July 24, 2026
The income of Artur Poghosyan, who has been the chairman of the Investigative Committee since 2024, exceeded 54 million drams in 2025. About these and other “achievements” of the President of the Central Committee 168․amis informed from his declaration submitted to the Corruption Prevention Commission in 2026.
In this official form, Artur Poghosyan also mentioned 6 immovable properties owned by him, only one of which is a shared property.
3 parking spaces in the capital bought in 2024 and owned by one person, one apartment bought in 2024 and managed with 50% share ownership again in Yerevan and an apartment and garage bought in 2014 and 2021 in Vanadzor.
In 2025, Artur Poghosyan managed to buy another plot of land in Lori region, in Spitak community, and alienated another property, an apartment, in Vanadzor community.
In this year’s declaration, the President of the Central Committee mentioned about the 2019 Honda car he bought in 2023.
From the line of the document: “Delivered and returned loans” we learn about the 2 million 160,000 AMD loan at the end of the year. “LAV-SAR” LLC was mentioned as the debtor. This LLC is a construction company.
Artur Poghosyan also has a bank deposit of 18 million drams.
About the funds of the President of the Central Committee․
The balances of Artur Poghosyan’s several bank accounts increased during 2025. having the following appearance at the end of the year: 6 dollars, 110 euros, 11,188,615 drams and 213,943 drams. The official’s cash, 14 million drams and 5,000 USD, became 40,000 USD and 1 million drams at the end of the year.
54,159,060 drams of income of the President of the Central Committee for the reporting year was generated from rent payments or other compensations, 16,830,000 drams received from alienation of property, 4,022,383 drams of income tax refund received from the State Revenue Committee, 600,000 drams received from the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of the Republic of Armenia and other payments received from the Central Committee 31,806,677 drams from salary and other payments equal to it.
In the line of payments aimed at repaying the loan, he mentioned 2 loans and directed a total of 14,820,246 drams to their repayment. Poghosyan also spent 2,500,000 drams for the repair of real estate.
Artur Poghosyan reported in the additional public information section: “Belonging to me, Yerevan M. The real estate at 263, building 46/2, Melkonyan Street, although it is indicated in the cadastral certificate as a parking lot, it is actually a warehouse with an area of 5.5 square meters.
Anichka Ghukasyan, the wife of the President of the Central Committee, in the line of “delivered and returned loans” of the declaration, he mentioned a loan of 17.6 million drams. the debtor is again a construction company, “ML Mining” LLC. In the table “The balance of principal amount of received loans and borrowings as of December 31 of the reporting year” he informed about the size of the balance of the principal amount of 15,455,192 loans, specifying the apartment as the object of the mortgage.
By the way, he allocated 2,015,784 drams to repay the loan in 2025.
The wife of the president of the Central Committee had 2.5 million drams in cash at the beginning of 2025, and 400 thousand drams at the end of the year.
Anichka Ghukasyan’s income of 597,613 drams for the reporting year was generated from 547,298 drams of other income received from the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, 17,855 drams of income tax refund received from the SRC, and 32,460 drams of wages and/or other equivalent payments received from “Yerevan Zorayr Khalapyan Primary School No. 156”.
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168: The 12-hour interrogation of Gagik Tsarukyan has ended
July 24, 2026
The 12-hour interrogation of Gagik Tsarukyan ended.
It lasted about 12 hours. Tsarukyan was transferred from the prison to “Yerevan-Kentron” prison.
The interrogation of Tsarukyan started at 11:30 in the morning.
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RFE/RL – Karapetian Ally Freed For Now
- Astghik Bedevian
A leading member of billionaire Samvel Karapetian’s Strong Armenia alliance, who has been elected to the new Armenian parliament, was released from custody at the start of his trial on Friday.
Davit Ghazinian was arrested on June 18 on vote-buying charges denied by him in a crackdown on Strong Armenia and other major opposition groups that continued even after the disputed parliamentary elections held on June 7. Hundreds of other members and supporters of Karapetian’s bloc have also been prosecuted in recent months.
They include the Russian-Armenian tycoon’s nephew and right-hand man Narek Karapetian, who topped the bloc’s list of election candidates. The Central Election Commission (CEC) on Wednesday allowed prosecutors to indict but not arrest him, saying that he now enjoys parliamentary immunity from detention.
The judge presiding over Ghazinian’s trial released him from custody for the same reason. A trial prosecutor said that he must remain in jail until the parliament’s inaugural session slated for August 2 and only then be freed on bail worth as much as 1 billion drams ($2.7 million). The judge dismissed the objections.
“I’m very sorry that I needed the status of parliament deputy to get out of jail,” Ghazinian told reporters after the court hearing.
It is not yet clear whether the prosecutors will ask the parliament controlled by the ruling Civil Contract party to allow Ghazinian’s renewed arrest. The oppositionist insisted that he is ready to go back to prison and will keep fighting for regime change in any case. He again dismissed the charges levelled against him, saying that they were fabricated on Pashinian’s orders.
Another Strong Armenia member elected to the new National Assembly, Hayk Sukiasian, remains behind bars His lawyers were due to petition the prosecutors to release him from custody.
Another opposition lawmaker, Artur Sargsian, is held under house arrest. A member of the outgoing parliament, Sargsian has been standing trial along with Archbishop Bagrat Galstanian and his 16 other supporters accused of plotting “terrorist acts” in a bid to seize power. The judge in that trial refused to free Sargsian on Thursday, arguing that his parliamentary immunity from prosecution was already lifted last year.
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Armenian Dairy Imports Also Banned By Russia
Russia has banned imports of dairy products from Armenia after imposing similar restrictions on other Armenian foodstuffs amid heightened tensions between the two nations.
Rosselkhoznadzor, the Russian government’s agricultural oversight agency, said on Friday that the decision is the result of a weeklong inspection of Armenian dairy firms conducted by its officials this month. It said they detected use of “milk from infected livestock” and “raw materials from third countries” breaching free-trade rules of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).
‘Armenia has still not established a system to confirm the origin and safety of milk or other dairy raw materials used in production,” Rosselkhoznadzor claimed in a statement.
Armenia’s Food Safety Inspectorate denied the alleged violations later in the day. Its spokeswoman, Anush Harutiunian, said the government agency regularly inspects all local dairy firms and does not hesitate to take action against those of them that deviate from safety standards.
Citing sanitary grounds, the Russian authorities blocked in late May and early June multimillion-dollar imports of Armenian fruits, vegetables, mineral water, flowers, fish and some alcoholic beverages. Moscow imposed the sanctions amid its growing warnings about the economic cost of Armenia’s deepening ties with the European Union. It has been pressing Yerevan to quickly choose between continuing to seek EU membership and remaining part of the Russian-led bloc vital for the Armenian economy.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian ruled out any change in his pro-Western foreign policy and downplayed the impact of the Russian sanctions after his disputed victory in the June 7 parliamentary elections. He claimed to have reached unspecified “understandings” with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin during their July 6 meeting in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg.
Moscow has not reversed or eased any of its sanctions since then. A senior Russian lawmaker, Vladimir Jabarov, said on Wednesday that Mishustin repeated Moscow’s demands during the talks with Pashinian.
“It was made clear that Armenia must make a decision,” Jabarov told a news conference.
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Armenian Farmer Detained After Row With Pashinian Loyalist
- Susan Badalian
A farmer critical of the Armenian government has been detained and held in police custody for 24 hours following a bitter political argument with a pro-government blogger who pledged to have him imprisoned.
The incident occurred at a wholesale agricultural market in Armenia’s Armavir province early this week. The little-known blogger, Aram Avetisian, visited it to talk on camera with farmers selling fruits and vegetables there about the impact of Russia’s ban on agricultural imports from Armenia. He blamed former President Robert Kocharian for the sanctions and assured them that “this problem will also be solved” by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
“Is this the traitors’ information outlet?” Arman Kalashian, a farmer selling watermelons, asked when he noticed Avetisian’s video interviews.
“Who are the traitors?” wondered blogger.
“The ones who surrendered our lands,” replied Kalashian, clearly alluding to the country’s current leadership.
The tense exchange escalated into a furious row, with Avetisian resorting to personal insults and Kalashian responding in kind. The blogger then promised to send the farmer to prison.
“You’ll be put on trial right after I leave this place,” he can be heard saying in a video of the incident posted on his YouTube page.
Kalashian was arrested by police on Thursday in what another law-enforcement agency, the Investigative Committee, described as a criminal inquiry into “hooliganism.” He was released without charge on Friday.
Kalashian’s lawyer, Gurgen Grigorian, said that he did not commit any crimes. Fellow traders at the Armavir market also defended the young father of two living in the nearby village of Zartonk.
“He is not guilty of anything,” one of them told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “We all are ready to stand by him till the end.”
Avetisian insisted, meanwhile, that he did not report Kalashian to the police. He also said that investigators have not questioned him as part of the probe.
Kalashian’s detention is the latest example of Armenian law-enforcement authorities swiftly cracking down on vocal government critics. No supporters of Pashinian have been prosecuted for offending or voicing threats against opposition politicians and other critics of Armenian officials.
Just recently, an Armenian prosecutor blocked criminal charges against one such supporter who publicly called for the murder of Catholicos Garegin II last December. Pashinian himself has repeatedly insulted his political foes and vowed to jail and “take out” them.
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RFE/RL – Armenian Prisoners ‘Injured In Azeri Custody’
- Ruzanna Stepanian
Some of the Armenian prisoners held by Azerbaijan have suffered serious injuries in Azerbaijani jails, an Armenian human rights lawyer claimed on Friday, citing their families.
“We have received reports of serious injuries,” Siranush Sahakian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “We have no way to verify this ourselves. Of course, I don’t think the families have any motive to provide incorrect or false information. At this point, we trust that information.”
Sahakian, who represents the 19 prisoners in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), said the injuries include bone fractures and may have been caused by torture. She did not name any of the allegedly injured prisoners.
The captives include eight former leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh who were detained during Azerbaijan’s recapture of the region in September 2023. Five of them were sentenced to life imprisonment while the three others, including Armenian-born billionaire Ruben Vardanyan, received 20-year jail sentences in February at the end of yearlong trials denounced by Amnesty International as a “travesty.”
In a statement released from an Azerbaijani prison through his family in May, Vardanyan said that some of the prisoners “have no teeth.” He did not name them or give other details.
According to Sahakian, other prisoners have serious health issues and do not receive adequate medical care in prison. Last week, the wife of the 56-year-old Lyudvig Mkrtchian, who was taken prisoner by Azerbaijani during the 2020 war in Karabakh, expressed serious concern about what she described as a sharp deterioration of his health. She is able to talk to him by phone once in every one or two months.
“He has shortness of breath, dizziness, headaches and problems with heart and lungs,” Hranush Mkrtchian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Last year, the Azerbaijani authorities banned representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from periodically visiting the prisoners to inspect their detention conditions and inquire about their health. The ECHR afterwards ordered Azerbaijan to submit such information to the Strasbourg court.
Prospects for the release anytime soon of the remaining captives remain uncertain even after the initialing of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty in Washington last August 8. Neither the treaty nor a separate declaration signed by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian at the White House commits Baku to freeing them. This fact fueled more claims by Pashinian’s domestic critics that Yerevan is doing little to secure the prisoners’ release. Pashinian and other Armenian officials have denied them.
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Cyprus: The Armenian Dance Festival returns
July 24, 2026
The Armenian Dance Festival returns
What’s On
By Eleni Philippou
A travelling music and dance festival arrives this July, celebrating the traditions of Armenian culture. The second Armenian Dance Festival will tour Larnaca and Limassol soon, showcasing Armenian national dances by artistic ensembles flying to the island from around the world, especially for this event.
On July 24 and 25, the two cities will welcome eight dance groups, with the festival opening performance happening this Friday in Limassol.
At Molos Promenade, the festivities will kick off at 8pm as the festival welcomes the Sipan Dance Group, the Prof Art Dance Ensemble, the Nazani Dance ensemble, the Haykyanner Dance Ensemble, the Hamazkayin Guiliguia Dance Group, the Nanor Dance Group, the Kilikia Dance Group and the Ani Dance Group.
On the following evening, the performers will head to Larnaca’s Foinikoudes amphitheatre for another show.
In traditional costumes and colourful attire, dancers will bring a touch of Armenian culture to Cyprus, entertaining audiences, and for free.
2nd Armenian Dance Festival
International dance ensembles perform live. July 24. Molos Amphitheatre, Limassol. July 25. Foinikoudes amphitheatre, Larnaca, 8pm. Free admission. www.hamazkayin.com
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Russia bans import of Armenian dairy products
Russia will begin banning the import of Armenian dairy products starting from 27 July, citing the alleged presence of ‘milk from infected livestock’. The move is the latest in a series of import restrictions imposed on Armenian products in what has been widely viewed as politically motivated.
The sweeping restrictions began in the leadup to the June parliamentary elections in Armenia, which the Kremlin clearly expressed hope Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party would lose. The import bans have continued since Pashinyan’s party won the election and expanded into other spheres as both the EU and the Armenian government have attempted to soften the impact by diversifying exports.
The ban on dairy products was announced by Russia’s Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance Service (Rosselkhoznadzor) on Friday.
Rosselkhoznadzor further claimed Armenia ‘lacks a system to confirm the origin and safety of milk or other dairy raw materials used in production’, and that in general, Armenia is ‘failing to monitor agricultural producers’,
Previously, Russia had banned the import of a wide range of Armenian products, including alcohol, flowers, fruits, vegetables, mineral water, fish, and others.
While Russia continues introducing new restrictions, Deputy Russian Prime Minister Aleksei Overchuk has claimed that Russia did not ‘introduce any restrictions for Armenian imports at all’, calling it ‘usual normal work’.
Other Russian officials have said they would replace Armenian products in the Russian market with Azerbaijani goods.
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Russia Bans Armenian Dairy Imports Over Alleged Health Violations
Russia’s agricultural safety agency announced Friday that it will suspend imports of dairy products from Armenia, citing health violations and supply chain tracing failures.
Rosselkhoznadzor’s decision follows a raft of Russian restrictions on the import and transit of Armenian food products this summer, which observers widely view as an economic pressure campaign targeting Yerevan as it pursues closer ties with the European Union
“During the latest review, milk provided by infected livestock was discovered to be used in the production of dairy goods exported to Russia,” Rosselkhoznadzor said in a statement following a weeklong inspection that concluded Tuesday.
In a directive issued to its regional branches, the agency said that the dairy ban will take effect Monday, July 27, and named five Armenian companies whose products will be temporarily barred from entering Russia.
From Cognac to Apricots: These Armenian Products Are Now Off-Limits in Russia
Rosselkhoznadzor added that inspectors also uncovered high-fat dairy products made with raw materials from third countries, violating prior agreements to use domestic inputs or those sourced from the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union.
Accusing Armenian authorities of failing to build a reliable verification system, the agency said the issues mirror violations uncovered in 2023 and 2024.
“This is especially true for milk collected from individual private farms, which cannot guarantee the safety of their yields,” Rosselkhoznadzor said, adding that Armenia’s laboratory infrastructure requires “urgent attention.”
Separately, Russia also banned imports of tomatoes and other produce from five Uzbekistan-based exporters starting Thursday, citing alleged pest contamination.
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Armenian Cognac Fails Cognac Test in Belarus
The State Committee for Standardization of Belarus added the six-year-old “Armenian Cognac” beverage to the register of dangerous products.
From July 25, a ban on the import and sale of this beverage will take effect in the country, and products already in retail chains must be removed from circulation.
During the inspection, it was established that the beverage does not meet the requirements for tannin content. According to regulations, their mass concentration must be no less than 0.3 grams per cubic decimeter. However, the study showed that this indicator does not meet the established requirements.
The State Standard noted that because of this, the product was only given the external appearance and certain properties of cognac, but it cannot be identified as cognac, as stated on the packaging.
Tannins are natural compounds that enter cognac during aging in oak barrels. They are precisely what form the characteristic color, aroma, taste, and slight astringency of the beverage. Their insufficient quantity may indicate that the product does not comply with the technology for producing authentic cognac or the declared aging period.
The manufacturer of the product is specified as the Armenian limited liability company “Wine and Cognac House ‘Shahnazaryan'”, located in the city of Yeghvard.
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