1922-1992. considers the years of “Soviet occupation”. On what basis do you draw this border? This Azerbaijan does not consider itself the successor of Soviet Azerbaijan, therefore, with whom have we negotiated for so many years, that is, a self-proclaimed, in Russian, “samazvanets” (“samozvanets”), someone came and sat at the negotiation table, and in these 30 years, hasn’t someone said: what are you doing here, dear, who are you representing, who are you, the leader of which country are you in 1918-20, so when the question comes You will come and sit at this table to decide the question of whether the Kazakh region belongs to Armenia or Azerbaijan. You have no connection with Artsakh, because in 1918-20 There was no Artsakh on the territory of Azerbaijan, what are you talking about, who are you talking to?” said the international expert.

Full interview in the video.

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During the 8 years of his power, Nikol Pashinyan and the Communist Party imposed a debt of 2.5 thousand dollars on every citizen of Armenia. It is the amount that during that time has increased on the citizens in the form of state debt.

If before the CP members came to power, the state debt per citizen was even less than 2.2 thousand dollars, now it has reached up to 4.7 thousand dollars, an increase of 2.5 thousand.

It may seem to many that he has nothing to do with that debt, he did not take that debt and he will not pay for it. But it is not so. Those debts are directly related to the citizen’s pocket. These amounts will be paid from the citizen’s pocket and to the citizen’s account. They will cut off the citizen’s mouth to return the debts.

Today, the citizen already pays for these debts from his own pocket, although in many cases he does not know about it. Those debts are paid from the sums that the citizen pays to the state budget in the form of taxes and fees. These are the citizens’ money, which were supposed to return to the economy through various programs, serve the implementation of economic programs, contribute to the improvement of the social conditions of the citizens, but they go to close the loans taken by the government. Already this year, the citizen will have to pay more than 1.1 billion dollars out of his pocket in order to cover only the interest on the government’s debt.

This is the citizen’s money that comes out of the citizen’s pocket because the heart of the government wants a lot of money. But since he doesn’t have that money, he went and borrowed it from others, and today the citizen has to return it from his own pocket, not even knowing what the money was used for.

There have been debts in the past, all the authorities have taken debts to one extent or another, but these debts were moderate. That is why the citizen used to pay three times less to service the debts than he pays now. In recent years, the debt service burden on the citizen has tripled.

In 8 years, the debt of the “proud” citizen, declared by Nikol Pashinyan, has increased incomparably more than during the previous almost 28 years.

When they say that the country was kept and kept by debts, this is exactly what they mean. They accumulated a debt of 2.5 thousand dollars per citizen. With those debts, they made the expenses that they often try to present as a favor to the citizen. They made asphalt, built a water line, installed lighting, they did it at the expense of increasing the debts of the citizen’s pocket. We can already see how long it lasts.

Until recently, they were proud of asphalt, the snow came, and it drove away.

The fact that they eliminate the consequences of low-quality asphalt by making asphalt again and again, they do it with the money of the people’s pockets or by increasing the debts.

In eight years, they borrowed more than 8 billion dollars. The ones that are made are sometimes the asphalt that does not last for several months. If at least those funds were spent on developing production, increasing the capacities and capacities of the economy, nothing more. But the results of those billions are nowhere to be seen in the economy. And it is not difficult to be convinced of this by opening the structure of the economy.

They say that we provided technical support to the business within the framework of large sums of money. Businessmen have acquired new techniques and equipment, carried out technological re-equipment in order to expand production processes, increase capacities, and increase productivity. But it is not visible in any way in the economy. There is no qualitative change in the structure of the economy. The structure of the economy has not improved at all, something has worsened.

If once the leader in the GDP was the processing industry, agriculture, now it is the wholesale and retail trade. The weight of manufacturing industry and agriculture has decreased, instead of trade, it has increased. The weight of the construction, financial sector, gaming business has also increased, but not the production sector, which is the main pillar of the economy.

The real economy has retreated, sectors based on random factors have emerged. And this is where the questions arise, what did they do with those huge sums taken in the form of debts, that the real part of the economy, by and large, did not gain anything from it? At least they should have created new productions and expanded the existing ones, but they didn’t do that either. Who can remember how many new factories were opened in Armenia in the last 8 years, or how many new factories were built and put into operation, how many new products were released? Even if there were, you can count them on your fingers. But isn’t it about 8 years? And in those 8 years, they added more than 8 billion dollars in debt.

The money was spent without implementing development projects.

How will these debts be closed tomorrow, when the role of the real sector in the economy is decreasing and debts are increasing?

They think that just laying asphalt and building a road is enough for investments to come, economic projects to be implemented, and development to take place. In eight years, they did not understand that the economy will not develop just by making asphalt and creating half-baked infrastructure.

It is not surprising that, having been in power for so many years, they admit that they have remained in the same class and have not learned anything. That is why the debts increase, and the economy does not benefit from it. Maybe they win, the contents of their pockets increase, but what is the benefit to the citizen? The burden of debt on the citizen’s pocket is only increasing and the burden of debt service, which is already measured in billions.

HAKOB KOCHARYAN

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“The official repression machine continues to work. we are ready for it.” 168TV’s “Zara Has a Question” reflecting on the air of the program “Strong Armenia” party members’ arrests, he announced party member Gohar Ghumashyan.

Gohar Ghumashyan clarified why the last actions were carried out in the city of Artashat: on April 19, they planned to hold a big rally there.

“Naturally, we submitted an application about it, and this morning already their car started working. We are ready for those steps on their part, we will not stop and will go to the end,” he added.

Reflecting on the episode of his arrest, the party figure noted that the investigators could not come up with a single argument that corresponded to reality.

“Finally, I was released under the condition of administrative supervision,” he said, then referring to the publicized recordings, he elaborated, “That phone call has nothing to do with the election process, I was called by a very close person, a relative, with whom I have had friendly relations for more than 10 years, and of course, that conversation was presented in a fragmented, incomplete, edited manner.”

The 2nd episode of the wiretapping was related to the businessman’s call, because I am considered the executive director of the Armenian Businessmen’s Association since 2020. That association is a non-profit organization that aims to support Armenian businessmen to present their products more competently, to further expand their partnership relations with a number of other businessmen.

The 2nd call was from a businessman whom I did not recognize, he introduces himself and I say that we are not familiar, he presents his production capabilities so that I can advise what should happen next, and I refer to our employee and say that please contact our employee, he will present you in detail what powers the association has and in what format we can cooperate. That’s it; And I think that if the court had doubts after the court session, I would not be sitting here right now.”

Gohar Ghumashyan assured that their struggle cannot be stopped by similar episodes, and he considered the leader of their political force to be someone who can ensure pan-Armenian unity.

“After Samvel Karapetyan comes to power, he will definitely not divide Armenians into black and white, there will be no vendettas, there will be no reprisals, we will work with professionals who work according to their principles and oaths.

I want to have the Armenia that Armenian mothers do not have to flee their sons from the country in order not to serve in the army. I really want Armenian women not to have to send their husbands to work abroad and wait for them for years. I want our young people not to tie their future with abroad, and I want to repeat my very dear thought that no more Armenian talent will leave Armenia due to being neglected.

The economy should be stable, diplomacy should be strong, our country should not be used as a tool, but we should be a factor in the field of diplomacy as well. I want Armenia to become a strong, influential and dignified country from June 8,” he concluded.

Today, we learned that more than a dozen people were arrested within the framework of the proceedings being investigated by the Anti-Corruption Committee. The committee issued a statement stating that election bribes were distributed in Artashat by the members of the “Strong Armenia” party and NGOs cooperating with them.

On April 14, the Court imposed administrative control on Gohar Ghumashyan and Verzhine Stepanyan, members of the same party.

The arrested Gohar Ghumashyan’s husband brought the two-month-old baby to the Anti-Corruption Court. The court allowed the mother of many children to see her breastfeeding baby for a few minutes. The child was restless, probably hungry or missing his mother.

According to the report of the RA Anti-Corruption Committee, “As a result of the activities carried out by the operational-investigative units, factual data was obtained that after the decree of the President of the Republic of Armenia on calling the regular elections of the RA National Assembly came into force on February 7, 2026, under the conditions of the legislative ban, various residents of RA participating in the national elections, under the name of charity, by a member of the “Strong Armenia” party with the assistance of another person 2026 In March of 2011, in one case, a monetary instrument was provided free of charge, in another case, a service was promised under preferential conditions. In connection with the incident, criminal proceedings were initiated under the relevant article of the RA Criminal Code, public criminal prosecution was initiated against two persons who were arrested.”

Details in the video

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