May 11, 2026
168TVof “Trigger” the guest of the program Alexander Ananev, retired senior advisor of the Russian Foreign Ministry is:
During the program, the possible parallels between the political processes taking place in Ukraine on the eve of the Maidan and the situation in Armenia before the 44-day war, the role of external players and the actions of the authorities were discussed.
Reference was also made to the significance of the 8th European Political Community Summit and the inaugural Armenia-EU Summit, their possible geopolitical consequences, as well as the differences in the rhetoric of Western leaders towards Armenia and Azerbaijan in the context of recent statements.
Special attention was paid to the risks of external interference in the electoral processes in Armenia, possible parallels with Moldova and EU statements in the context of supporting Nikol Pashinyan.
In addition, the latest statements of the Russian President regarding EU-EEU relations, the possible discussion of the issue related to Armenia’s course towards EU membership at the EEU summit, as well as possible impulses and consequences for the region were discussed.
At the end of the program, the topic of the relatively low activity of the USA in the background of the TRIPP project and the ongoing processes in the South Caucasus was touched upon.
Hayk Derzyan
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RFE/RL – Pro-Pashinian Mayor Avoids Vote-Buying Charges
An Armenian law-enforcement agency has refused to bring vote-buying charges against a controversial pro-government mayor who has provided material aid to local residents ahead of next month’s parliamentary elections.
Tavros Sapeyan, who runs the town of Talin about 70 kilometers northwest of Yerevan, allocated late last month a total of 11.5 million drams ($31,000) in public funds to 14 low-income families. The money was supposedly spent on payment of their utility bills and provision of food and medication to them.
A coalition of Armenian civic groups linked the handouts to the June 7 elections and accused Sapeyan violating a legal ban on election-related benevolence as well as a separate law on local government. The mayor, who is on the list of the ruling Civil Contract party’s election candidates, denied that.
The Independent Observer coalition went on to submit a relevant “crime report” to the Office of the Prosecutor-General. The Anti-Corruption Committee (ACC), which was instructed by prosecutors to look into the complaint, cleared Sapeyan of any wrongdoing.
“Tavros Sapeyan made the decisions to provide social assistance not as a party member or election candidate but as a community head,” the ACC said in a statement.
Sapeyan is a staunch ally of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian who has been personally involved in the latter’s controversial campaign to depose Catholicos Garegin II, the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church. He was among a group of aggressive men who tried to burst into the church’s main cathedral in Echmiadzin on December 18 during a prayer service led by Garegin.
Sapeyan avoided prosecution despite being caught on camera swearing at a priest during a scuffle with worshippers attending the service. On January 6, the mayor led a group of local officials and government loyalists who barred priests from entering Talin’s main church on Tuesday, enabling a defrocked cleric loyal to Pashinian to hold a Christmas mass there.
No ruling party member or supporter has been prosecuted on vote-buying charges so far. Nor has the ACC taken action against a charity run by Pashinian’s wife, Anna Hakobian, and accused by the Independent Observer of illegally engaging in benevolent activities. The ACC has prosecuted instead dozens of members and supporters of billionaire Samvel Karapetian’s Strong Armenia bloc widely seen as the main opposition contender in the upcoming polls.
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Putin Suggests ‘Divorce’ With Armenia
Armenia should choose “as soon as possible” between striving to join the European Union and remaining part of a Russian-led trade bloc, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the weekend amid the latest upsurge in tensions between Moscow and Yerevan.
Putin commented on the Armenian government’s EU membership ambitions just days after it hosted two European summits that prompted angry reactions from Moscow.
“In my opinion, it would be right for both the citizens of Armenia and us as their main economic partner to make a decision as soon as possible,” he told reporters. “For example, by holding a referendum. It’s not our business, but it would be entirely logical to hold a referendum and ask Armenia’s citizens about their choice. Accordingly, we would draw conclusions and go down the path of a gentle, courteous and mutually beneficial divorce.”
Putin indicated that he will bring up the matter at the next summit of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) which is scheduled to take place in Kazakhstan on May 28-29, less than two weeks before Armenia’s parliamentary elections.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian effectively rejected Putin’s demand as he campaigned for the elections in Yerevan on Monday.
“Until the moment when there is a need to make a choice, we will not put such an issue on the agenda,” he told reporters. “I also disagree with the term divorce. I had the opportunity to say in the National Assembly that we sometimes confuse interstate relations with marriage.”
Pashinian did not say when that moment could come. Citing the election campaign, he also announced that he will not take part in the upcoming EEU summit in Astana.
Putin already publicly told Pashinian on April 1 in Moscow that Armenia’s continued membership in the EU is “not compatible” with its pursuit of EU entry. Pashinian essentially ignored that warning. In an election manifesto released later in April, his Civil Contract party made clear that it will keep striving for EU membership in case of winning the June 7 polls.
This stance was highlighted by last week’s European Political Community and EU-Armenia summits in Yerevan. The Russian Foreign Ministry accused Armenia on May 7 of siding with the EU against Russia, its traditional ally. It was particularly outraged by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s participation in one of those summits and his implicit threats to disrupt the May 9 Victory Day parade in Moscow with drone strikes. The Armenian ambassador to Russia was summoned to the ministry the next day.
Speaking during the summits, the top EU officials pledged to continue deepening ties with Armenia. But they again stopped short of promising the country’s eventual membership in the EU.
EU member states accounted for less than 12 percent of Armenia’s foreign trade last year. Russia remained its number one trading partner with a nearly 36 percent share in the total. Putin again emphasized on Saturday the country’s heavy dependence on Russia’ for trade and energy, which has deepened during Pashinian’s eight-year rule.
“Our trade with Armenia decreased last year, and the year before it was much higher, but it was still $7 billion in 2025,” he said. “Considering that the country’s GDP is $29 billion, this is a significant figure. Armenia gains significant advantages within the Eurasian Economic Union framework.”
Putin further noted that Russia’s conflict with Ukraine broke out after Kyiv’s decision to strive for EU membership.
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Pashinian Rejects Russian Criticism Over Zelenskyy Visit
Rejecting strong criticism from Russia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Monday that he was right not to object to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s statement made during last week’s European Political Community summit in Yerevan.
Zelenskyy implicitly threated to disrupt Russia’s upcoming Victory Day parade in Moscow with drone strikes when he addressed the May 4 summit attended by dozens of European leaders,
“They cannot afford military equipment — and they fear drones may buzz over Red Square,” he said of Moscow’s scaled-back celebration of the 81st anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany.
The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned Zelenskyy’s “terrorist” threats and Pashinian’s failure to respond to them. It summoned the Armenian ambassador in Moscow, Gurgen Arsenian, on Thursday to deplore “the absence of an appropriate negative reaction from official Yerevan.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov added his voice to the criticism over the weekend.
“The European Political Community summit is a multilateral platform whose venue does not matter,” countered Pashinian. “This event was as much my event as it was the event of our other partners. I don’t think that I, as the head of the government of the host country, should censor or necessarily respond to everything.”
“There have been times when the president of the Russian Federation made statements about various countries in my presence, but I don’t remember the Russian Federation expecting me to react to those statements,” he told journalists.
Pashinian and Zelenskyy also met separately on the sidelines of the summit held just a few kilometers from the Erebuni airbase, home to Russian warplanes. The Ukrainian leader said afterwards that Kyiv and Yerevan are “resuming an active dialogue between our countries.”
His visit to the Armenian capital added to Russian criticism of a continuing pro-Western tilt in Armenia’s foreign policy. The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said on Thursday that the South Caucasus country will pay “political and economic” consequences for siding with the European Union against Russia. In a related development, Russian President Vladimir Putin said over the weekend that Yerevan should leave a Russian-led trade bloc or stop seeking membership of the EU.
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RFE/RL – Armenian Opposition Bloc Wants Key Security Role For Iran
- Susan Badalian
Iran should also be a “guarantor” of Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deals brokered by the United States, a leader of the main opposition group running in Armenia’s upcoming parliamentary elections said on Monday.
Narek Karapetian of the Strong Armenia alliance headed by his billionaire uncle Samvel claimed that without such a role for Tehran a U.S.-administered transit corridor promised by the Armenian government to Azerbaijan would come under cross-border Iranian attacks.
The corridor to be named after U.S. President Donald Trump would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave through Armenia’s strategic Syunik region bordering Iran. According to a joint U.S.-Armenian “implementation framework” signed in January, a special company controlled by the U.S. government will build a railway, a road, energy supply lines and other infrastructure along the Armenian-Iranian border and manage them for at least 49 years.
Iranian officials spoke out against the planned Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) in the months leading up to the war with the United States and Israel. Some observers believe that Tehran will now be even more opposed to the transit arrangement.
Narek Karapetian echoed that view during an election campaign trip to Syunik. In a short video recorded on the Armenian-Iranian border and posted on social media, he warned of Iranian military strikes on TRIPP facilities.
“Imagine a situation in which an American company is here and Iranian troops are over there,” he said. “Over the last oner or two months we have seen Iranian strikes on U.S. bases in Iraq, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar. What will happen if their relations break down again and only an American company is present here? A conflict between them will definitely erupt.
“Iran will likely strike, but it won’t do that with long-range missiles this time around. The distance [from the Iranian border] is just 30-40 meters. They can strike with assault rifles. They can even throw a slipper [over the border] and it will reach us.”
Therefore, Karapetian went on, Iran should “also become a guarantor peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, a guarantor of Armenia’s territorial integrity.” He did not elaborate on such an arrangement.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has claimed to have done his best to address the Iranian concerns. Pashinian said on March 12 that the war in the Middle East will likely delay the TRIPP’s implementation. But he sounded more optimistic on that score after more U.S.-Armenian talks on the project held in the following weeks.
Tehran fears that the TRIPP could put the Armenian-Iranian border at serious risk and lead to U.S. security presence there. Armenian opposition figures have likewise said that it could undermine Armenian control over that part of Syunik.
Samvel Karapetian, who remains under house arrest on what he sees as politically motivated charges, claimed that Armenia risks losing the entire province when he met with a large group of supporters at his Yerevan villa on Monday. The Russian-Armenian tycoon criticized Pashinian’s pro-Western policy during a news conference last week.
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Pashinyan calls Karabakh movement ‘fatal mistake’ for Armenia
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called the movement for the unification of Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region with Armenia “a fatal mistake.”
In a video circulated by Armenian media outlets on Sunday, Pashinyan argued that Karabakh was not Armenian territory.
“It must be stated that the Karabakh movement was a fatal mistake for us,” he said.
“What made it ours? Explain to me, what made it ours? We built schools there? kindergartens? factories?lived there? but fundamentally, how was it ours? It wasn’t ours, it wasn’t ours,” he added.
Karabakh, populated for decades mainly by ethnic Armenians, was at the center of a long-running conflict between the two South Caucasus countries following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
‘Peace climate has emerged with Azerbaijan’
Pashinyan also said a climate of peace had emerged with Azerbaijan, describing the current situation as unprecedented since Armenia’s independence.
“There has been no gunfire and no loss of life for two years. This is an unprecedented situation since our independence,” he said.
“We are now working in close cooperation with Azerbaijan to strengthen and institutionalize peace,” he added.
Pashinyan made the remarks during the opening of the 8th summit of the European Political Community (EPC) in Yerevan.
Expressing satisfaction with hosting the summit, he said the EPC platform had played a critical role in establishing peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Pashinyan said he and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev made a “game-changing” decision during the EPC summit in 2022.
CC: Pashinyan was reminded of what he said about Karabakh before the defeat to
Nikol Pashinyan with his wife on the background of the main monument of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is a symbol of the Armenian heritage of the region. Photo: Facebook❶
Nikol Pashinyan’s election campaign outraged many Armenians. The Prime Minister stated that Nagorno-Karabakh has never been Armenia.
At a meeting with voters in In the Syunik region, before the June 7 parliamentary elections, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that Nagorno-Karabakh has never been an Armenian land.
“They say we have lost the earth. How could this land be ours? How could she be ours? Please explain how it could be ours,” the head of the Armenian government said. — I don’t want to speak behind the backs of the dead, but let’s say this territory was under the control of several generals who, say, grew wheat there — and that’s why it was ours? How was she ours? How? Explain how?”.
The video of the speech got online and caused outrage among many Armenians. In response, they remembered what Nikol Pashinyan said even before the defeat by Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020.
So, on February 8, 2020, the Prime Minister published a post on Facebook ❶: “Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) “our pride, our identity, our love.”
Earlier, Nikol Pashinyan stated that Artsakh is Armenia, period, and called it a shrine.
In 2013, Nikol Pashinyan’s wife published a photo with her husband against the background of the main monument of “Nagorno—Karabakh” — “We are our mountains”. The monument of a man and a woman is a symbol of the Armenian heritage of Nagorno-Karabakh.
For Armenia, the issue of Nagorno—Karabakh is extremely painful and there are forces that call for a trial of Nikol Pashinyan – up to the tribunal.
168: At the expense of Samvel Karapetyan, they do charity for CP
May 11, 2026
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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At this stage of the campaign, Ilham Aliyev indirectly says: who love K
May 11, 2026
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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CC had called because the forced applied. Saroyan sent letters to the priests
May 11, 2026
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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