RFE/RL – Karapetian Critical Of Pashinian’s ‘Anti-Russian Policy’

Karapetian said that while he stands for a good rapport with the European Union he believes that membership in the EU sought by Pashinian is a “false prospect” because “nobody is waiting for Armenia” in the 27-nation bloc.

“I am worried that our people will not benefit from that [policy,]” he told a news conference. “Having surrendered everything, Pashinian has only one thing left to sell to the Europeans: anti-Russian policy. The Europeans would love to buy it from him.”

Pashinian met with the EU’s two top officials in Yerevan on Tuesday for what was officially billed as the first-ever EU-Armenia summit. European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pledged to continue deepening ties with Armenia but stopped short of promising its eventual accession to the EU. Nor did they announce more economic aid to Yerevan.

The summit took place the day after a separate meeting in Yerevan of dozens of leaders of EU member and partner states making up the wider European Political Community. The forums are seen by local analysts as a pre-election show of support for Pashinian and his Civil Contract party.

A leading member of the ruling party, parliament speaker Alen Simonian, accused Russia on May 2 of plotting to “seize power” in Armenia through pro-Russian opposition groups, presumably including Karapetian’s Strong Armenia party. Karapetian has mostly lived and worked in Russia since the early 1990s.

The 60-year-old tycoon dismissed Pashinian allies’ claims that he is bent on increasing Armenia’s political and economic dependence on Russia. He argued that the Armenian economy is already heavily dependent on the Russian market and Russian natural gas supplied at a significant discount.

“I can’t increase that dependence any further, even if I wanted to,” he said. “But I do realize that Russia has been and will be our strategic ally, our main economic ally because we have no alternative today.”

Karapetian, who also has a third, Cypriot citizenship, expressed confidence about his Strong Armenia bloc’s victory in the June 7 elections.

“I base [the optimism] not only on opinion polls but also Pashinian’s extremely low rating,” he said.

Meanwhile, Pashinian again claimed that Strong Armenia and two other major opposition groups led by another wealthy businessman, Gagik Tsarukian, and former President Robert Kocharian may not win any parliament seats at all.

“Those parties must first think about entering the parliament,” he said. “It’s just ridiculous when they say they are going to win … Their sources of information and inspiration are not in Armenia.”

Some senior ruling party figures stated earlier this year that the Armenian authorities “will not allow” the three opposition forces to win a collective majority in the new National Assembly. The statements added to media speculation that at least some of them could be barred from the June 7 elections. Karapetian declined to say how his opposition movement would respond to such a ban.

Although all three opposition heavyweights have been registered by the Central Election Commission, Armenian law allows the body headed by a Pashinian ally to ask courts to disqualify contenders accused by it of systematic vote buying or campaign financing irregularities. In recent weeks, dozens of Strong Armenia members and supporters have been detained on charges of bribing voters strongly denied by Karapetian’s bloc.

The Anti-Corruption Committee (ACC) reported several more such arrests shortly after Karapetian’s news conference. It said that on behalf of another Russian-Armenian businessman residents of the southeastern Armenian town of Sisian have been promised money, jobs and other material benefits in return for voting for Strong Armenia. The law-enforcement agency did not identify the detainees or even reveal their number.

“As a frontrunner, we don’t need to hand out vote bribes,” Karapetian said, adding that the arrests highlight the authorities’ “fears” of election defeat.

Karapetian went on trial last month on different charges brought against him following his controversial arrest in June 2025. The Russian-Armenian tycoon remains under house arrest and will therefore not be able to physically attend election campaign rallies. But he is allowed to receive aides, loyalists and journalists and make public statements from his Yerevan mansion.

—