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The prestigious French periodical “Le Journal du Dimanche” has published The open letter of Mikael Minasyan, the former ambassador of Armenia to the Holy See: addressed to French President Emmanuel Macron. It is noteworthy that the letter was also officially delivered to the Elysée Palace.

We present the Armenian translation of the message addressed to President Macron, where Minasyan spoke in detail about the problems of Artsakh Armenians, the persecutions and repressions against the Church.

Applying: Mikael Minasyan wrote to the President of France. “A few days ago, you were hosted in my homeland, Armenia, where you were welcomed with the warmth characteristic of the Armenian people. The friendship between France and Armenia has centuries of history and deep roots in values, but let me state a simple truth. just as Armenia is not Nikol Pashinyan, France is not you.

Your visit was not a mission to support the allied people, but an open and harsh political propaganda in favor of Nikol Pashinyan, just one month before the elections. Your obsession with courting the current government was so insurmountable that you even resorted to lying, claiming that there were no similar visits to Armenia until 2018. Meanwhile, all three presidents before you have been on official visits to our country, receiving the greatest respect from the people and an equally warm reception.

During this visit, you chose to see only the “Nikol” side of Armenia. You avoided listening to the voice of those Armenians who do not forgive and do not forget how 2022 On October 6 in Prague, under your direct auspices, Nikol Pashinyan recognized Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan. Many of the authors of that black page of history have already left the political stage, just like you and your protégé will leave one day. However, the 120,000 Artsakh Armenians and their descendants will remain, who suffered under siege for 8 months and died of hunger as a result of your “peace agenda”, and in 2023. in September, subjected to ethnic cleansing and military aggression, they were forcibly displaced from their thousand-year-old homeland, in the conditions of silence and inaction of you, your sponsor and colleagues.

Today you make loud statements about Pashinyan’s “courage”. If handing over one’s homeland and people to the enemy is bravery for you, then for us it is national betrayal. But you did not meet those Armenians.

You did not see the Artsakh Armenians being dragged and subjected to brutal force on the streets of Yerevan, because the police barriers kept them away from your eyes. You visited the Genocide Memorial, but you didn’t know that the director of the Genocide Museum, a distinguished scientist, was recently fired by Nicole for daring to present a book about Artsakh to the US Vice President.

You visited the country that was the first to adopt Christianity, but you despised the Catholicos of All Armenians, who for a long time has been exposed to open persecution for not denying Artsakh and protecting the Armenian spiritual heritage. The persecutions unleashed against the Armenian Apostolic Church are not limited to the campaign against the Holy Father. Today, four reverends of the Church in Armenia are in prison, exclusively on fabricated and politically motivated charges. Moreover, the movement of the Catholicos of All Armenians out of the country is actually prohibited, and his family members have become political hostages, appearing behind bars.

You visited Gyumri, but they did not tell you that the leader of that diocese, Mikael Srbazan, spent almost a year in prison for free speech and remaining unfaithful to the truth, and now he is under house arrest. During your visit, the believers of Gyumri, who were trying to convey their voice to you, were forbidden by the police force to even approach your convoy.

Today, Armenia is buried in total repression. the presence of political prisoners, the forced silencing of free speech and the collapse of democratic institutions are even recorded in authoritative international reports. Pashinyan does not hesitate to persecute the authoritative figures of the Diaspora, some of whom, by the way, were part of your delegation. You cannot be ignorant of all this.

The Armenians, whom you never met, are sure that history will still give its harsh assessment to the “courage” that you so diligently praise.

They are also happy that just as Armenia is not Nikol Pashinyan, France is not you.”

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Lilit Makunts, whose active political biography, as in the case of many CP members, began with walking with Pashinyan, has been holding the position of Pashinyan’s chief adviser since August 2025.

We learn about what the former minister, ambassador, and advisor Makunts declared in 2025, the other day from the declaration submitted by him to the Corruption Prevention Commission.

Thus, according to the declaration, he purchased an apartment worth AMD 35,296,115 from “Jermuk Group” CJSC in 2021, which he manages under joint ownership rights. It is also known from the line of the declaration: “delivered and returned loans” that the official “closed” that amount at the end of the year.

The dollar balances of Makunts bank accounts decreased at the end of the year, from 36,003.05 dollars to 19,081.84 dollars, and the dram balances doubled, from 419,861.38 drams to 1,023,737.4 drams.

Cash drams also increased, instead of zero at the beginning of the year, it was about half a million drams at the end of the year.

The annual income of the reporting year, 2025, was 1 billion 317 million 715 thousand 414 drams. The amount of this amount, even taking into account the rate of enrichment of CP members, seemed a lot. we contacted the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to verify the authenticity of the number, in response, we were told that Makunts had already written an application and informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the error in the line of income declared, according to which:

Lilit Makunts declared 2 million 297,938 drams in income tax, 1,308,351 drams in salary and or equivalent payments from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1 million drams in loan from Hayeconom Bank, 3 million 214,946 drams in salary and equivalent payments from the Prime Minister’s Office (remember, she assumed the position of adviser in August) and more 2,851,330 AMD salary, again from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

As of December 31 of the reporting year, the balance of the principal amount of received loans and borrowings amounted to 28,409,629 drams, the purpose of the mortgage was the apartment.

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Armenian-Russian relations are now in the stage of an open and aggressive public crisis, where alliance ethics has given way to direct ultimatums. The mistrust accumulated over the years between Yerevan and Moscow has gone out of control, turning into an open geopolitical confrontation. We are witnessing a situation where the perception of a strategic partnership is crumbling, and the communication between the parties has turned into an exchange of remote accusations, which indicates the degradation of relations and a new, unpredictable milestone.

The peak of expression of this crisis was the last drastic statement of Vladimir Putin, which was sounded as a last warning. Armenia should make its final choice between EAEU and EU. However, the remarkable thing is that the RA authorities declare that they have no plans to leave the EAEU. RA Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan stated that when the moment comes, when they understand that Armenia has to make a choice between the EU and EAEU, they should make that choice. “There is nothing new in this matter. Currently, we are a member of EAEU, we continue our activities there. When the time comes, we will do it,” he said.

However, the Russian president’s direct emphasis that the issue of Armenia should become the subject of discussion at the upcoming EAEU meeting is nothing more than an attempt to put the RA authorities in front of collective responsibility, making it clear that the pursuit of the European vector will have a concrete economic and political price. This is a public challenge to the Armenian authorities, who hope that Russia cannot pull Armenia out of the EAEU due to the insufficiency of legal regulations, as well as the legal regulation of making decisions by consensus in the EAEU.

All this predicts a situation where the Armenian-Russian bilateral tension can turn into a systemic crisis for the entire EAEU. If Moscow decides to take tough actions and brings to the agenda the issue of the expediency of Armenia’s membership or removal from the structure, the parties will find themselves in a difficult political situation. Since the EAEU is based on the principles of economic integration, the absence or uncertainty of mechanisms for forced removal of a member state can create legal uncertainty.

The crux of the problem here is the consensus model of decision-making in the EAEU, which can turn into an explosive tool. If Russia tries to give legal force to the restrictive decisions against Armenia, and Yerevan, using its right to vote, tries to block possible decisions, the lack of consensus will not only not allow solving the issue of Armenia in the EAEU, but also the EAEU will face an institutionally intractable problem. This will be the turning point of the Armenian-Russian crisis, where the most serious bilateral political disagreement will affect the viability of the largest integration project in the post-Soviet area.

These developments suggest that Armenian-Russian relations are approaching a turning point, where an absolute political impasse may develop. If Moscow tries to move the issue of removing Armenia from the EAEU to a practical dimension, both the bilateral relations and the structure itself may end up in legal limbo. EAEU does not have clearly developed mechanisms for unilaterally or forcibly expelling a member state, Russia’s attempt to “punish” Yerevan for its foreign policy choices may run into the union’s own statutory problems, creating an unprecedented crisis.

168.amin a conversation with Russian analyst Alexander Khramchikhin said that the RA authorities want to take the path of European integration, to deepen political cooperation and relations with the EU, without leaving the EAEU.

According to him, this model was most likely chosen because the EU does not promise membership, or even if it does promise, it is not possible to say whether this membership is possible or not. Having understood all this, according to the analyst, Armenia does not want to leave the EAEU, which is a useful structure for the Republic of Armenia.

“Armenia’s calculations are understandable, but it is also clear that this is not an acceptable model and will not be for Russia, which has always responded to other attempts to choose the path of European integration in the post-Soviet space. In the case of Armenia, the Russian side simply calls for an orientation, a choice. Here it is important to note the change in Russia’s tactics. If in the past Moscow used clear pressure mechanisms, today it has switched to political pragmatism. Russia’s statements that Armenia should choose between the EU and EAEU prove that Russia has stopped considering Armenia as an “unconditional ally” and has switched to relations based on interests. This means that Moscow no longer keeps on its side those who do not share its geopolitical agenda. he draws a line by making it clear that the European choice will mean the end of all Russian economic privileges,” the analyst said.

He believes that Moscow’s choice of the EAEU platform as a place for discussions shows that Russia does not hesitate to discuss the issue, because political clarity is more important.

“I think this is not another freezing of relations, but a systemic problem, where Yerevan’s attempts to maintain economic ties, without full political agreement, will face Russia’s harsh response. I don’t think it’s possible to find some new relationship formula. It should be noted that they have changed, the Russian Federation already notes this and offers to discuss this issue. From that point of view, the upcoming EAEU meeting will be important and it will become clear what opinions the EAEU member states have on this issue,” he said.

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From the very beginning of the Baku “trial” with fabricated accusations against the former military-political leadership of Artsakh, we have warned that it is not actually against individuals, but against the Republic of Armenia, the Armed Forces of Armenia, and the Armenian people.

And this claim was strengthened at every “judicial” session, when the military actions carried out by the Armenian side during the first Artsakh war became the subject of investigation. operations and episodes when was referred to Punitive response of the Armenian side to the April four days of 2016 and the July battles of 2020, under the former authorities of the Republic of Armenia actions, when the accusatory arrow in the context of the 44-day war was correcting The former military leadership of RA was guilty of the “Ganja incidents”. in order The 44-day military leadership, names of military personnel were published, even: made public The secret orders of the former chiefs of the General Staff of the RA Armed Forces, because after 44 days the archive of the Defense Ministry was not removed from Artsakh.

In our articles related to the “trial” in Baku, we wrote that Aliyev was sent to the court “victims” who testified against the former military-political leadership of Artsakh, the former presidents of the Republic of Armenia and the military leadership of the 44-day period, i.e. the Republic of Armenia and the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia, trying to prove that Armenia “stepped out” of the laws of war and “targeted” the civilian population, and during the first war, Azerbaijani prisoners were also “subjected to violence and exploitation”.

And today the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Davit Babayan sent him from Baku prison in the message confirmed all our claims, and a few days before that it was also confirmed by the former chairman of the Armenian National Assembly Davit Ishkhanyan.

In addition to this, they also spoke about the fact that the court in Baku did not allow them to finish what they had to say in court, moreover, there were cases when they were not allowed to intervene during the testimony of the sent “victims”. such a case was In the case of the former commander of the Armed Forces, General Levon Mnatsakanyan.

We still do not mention the fact that the Baku propaganda machine did not publicize the unfavorable questions and speeches of the former military and political leadership of Artsakh, or did it in a distorted, out of context manner, such cases were related to General Davit Manukyan and Davit Babayan.

In particular, during one of the “court” sessions, when the Azerbaijani military operations against Artsakh on September 19-20, 2023, which led to the complete depopulation of Artsakh, were discussed, the Azerbaijani citizen Ragif Aliyev testified that he was injured as a result of the targeting of his car during the “anti-terrorist” operation on September 20, 2023, and that the “remnants” of the RA Armed Forces There were also other wounded and killed by mortar fire.

In this context, the Azerbaijani propaganda machine reported that in response to General Davit Manukyan’s question, the “victim” stated that “the goal of the opposing side was the destruction of Azerbaijanis, he knows no other goals.”

What questions or observations General Manukyan made could only be assumed, because the Azerbaijani side did not make the general’s speech public.

The “victim” Jeihun Aliyev claimed in his testimony that he was injured in the area of ​​Chankatagh village during the days of “anti-terrorist” operations, when they tried to prevent the “sabotage carried out” by the “remnants” of the RA Armed Forces.

“They were carrying out various “provocations”, shooting at our positions and the civilian population,” the “victim” continued.

Here, the former commander of the Armed Forces, General Levon Mnatsakanyan, as it appeared from the information provided by Azerbaijani sources, tried to intervene, which was prevented by the Baku court.

Another case. During another “judicial” session in Baku, the “victim” Amin Musaev was remarkable was a testimony gave that he was “wounded by a firearm on November 8, 2020, in the Shushi-Stepanakert section, and captured on November 11”, later moved to Yerevan, and returned to Azerbaijan on December 14.

Note that on June 20, 2023 Nikol Pashinyan in the NA investigation commission investigating the circumstances of the 44-day war in speech had a key role Shushi’s fall theme.

“On the afternoon of November 7, the Head of the Military Police Onik Gasparyan reported to me about the fall of Shushi. Upon hearing the news of Shushi’s downfall, my first reaction was to demand, do what you promised. I mean, keep Shush. Hold the bottle, take it back. Eventually I was told about the countermeasures, then some success, then the operation was going well, then we were inside Shushi. Before the signing of the tripartite declaration, I was informed that part of Shushi was under the control of the Defense Army. Then there was the signing of the tripartite statement, then the attack on the government building on the night of November 10, and when I returned to full-time work in a day or two, they told me that we don’t have any soldiers in Shushi,” Pashinyan said.

And after the war, the former president of Artsakh, Araik Harutyunyan, who was in Baku, said: “On November 7, we completely lost control over the city of Shushi. The battles were going on in the Stepanakert suburbs. If it continued at that rate, within days we would have lost all of Artsakh, we would have had many more victims.”

In turn, in January 2024 President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev in an interview with local TV channels had informed. “On November 8, I could not say how the war would end.”

In other words, there are some overlaps in the testimony of the Azerbaijani “victim” and the official statements presented, on the other hand, it turns out that Nikol Pashinyan was lying, saying: “On the night of November 9-10, there was an attack on the government building, and when I returned to full-time work a day or two later, I was told that we had no soldiers in Shushi.”

Anyway, after listening to the testimony of the “victim” Amin Musaev during the “court” session, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Artsakh, Davit Babayan, asked him why “his fighting comrades did not evacuate him during the period between November 8-11”.

“My comrades in arms were killed, and I lost consciousness when I was injured. And then, during the war, it is not possible to evacuate either the victims or the wounded at once,” answered the Azerbaijani “victim”.

Of course, this Azerbaijani reaction raises some questions, and there are still unanswered questions regarding the fall of Shushi, as well as their arrival at Stepanakert.

And today, in his message from Baku, Davit Babayan said that the sent “victims” confused him with different people, including Vitaly Balasanyan, during their testimony, which is another proof that Aliyev uses his citizens to create a false legal base against Armenia or the Armenian side, while Armenia does not use clear facts to prove Baku’s war crimes.

There was another remarkable episode in Davit Babayan’s message.

“During a preliminary investigation, they brought and showed the picture of NKR National Assembly deputy Davit Galstyan, they said that this is a well-known mafioso, he was selling weapons. I said, that person has nothing to do with it, then it turned out that this is another Davit Galstyan, the person called “Boss Davo”. But the problem is that 73 people have already testified against that deputy and personally, as if they saw him. When I told them, they got mixed up, left, came back after about two hours, said, “We have changed, you will say that you saved Davit Galstyan’s life,” explains Babayan.

It is a bit strange that Nikol Pashinyan, the main weapons supplier to the army, has a visual “from declassification» then, moreover, on June 18, 2021 in Baku, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Azerbaijan International to declare wantedfrom later, the Azerbaijani investigative bodies might not recognize him by face, but know his biography well. Maybe something like this is possible? And what assumption can be made from Davit Babayan’s speech, maybe it should also be perceived as a warning, especially when there is no confirmation that he left Aliyev’s agenda, who accused him of “illegally acquiring weapons from Russian military factories and sending them to Armenia by civilian planes”.

Moreover, 2022 wrote an extensive article on this topic in June caliber.az– referring also to the activities of Davit Galstyan, who deals in arms trade.

The Azerbaijani website did not ignore the information that there was military-technical cooperation between Armenia and Bulgaria in 2018, and Armenia bought weapons from this country, including heavy ones. In the article, the Azerbaijani side, in fact, set an ultimatum: Bulgaria should either choose to make money by supplying arms to Armenia, or choose Azerbaijani gas.

In this context, we should note that during the 44-day war in 2020 and after that, it was regularly circulated in this context that 2020 On September 27, the first day of the 44-day war, at that time the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia Davit Tonoyan was not in Armenia, and that he participated in the birthday ceremony of Davit Galstyan (Patron Davit), the arms supplier to the army in a foreign country.

In 2023, the former Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia Davit Tonoyan, referring to these conversations in the Investigative Commission, had informed. “On the evening of September 25-26, I was in an EU and NATO member country again within the framework of a business trip for the purpose of organizing the supply of weapons and military equipment.” Although Davit Tonoyan did not mention the name of that country, it was, in fact, Bulgaria.

Against the backdrop of Azerbaijani targeting, Nikol Pashinyan pushed Davit Galstyan back from the army, and until now continues the case of “junk missiles”, which Galstyan, who is also an arms dealer, is involved in, and before that he has been acquitted in the case of “shells”.

However, we should not forget that the topic of arms purchases is also touched upon in the report of the 44-day investigative commission. As for the current defense minister, Pashinyan’s teammate Suren Papikyan, on one occasion we wrote that in this respect he is more than at risk. But this is a separate topic for discussion.

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The YouTube channel of 24News was attacked. The crew has lost 90% of their ability to communicate with the channel, there is a possibility that the entire channel will be wiped out as a result of the attack.

We assess this as an attack on free speech, which is directed from Yerevan and has clear political reasons.

Similar manifestations during the elections are embarrassing, but they cannot silence our activities.

24news.am

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168.am of “Nubarashen” prisonAccording to the sources, another case of suicide was registered in “Nubarashen” prison today.

A 52-year-old prisoner ended his life by hanging himself from the edge of the bed in “Nubarashen” penitentiary.

We will inform about the reasons later.

There were civil society organizations that made cosmic noise for every hunger strike before 2018. Do they have nothing to say? This is already the 10th case of suicide in the penitentiary institutions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of RA within 1.5 years since the head of the Penitentiary Service, Tsovinar Tadevosyan, was appointed to his current position.

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In recent months, in order to woo the voters, the political authorities have been distributing widespread aid at the expense of the budget. But before the elections, the social situation in Armenia worsens. The growth of salaries has slowed down significantly, instead, inflation has intensified to a great extent.

The official statistics recorded that this year the growth of nominal average wages is far behind the rate of inflation.

The increase in salaries does not catch up with the price increases, which means that people have started to live worse than they did last year.

Until recently, Nikol Pashinyan considered one of the main achievements of his government and political power to be that wages are growing much faster than inflation. Based on that, he said that people live better now. This year, we see that inflation is growing at a much faster rate than wages. But Nikol Pashinyan does not say that people have started to live worse.

In the first 3 months of the beginning of the year, according to official statistics, the average nominal salary in Armenia increased by only 2.9 percent.

We are talking about the increase of the average salary recorded during one year.

Admittedly, this is a rather modest increase, which indicates that the pace of wage growth has slowed down significantly. It happened in conditions of no less high economic growth. The growth of economic activity in the first quarter was 7.1 percent. Much higher than last year. But that growth has bypassed working citizens. The rate of growth of their wages has weakened.

In March, even nominal wages fell.

According to official data, the average salary in Armenia in March was lower than in March last year. A 1.2 percent decrease was recorded.

This is a very bad impulse. Especially, if we take into account that this decrease is not a seasonal decrease, from which we can be calm. If it continues, serious problems may arise, and not only from a social point of view.

A decrease in wages can have many other related negative consequences, and first of all, for the banking system. It is known that in recent years, many citizens have found themselves under loans, and many of them somehow manage to pay off the loans and solve their social problems on the other hand. The decrease in wages will increase the financial pressure on them. Many people may face the fact of insolvency, not being able to fulfill their obligations.

It doesn’t take much imagination to understand what will happen after that.

The decrease in wages is one of the biggest risks that have been placed under the country in the form of a bomb in recent years. Due to this, they can cause many problems in different fields.

It is noteworthy that the decrease in wages took place mainly in the economy.

The official statistics recorded that in March, compared to March of the previous year, the average salary in the economic sector was reduced by 4 percent. And it happened against the backdrop of inflation activation.

Average inflation in March was 4.5 percent. Compared to March of the previous year, consumer goods rose in price by 4.5 percent on average.

During that same period, the nominal or “dirty” salaries of almost 600,000 citizens employed in the economy decreased by an average of 4 percent. After taxation, the reduction will be greater.

Now let Nikol Pashinyan be kind enough to say whether these people lived better last year, or whether the social condition of these people has improved or worsened compared to last year.

Another thing in the case of the state. the social condition of those employed in the state system and especially high-ranking bureaucrats has improved. The rate of growth of their salaries has been much higher than the rate of inflation.

While the salaries of citizens working in the economy and creating good have decreased, the average salary in the state system has increased by 9.8 percent in March.

Do you know at what expense, the millions that are taken from the budget and from the taxes paid by taxpayers, are divided among themselves under the name of incentive money? At the expense of those millions, such salary increases were registered in the state system.

The salary of a working, productive, tax-paying citizen has decreased, and that of government officials, who are fed by the taxes paid by these people, has risen quite sharply. It increased because they decided to encourage themselves with millions.

The growth rate of the average salary in the state system was more than double the rate of inflation.

They started to live better in the state system, and those who fed that system started to live worse. And it didn’t happen only in March.

In the first three months of the beginning of the year, the average salary, including the state system, increased by only 2.9 percent, and inflation during that period was 4.2 percent compared to the previous year.

Inflation exceeded the growth rate of the average nominal salary by 1.3 percentage points.

Privately, in the first quarter, the average nominal salary increased by 1.7 percent, inflation was 4.2 percent. The average salary in the state increased by 6.9 percent, inflation was 4.2 percent.

In the state system, which survives at the expense of the private sector, life has improved, and private life has worsened. Privately, people work so that CP bureaucrats feel better and live better.

HAKOB KOCHARYAN

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168.amAccording to the information of the RA Ambassador to Germany Viktor Yengibaryan proposed to dissolve the German-Armenian Forum.

It was a representative body consisting of German deputies as well as other influential people.

Apparently, the ambassador, a follower of Pashinyan’s “Real Armenia” ideas, considered the existence of a structure meaningless, which, among others, also had a lobbying significance, and in the context of the “warming” of relations with Aliyev, such “meaningless” structures are already meaningless to them. And this is the case when Turkey and Azerbaijan are intensively working on the creation and expansion of the structures of Azerbaijani-Turkish communities.

By the way, the Azerbaijani authorities banned the entry of Albert Weiler, the president of the German-Armenian Forum, for his pro-Armenian activities years ago.

Everything is clear. Pashinyan and his team, as well as his representatives abroad, deeply care about the fate of the Armenian prisoners held in Baku, it is normal for them that Aliyev makes threatening speeches directed at Armenian hatred and the Armenian people, destroys the Armenian footprint in Artsakh, razes Armenian churches to the ground, denies genocide… Alensimonians claim that Azerbaijan is the guarantor of peace in Armenia.

Therefore, this step of theirs is one of the next steps to please Aliyev and is anti-Armenian.

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