- Naira Bulghadarian
Armenian authorities arrested on Thursday at least 14 people mostly affiliated with a key opposition group led by billionaire Samvel Karapetian, raising more fears of its disqualification from the country’s upcoming parliamentary elections.
All of the detainees were understood to be residents of the southern town of Artashat. The Anti-Corruption Committee (ACC) claimed that they gave or accepted vote bribes, a charge rejected by Karapetian’s Strong Armenia party as politically motivated.
The law-enforcement agency, which also raided the party’s local offices, released audios of their online conversations which it said prove that “a group of individuals” affiliated with the party or working for a non-governmental organization linked to it have been engaged in vote buying.
Vahan Hovannisian, a lawyer representing Strong Armenia, insisted that financial issues discussed by them related only to their wages. Senior party figures likewise rejected the accusations as politically motivated.
Two other Strong Armenia activists were arrested on similar charges on Tuesday. Armenian courts released them from custody hours later.
Hovannisian echoed media speculation that these criminal cases could be used by the authorities to bar Karapetian’s party from running in the June 7 elections. Davit Ghazinian, a senior party member, did not rule out such a ban.
“We are ready for all scenarios, including the party’s non-registration [for the elections,]” Ghazinian told journalists.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian was accused by critics of planning to secure an election victory through fraud or foul play when it emerged in December that his administration requested election-related assistance from the European Union. The EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, revealed that Yerevan is seeking the kind of “help to fight foreign malign interference” which the EU provided to Moldova ahead of parliamentary elections held there in September 2025. Two Moldovan opposition parties deemed pro-Russian were barred from participating in the elections won by the country’s pro-Western leadership.
Karapetian, 60, has mostly lived in Russia since the early 1990s and has a dual Russian nationality. Pashinian’s political allies have accused the tycoon of plotting to topple the Armenian government on the Kremlin’s orders ever since he entered politics following his controversial arrest last June. In a series of statements made earlier this year, they said that the ruling Civil Contract party will not “allow” Karapetian’s party and two other major opposition groups to collectively win a majority in the next Armenian parliament. Pashinian claimed on Wednesday that they will struggle to win any parliament seats.
Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly warned the authorities in Yerevan from barring what he called pro-Russian opposition forces from the elections when he met with Pashinian in Moscow on April 1. Putin implied that the Armenian economy, which is heavily dependent on Russia, would pay a heavy price for such bans or Yerevan’s continued drift to the EU.
Karapetian’ movement, which has avoided making overtly pro-Russian statements so far, is now increasingly regarded as the country’s main opposition force. It held a big rally in Yerevan on April 11.
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Hamazkayin W.R. Junior “Nor Shounch” Literary Cafe April 19:
Dear Hamazkayin friends and supporters,
Hamazkayin Western Region Literary Unit’s “Nor Shounch” presentsLiterary Cafe. Join us for our first Literary Cafe, an open Armenian co-working and co-creating space designed to bring language, culture, and creativity together.
Come enjoy traditional Armenian coffee and pastries in a warm, welcoming atmosphere. Bring along an Armenian book to read or simply let the space inspire you to create. Whether you feel like journaling, writing a letter, composing poetry, or reflecting in Armenian, this is your space to do so.
Stationery will be provided—just bring yourself, your ideas, and your love for the Armenian language. ☕📖
Sunday, April 19, 2026, at 2:00 PM
Hamazkayin Cultural Center, 1524 Canada Blvd. Glendale, CA 91208
“Join us at our first Literary Café, an open Armenian environment where work and creativity mix.
Let’s enjoy Armenian coffee and delicious sweets together.
Bring an Armenian book with you and let the atmosphere inspire you.
We invite you to enrich this creative environment with your ideas and presence.”
Warm regards,
Hamazkayin Western Region Literary Group Junior “Nor Shounch”
Glendale, CA, USA
Stay connected with us:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Hamazkayin-Western-Region-Literary-Group-103109858137951
Instagram: www.instagram.com/hamazkayinwrliterarygroup
Website: https://hamazkayin.com/en
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@hamazkayinwest
Literary Group: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvdiz1UC_DnRv9lr1178gaIvSPoS1djRL
Hamazkayin: www.facebook.com/hamazkayinwr
Email: [email protected]
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Armenpress: MOLDPRES: Moldova to officially leave CIS on 8 April 2027: Deputy
Originally published by Moldpres
The Republic of Moldova will officially leave the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) on 8 April 2027, when the 12‑month period expires following the official notification sent to the organization’s secretariat in Minsk. The clarifications were made on April 15 by Deputy Prime Minister Mihai Popșoi, after the Government meeting.
The official stressed that, after the promulgation of the denunciation of the agreements and their publication in the Official Journal, the secretariat in Minsk was notified on April 8 of this year.
“We have received confirmation of receipt of this notification. Thus, from a legal point of view, after 12 months have passed, on April 8 next year, according to international law, we will no longer be part of the CIS. However, from a practical point of view, we have effectively no longer been part of the CIS for many years, since we have not participated in political events and in other events that are not in the interest of the Republic of Moldova,” Popșoi stated.
The Deputy Prime Minister also mentioned that Moldova will remain part of several economic agreements.
“Here, Georgia’s experience is telling. They have denounced the fundamental agreements, as we have also done, but have remained part of the economic agreements; this is exactly what we are doing as well,” Mihai Popșoi emphasized.
Over the last two years, the Republic of Moldova has launched a broad process of examining the relevance and applicability of treaties concluded within the CIS framework. So far, out of 283 CIS agreements, 71 have already been denounced, and approximately 60 are under review.
On April 2 of this year, Parliament approved in second reading the denunciation of the Agreement on the Establishment of the CIS, as well as the Protocol and the Statute of the organization, thus marking the final withdrawal of the Republic of Moldova from the statutory bodies of the CIS.
The decision comes at the initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which argued that the fundamental values and principles of the CIS are no longer respected, particularly with regard to territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders. The authorities refer to the actions of the Russian Federation in the region, including the war against Ukraine and the illegal military presence on the territory of the Republic of Moldova.
Published by Armenpress, original at
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Trump says Lebanese and Israeli leaders to hold first talks in decades
United States President Donald Trump has announced that the leaders of Lebanon and Israel will speak for the first time in 34 years on Thursday.
The announcement came a day after the countries’ envoys to the US held rare, direct talks in Washington, DC, to discuss an end to Israel’s attacks on its neighbor.
“Trying to get a little breathing room between Israel and Lebanon. It has been a long time since the two leaders have spoken, like 34 years. It will happen tomorrow,” Trump said on Truth Social.
Lebanon was drawn into the US and Israel’s war on Iran on March 2 after Tehran-aligned Hezbollah resumed attacks on Israel.
Hezbollah said the attacks were in retaliation for Israel’s killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the first day of the war, on February 28, as well as Israel’s near-daily violations of a ceasefire it agreed to in Lebanon in November 2024, Al Jazeera reported.
Since then, Israeli forces have killed more than 2,000 people in Lebanon and displaced more than 1.2 million others. The Israeli military has also launched a ground invasion in southern Lebanon, seeking to seize more territory and create what it calls a “buffer zone”.
Published by Armenpress, original at
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US announces new sanctions against Iran oil sector
The United States has announced it is tightening sanctions against Iran’s oil industry.
The sanctions target more than two dozen individuals, companies and vessels.
“Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) intensified pressure on Iran’s illicit oil transportation infrastructure by sanctioning more than two dozen individuals, companies, and vessels operating within the network of Iranian oil shipping magnate Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani (Shamkhani), the son of now-deceased senior Iranian security official Ali Shamkhani,” the US Department of the Treasury said in a press release.
“Treasury is moving aggressively with Economic Fury by targeting regime elites like the Shamkhani family that attempt to profit at the expense of the Iranian people,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “Under President Trump’s leadership, Treasury will continue to cut off Iran’s illicit smuggling and terror proxy networks. Financial institutions should be on notice that Treasury will leverage all tools and authorities, including secondary sanctions, against those that continue to support Tehran’s terrorist activities.”
The move comes weeks after Washington issued a 30-day waiver of sanctions on Iranian oil at sea, which Bessent said last month allowed some 140 million barrels to reach global markets in a bid to relieve pressure on global energy supplies sparked by the war, Reuters reported.
Bessent confirmed on Wednesday that the waiver, issued on March 20 and set to expire April 19, would not be renewed, according to Reuters.
The United States on Wednesday threatened to sanction buyers of Iranian oil and said it believed China would pause such purchases as Washington enforces a maritime blockade on Iran.
“We have told countries that if you are buying Iranian oil, that if Iranian money is sitting in your banks, we are now willing to apply secondary sanctions,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters at the White House.
Meanwhile, the US State Department said Washington is acting to decisively limit Iran’s ability to generate revenue as it attempts to “hold the Strait of Hormuz hostage.”
Published by Armenpress, original at
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Disused Edinburgh ex-Armenian restaurant to be transformed into luxury short-t
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Art: Armenian government has acquired Arshile Gorky’s “Untitled”
April 16 2026
Armenian government has acquired Arshile Gorky’s “Untitled”
Yerevan /Mediamax/. The exhibition “Arshile Gorky: New York-Yerevan: New Acquisition” has opened at the National Gallery of Armenia.
The Armenian government has acquired the graphic work “Untitled” (1944) by the world-renowned American-Armenian artist at an international auction.
The event was attended by Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Mayor of Yerevan Tigran Avinyan, and Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Zhanna Andreasyan.
“Our people have had different pages in history: at times the center of Armenian life was Madras, at other times Istanbul or Tbilisi, and at one point Venice. Today, we affirm that the center of Armenian reality and life in all its dimensions – cultural and ideological – is the Republic of Armenia,” Nikol Pashinyan said in his speech.
The Prime Minister noted that the acquisition of Arshile Gorky’s work was made possible by the contributions of thousands of tax-paying citizens.
Photo: Armenian government
The government reports that “Untitled” was presented at the Sotheby’s auction house in London. The starting price for the 1944 graphic work (paper, pencil, 45.4 × 55.5 cm) was 45,000 euros, with an estimated upper range of 70,000 euros.
During the auction held on December 3, 2025, the work was acquired by the Government of Armenia for 30,978,000 AMD (approximately 69 000 euros).
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Travel: Thought for the week: A pilgrimage to Garni, Armenia
However, even the most devout pilgrim can suffer monastery fatigue – Khor Virap, Geghad, Sevanavank – all similar stone conical roofs against the magnificent Caucasus mountains. Then we arrived in Garni. One of the only pagan temples, it stands like an improbable small version Parthenon in a remote corner of Armenia, over one thousand, five hundred miles from Athens. Built in 77 AD during the reign of Tiridates I, its continued existence is a mystery. When the country adopted Christianity, all pagan temples were razed to the ground and churches erected on their sites.
Even odder is the fact, that after the 1679 earthquake toppled the temple, it was the famously atheistic Soviet government that meticulously restored it in 1975. Most probably, the Russians, who have always prized the classical form, were entranced by its classic geometrically perfect colonnade on a platform of double-height stairs and topped with triangular pediments.
Garni Temple today is a key destination for tourists, but also Armenian neo-pagans who celebrate the birth of Vahagn, the God of fire. We were there during Nowruz, the Persian new year. Traditionally, Iranians also travel to Garni to celebrate this, as Nowruz is a 3000 year old Zoroastrian (the religion of Persia before Islam) custom. This year, we did not encounter any. What struck me was the palpable sadness of the locals. ‘It is not the same without them’ was the wistful remark from so many. Garni temple, which has witnessed centuries of civilisations and itself been resurrected, knows that this time too will pass.
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Azerbaijan exports to Armenia reach $5.8 million as its Armenian imports barel
In the first quarter of 2026, Azerbaijan exported products worth $5.8 million to Armenia, but imports from Armenia only amounted to $960, with the Armenian side stressing that Armenia had not yet exported anything to Azerbaijan, and media speculating the figure could have come from gifts brought over from Armenian civil society to Azerbaijan.
On Thursday, Armenian media outlet Civilnet cited Armenia’s State Revenue Committee as saying that its customs authority had not registered any exports to Azerbaijan. The Armenian Economy Ministry has told RFE/RL the same information.
However, RFE/RL speculated that the $960 could have come from gifts given by Armenian civil society experts and figures to Azerbaijani colleagues during visits to Azerbaijan. They cited the honorary president of the Yerevan Press Club, Boris Navasardyan, who participates in such meetings, as saying that Armenian delegations often gifted Azerbaijanis sweets and teas.
Armenian and Azerbaijani civil society members have paid mutual visits in the past several months, as the two countries push towards signing a peace deal.
The most recent such visit took place in early April, with an Armenian delegation arriving to Azerbaijan via a demarcated land border in northern Tavush region into Azerbaijan’s Gazakh region.
The Azerbaijani state-run media outlet Azertac wrote on Thursday that Azerbaijan’s export worth with Armenia accounted for 0.11% of the country’s total export during the first three months of 2026.
Separately, the Azerbaijani pro-government media outlet APA reported that petroleum products dominated trade between the two countries, but did not break down what Azerbaijan had imported from Armenia for $960.
Trade between the two countries only began late last year after the initialing of a peace treaty in Washington in August, potentially putting an end to a decades-long conflict.
In January, Armenia and Azerbaijan exchanged a list of potential goods they could trade.
Later, Armenian Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan told Armenian media that Yerevan was in talks with Baku to export aluminum foil, raw aluminum foil, ferromolybdenum, domesticated animals, raw materials for brandy, tobacco, textile, roses, and other greenhouse products.
Last year, Azerbaijan exported goods worth $788,800 to Armenia. There were no exports from Armenia to Azerbaijan.
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Armenia arrests 14 affiliates of Karapetyan for alleged election bribery
Armenian authorities arrested 14 affiliates of Russian–Armenian tycoon Samvel Karapetyan’s Strong Armenia party on Thursday, in what authorities say is the latest in a series of cases involving alleged electoral bribery. Two other party members were placed under investigation on the same charges earlier this week.
The arrests were confirmed by the Anti-Corruption Committee, which said they were carried out ‘on charges of giving and receiving electoral bribes’.
Earlier on Thursday, Gohar Meloyan of the Strong Armenia party said in a social media post that party members and supporters had been detained, including a female MP candidate.
‘Since morning, lawyers’ access has been obstructed’, Meloyan said.
She added that such actions ‘only further motivate people to fight to live in a normal, law-based country’.
Later, the Human Rights Defender’s office announced that as a result of measures taken by the office, lawyers have been allowed to enter the Anti-Corruption Committee and exercise legal assistance.
On Thursday, Armenia’s Anti-Corruption Committee announced that based on their investigation, members of Strong Armenia and others registered as employees of the party’s affiliated non-governmental organisation, ‘distributed electoral bribes to a number of voters in the Artashat community of Ararat province’.
According to the Committee, in an effort to conceal their activity ‘members of the group communicated with each other via internet applications’.
They also published what appears to be secret recordings of phone conversations among the people involved in the case. One of the interlocutors was heard urging the other to contact them via Viber, WhatsApp, Telegram, or personally show up and speak in person.
Earlier, one of Karapetyan’s lawyers, Vahan Hovhannisyan, announced in a press briefing that two of the 14 detainees had been charged, further noting that the grounds for the detentions were allegations of electoral bribery and violations of the ban on charitable activities during the pre-election period.
The case is reportedly connected to the activities of Karapetyan’s Our Way organisation, which was ‘established for charitable purposes, and programmes were carried out involving certain individuals who received salaries’.
‘Now, according to the investigating body, as I understand it, those salaries are being considered as electoral bribes. Perhaps the individuals were not working under formal employment contracts, but at most this could be viewed as a violation of labour relations, which is not at all within the scope of criminal law’, Hovhannisyan said, according to state-run media outlet Armenpress.
Earlier this week, two other members of Karapetyan’s Strong Armenia party, Gohar Ghumashyan and Verzhine Stepanyan, were placed under investigation after being detained for allegedly violating a ban on handing out charities during the pre-election period ahead of the 7 June parliamentary elections.
Strong Armenia called the arrest of the two women ‘another manifestation of [Prime Minister Nikol] Pashinyan’s panic’.
Ahead of these arrests, Armenian authorities launched several similar cases in recent months against Karapetyan’s party members, which, according to polls, is the main political opponent of Pashinyan’s Civil Contract in the upcoming elections.
Karapetyan is the president of the Strong Armenia party and its candidate for prime minister.
On Wednesday, Karapetyan announced that he began the process of renouncing his Russian and Cypriot citizenship. However, Karapetyan will still be ineligible for the post of MP or prime minister, because under Armenian legislation, candidates should be solely Armenian citizens and have lived in Armenia for the past four years.
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