April 4, 2026
Today, in a briefing with journalists after the 18th congress of the RPA, the third President of the Republic of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, said that it is the first time that the RPA will not participate in the parliamentary elections, stressing that he was personally inclined not to participate in the elections in 2021, but the members of the Executive Body convinced him to participate.
“In 2021, I myself was not in favor of participating in the elections, but I was against the participation not only of our forces, but also of the opposition forces in general.
I said: we will go to the elections, unfortunately, the RA governor will win, and the international community will blame our entire people for a long time, they will say: your people chose, so go and put up with it. So, it is not the first time that we are hesitating, making a new decision,” Serzh Sargsyan noted.
Serzh Sargsyan answered that there were no official negotiations.
“There have always been public proposals from our side, but you saw for yourself how long the process of expressing no confidence in the current prime minister was, how it happened.
I think a part of the opposition is to listen carefully to the authorities, to make sure that our people are categorically against the former, first of all, us. Maybe that’s why they avoided going to fight. Maybe they have other calculations, they think they can win the elections and that way is more preferable for them, because the constitutional way is to win the elections.
But I think this is not the right way, impeachment cannot be opposed to elections under any circumstances. Even if they succeed in expressing no confidence a week earlier, there will be elections on the 7th of the month. Then the elections will be much fairer, and at least all these manipulations of the pre-election stage will not affect the results of the elections,” added Serzh Sargsyan.
The third president also emphasized that all the studies talk about it, and these were the studies that made it possible to predict the elections before the 2021 elections, including the Gyumri and Etchmiadzin elections.
“If I’m not mistaken, last week the results of the elections were presented in our party, and everyone saw what opportunity and rating we had at least last week.
I think there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the leader of the opposition today is, yes, “Strong Armenia”, and many assumptions can be made from there,” emphasized Serzh Sargsyan.
Details: in the video of 168.am
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Serzh Sargsyan supported Onik Gasparyan’s proposal to stop the war.
April 4, 2026
In his speech at the 18th congress of the RPA, the third president of the Republic of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, did not avoid the topic of the April 2016 military operations and the war in general.
He first remembered whether to recognize Artsakh or not on April 4, 2016 His meeting with the ambassadors of the OSCE member states.
“The Republic of Armenia, as a party to the 1994 Armistice Agreement, will continue to fully fulfill its duties of ensuring the safety of the people of Nagorno Karabakh. Moreover, I instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to work towards signing a military mutual aid agreement with Nagorno Karabakh. And here I must mention that I have stated more than once that if, indeed, the military operations continue and become large-scale, the Republic of Armenia will recognize the independence of Nagorno Karabakh.” Serzh Sargsyan warned the ambassadors of the OSCE member states.
Why the de jure Artsakh-Armenia strategic alliance plan was not implemented is a separate topic for discussion. Moreover, similar discussions also happened after the change of power in 2018, when at almost the same time Nikol Pashinyan announced: “Artsakh is Armenia, and that’s it.”
And Serzh Sargsyan explained during the congress why they did not recognize the independence of Artsakh de jure.
“In 2008, Azerbaijan, taking advantage of the internal political disputes in Armenia, launched a diplomatic attack and passed a resolution contradicting the Madrid principles in the UN General Assembly. All OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries voted against that resolution. It also did not receive the support of the European Union member states. And then we We conveyed to the co-chairing countries of the Minsk Group that Armenia will recognize the independence of Artsakh Republic in two cases. firstly, if there is a long-term, large-scale war, secondly, if the co-chairs of the Minsk Group do not encourage Azerbaijani diplomatic encroachments to move the resolution of the Artsakh issue to another platform, including the UN General Assembly. When the rulers of Armenia speculate, my response to this question is simple: Apart from these two occasions, the recognition of Artsakh would in itself lead to the isolation of Armenia from the international community and a large-scale war. There was no large-scale war during the previous era, thanks to our combative army and our effective diplomatic work, therefore, the negotiation process was not put under attack.
Under them, the war of 2020 was already on a large scale, had disastrous consequences and was stopped by a cowardly populist and dragged out for 44 days to avoid being called a traitor.
I ask a question, if all these factors were present – a large-scale and long-lasting war, which, despite mediation efforts, did not stop, then why did you not recognize Artsakh, and what could have happened after that? And when such claims are made from outside that you didn’t even recognize, what do you want from us? But the participants of the negotiation process are still there, didn’t they know that we agreed with the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group not to rush, not to provoke a war, not to fail the work of the OSCE Minsk Group?”
In other words, Serzh Sargsyan says, and perhaps makes it clear, that one cannot violate the political and diplomatic agreements, that although they negotiated the right to self-determination of Artsakh, they did not recognize Artsakh’s independence, because they promised that they would not do so unless there was a large-scale war. Here we are talking about what Aliyev did during the 44-day period had accused Nikol Pashinyan, that “Artsakh is Armenia, and that’s it” was outside the “elevator agreements”.
In this context, let’s go back to the days of April combat operations in 2016 and recall one episode as proof of Serzh Sargsyan’s other thought expressed at the congress, that the army and diplomacy complemented each other.
on April 3, 2016 with military attachés of embassies of foreign countries accredited in RA meeting at that time Davit Tonoyan clearly stated. “The Armenian side is ready for any development, if necessary, up to direct military support for NKR defense.”
Meanwhile, after the 44-day war 168.amin a conversation with former Minister of Foreign Affairs Ara Ayvazyan had confessed that the connection between the army and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was not working well.
“There should be complementarity. But power structures, security and diplomacy, especially in a country like ours, must work together and coordinate. This trinity – security-army-ministery of foreign affairs, must exist“, he continued.
On one occasion we we have touched on military leadership and those responsible for foreign policy and the dose of responsibility for diplomacy, the army alone cannot answer for the defeat.
And Serzh Sargsyan, in the part of his speech at the 18th congress of the RPA, essentially indirectly supported the proposal made by the former head of the RA Armed Forces General Onik Gasparyan to Pashinyan at the session of the Council of Ministers on the 4th day of the war.
It should be noted that Colonel-General Onik Gasparyan in 2020 In his message of November 17, he disclosed an important episode, detailing:
“The fourth day of the war During the security council meeting, I presented our losses and the armed forces’ assessment of the situation noting that within two or three days it is necessary to take measures to stop the war, otherwise in the case of combat operations conducted at this intensity, our resources will be exhausted in a short period of time and we will have more unfavorable conditions for the negotiation process in the following days.
I have presented similar assessments many times during my round-the-clock work with the Prime Minister. as well as in the meetings of the Security Council”.
Then General Onik Gasparyan continued in his address.
“All attempts and proposals to stop the war at a certain stage have been rejected by Turkey and Azerbaijan. and: we have been forced to continue fighting`trying the enemy to cause great losses and to force to sit at the negotiation table”.
Despite our human, military-technical and territorial losses on the first day of the war, on the basis of this proposal of Onik Gasparyan, as on one occasion we wrote in fact, first of all, the geopolitical situation, the attitude of allies and partners towards us and our diplomatic abilities were taken into account.
In other words, the head of the General Directorate warned: every single day will work against the negotiation process.
The army was able to resist for 44 days, for better or for worse, even, according to our information, the General Staff had under its eye the possibility of the war continuing for a few more days. There is also a remarkable episode here. Aliyev after the war admitted that it was in Azerbaijan’s interest to stop the war on November 9 to avoid heavy losses.
When we make certain comparisons between the actions of the state and the authorities during the April war and the 44-day war, it does not mean at all that before 2016 and after, there were no undone or delayed actions, including those related to the army, of course there were. This does not mean that we consider the circulated thesis that “Lele Tepe” was not a height of strategic importance to be correct, no. Another question is whether the current government, which handed over Karvachar, Aghdam, and Lachin, held by the army during the 44-day war, to Azerbaijan with the stroke of a pen, has the right to make this topic a banner, during whose reign the strategic heights of Armenia also came under the control of Azerbaijan, and they are unlikely to retreat from there.
By the way, the question whether we won the April war or…
On the plane returning from Vienna in April 2016, given to Armenian TV stations in the interview Serzh Sargsyan honestly answered that question. In particular, he said that he could use the word “victory” to summarize the events of April, but the most correct wording is “The armed forces fulfilled the task set before them, failing the enemy’s plan to break through and destroy the Armenian front.”
And in the meeting with journalists in August 2020, almost in the same logic had said that during the four-day meeting, Azerbaijan could not achieve the military-political and military overarching goal set before it, which was to change the course of the negotiations.
It should be noted that the April combat operations were followed by the agreements of Vienna and Saint Petersburg, which Nikol Pashinyan’s authorities put aside. And the topic of the April war did not escape Baku either “trial” time, and Levon Mnatsakanyan, the former commander of the Defense Forces, had the courage to declare in court: “During the April War, the Defense Force was not the attacking side.” And has Nikol Pashinyan ever directly accused Putin of organizing the April war, which he did remotely, is a question…
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Crucifixion: CP’s last offer to the Armenian people
April 4, 2026
“Civil Contract” party on Friday publish is his pre-election program, for which Nikol Pashinyan wrote a mournful text in the preface with the signature “Dzer Nikol”.
Voters-readers who are excited to have Nikol, of course, will not remember that a day before the publication of that program, “their Nikol” was reading a treatise about the institution of the prime minister and the prime minister’s difference from other citizens, while threatening that the security guards can beat people, use weapons, and if necessary, eat them for the protection of the “prime minister representing the state”. But since KP voters are neither readers nor, in the classical sense, voters, they are not in danger of familiarizing themselves with the pre-election program.
And there is nothing particularly familiar in the pre-election program. It is a collection of anti-state, anti-state, anti-national and food-loving delusions of Pashinyan himself and his propaganda battalion in the last few years, presented only in pre-election format.
There is ONLY one word in that text, which has a cornerstone meaning, on the one hand, for Pashinyan, in order to maintain power after all the disasters caused to Armenia, Artsakh and Armenianness, and on the other hand, for the society, to understand the tragedies experienced, experienced, but not realized in the past years. In the prologue of the program, we read the rest of the lavash, which is an insult to the reader’s intelligence.
“Opening an era of peaceful development for Armenia and the region, however (2021) is the greatest mission undertaken by the Government to the people with the results of the extraordinary elections.
This sentence contains the only word that makes the remaining 5255 words of the program meaningless. THE SAME. In this one word, the entire weight of the tragedies of the Armenian people of the last century and the nationwide shame of enduring the tragedies to this day are condensed. With this word, “your Nikol” says that although we have lost the three-thousand-year-old Artsakh, although about 5,000 young people have died for it, although some of the strategic heights of Armenia have been turned into attractions for the Azerbaijani military, although we lease and name the roads of Armenia at a reasonable price, despite the first incident and countless more… YES, “opening an era of peaceful development…”
The phrase composed of the last four words would have been the envy of Kafka, Beckett, or any other specialist in surrealism. Armenia is located in a region whose main characteristic is the daily risk of war. In these conditions, talking about “peaceful development” rather than direct development is, to put it mildly, political infantilism. And the statement about opening the non-existent substance is no longer a matter of political but of psychiatric analysis.
The only and last answer to the pre-election program of the CP to the Armenian society, in the single word of the same program, can be, despite the seemingly beautiful statement of nonsense, Nikol must leave.
In order to finally find out whose “your Nicole” was/is.
Q:․C:․ By diabolical coincidence or perhaps planned satanism, the pre-election program of the CP was published on April 3, Good Friday, the saddest day for Christians, the day of Christ’s crucifixion.
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Two drown in Yerevan reservoir, authorities say
Two young men allegedly drowned early Saturday in one of Yerevan’s reservoirs after one attempted to rescue the other, authorities said.
Armenia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said its 112 Operational Management Center received an emergency call at 5:49 a.m. reporting that an individual had allegedly fallen into a reservoir and his friend had jumped in to help.
Emergency response teams were dispatched to the scene, including units from the Rescue Service, a firefighting crew from the Yerevan department, a specialized water rescue team and police.
Officials said a diver later located and recovered the bodies of the two victims from the water.
Other details were not immediately available.
Published by Armenpress, original at
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Türkiye earthquake felt across Armenia
A magnitude 5.2 earthquake that struck eastern Türkiye was felt at low intensity across Armenia, according to the country’s seismological agency.
The Armenian Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Seismic Protection Territorial Service said it detected the 5.2-magnitude earthquake at 9:52 a.m. local time (0552 GMT) Saturday, with an epicenter about 40 kilometers north of the Turkish city of Van, at a depth of 7 kilometers.
The agency said the quake was felt in Armenia, particularly in Yerevan, as well as in the provinces of Shirak and Ararat, at a low intensity of MSK-2.
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Civil Contract convenes congress to confirm party list and Pashinyan’s nominat
Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract Party is expected to hold an extraordinary congress on Saturday.
Prime Minister and Civil Contract Chairman of the Board Nikol Pashinyan said on social media that the congress will vote on the party’s candidate list and pre-election program for the June 2026 parliamentary elections, as well as formally confirm him as the party’s nominee for prime minister.
Civil Contract Party members last week selected Pashinyan as the party’s candidate for prime minister in the upcoming election.
The extraordinary congress is scheduled for 2 p.m. local time at the Yerevan Sports and Concert Complex.
The Civil Contract list of candidates for parliament in the June 7 elections was determined through a closed vote and published online.
The party also released its election campaign program earlier on Friday.
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Pashinyan secures Civil Contract nomination for 2026 election
During its congress on Saturday, the Civil Contract Party unanimously confirmed its Chairman and Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, as its candidate for Prime Minister in the upcoming June 7 elections.
The party also approved its electoral list.
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Speaker: Civil Contract, Armenia’s most democratic party, belongs to the peop
Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan, a senior member of the Civil Contract party, said during the party congress that Civil Contract today has many experienced politicians whose work and words carry significant weight and play a decisive role in Armenia’s political arena.
He added that, together with the citizens, they have built and strengthened the most institutionalized, rapidly developing, and democratic party in the Armenian political landscape.
“At the same time, we have never ceased to be ordinary representatives of our people. We have remained their friends and partners, those who share their pain, grieve with them, and rejoice with them. We have stood by their side—from the moment we carried out the revolution together, through the war, and, despite everything, confirmed that Armenia has a future. We have remained the relative, the friend on whom one can be angry, with whom one can debate, cry over sorrows, or share joy—because we belong to the people,” Simonyan said.
He noted that it is natural that not everyone supports or praises them.
“All those who have sincere words to share, we must invite to conversation every day. We must tell, share, and speak again. This pre-election period is the best time and opportunity for these conversations—conversations during which we must hear about our mistakes and shortcomings and explain our vision to our citizens, because the discussion is about the most important thing: the real Armenia and the Armenian people,” he said.
Simonyan emphasized that many had dreamed of leaving peace, not war, as a legacy for future generations.
“And today, we have it. There will always be those who try, from within and from outside, to take our peace away from us, and they will attempt it again on June 7. They will try to play with our emotions, our pain, our pride, and our future, to drag us back into the past and keep us there—so that we feel pity, others pity us, and the fate of the Armenian people belongs to someone else—so that we neither live, grow, nor exist… But Armenians are no longer wretched; today we exist, independent and free. We will live forever, and we will remain free, independent, and secure in our peaceful statehood,” Simonyan said.
Parliamentary elections will be held in Armenia on June 7.
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Minister highlights Civil Contract’s defense reforms at party congress
Defense Minister Suren Papikyan, a senior member of the Civil Contract party, has highlighted the military reforms undertaken by the ruling party.
Speaking at the Civil Contract party congress, Papikyan said that the military, as one of the guarantors of the country’s security, must be equipped with modern armaments and equipment to carry out its mission of defending Armenia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.
He highlighted the increase in defense spending and the growth in voluntary enlistment.
“Today, as Armenia moves steadily toward peace, it is very important to discuss the role of the army within the new security architecture, what kind of army we should have, and what we have done to modernize it. It must be stated that the Armenian army has no role outside the borders of the Republic of Armenia,” he said.
“Of course, there is a great temptation today to address the numerous ‘saviors’ who have recently become active, as well as foreign experts, instructors, and the highly respected texts generated by artificial intelligence. However, I would simply advise them to once again read the concept for the transformation of the Armenian army, where they will find a significant portion of their ideas presented not only as questions but also as solutions. I do not rule out that they may even come across direct quotations,” he added.
According to Papikyan, the concept for the transformation of the Armenian army provides a clear understanding of what the ruling political force has done to increase the army’s defensive capabilities.
“Since the launch of reforms in 2022, we have created systems whose main positive results will be widely discussed in the future. In order to achieve the goal of building a professional army, we have implemented numerous changes. On the path to establishing a professional military, we have introduced the ‘Defender of the Fatherland’ program, which has already become a key pillar of the transforming army. Thousands of young people are joining the program and becoming an important part of a professional military. They have the opportunity to undergo certification, receive higher salaries, and support both their families and the state. Their number currently stands at 5,319,” the minister elaborated.
Papikyan added that in recent years significant attention has been paid to the salaries and social welfare of contract servicemen. According to him, as a result of the certification program, thousands of servicemen have improved both their knowledge and level of preparedness while also gaining opportunities for social stability and well-being.
“Today, in addition to their base salary, certified servicemen receive bonuses ranging from 205,000 to 470,000 drams. These amounts are now competitive and motivating wages in the labor market,” Papikyan emphasized.
The minister also addressed changes in conscription and mobilization resource management, noting that compared to 2022, the number of conscripts in 2025 has increased by 25.3 percent.
“This is the result of the changes we have implemented and our consistent work. In fulfillment of our promise to reduce mandatory military service through the expansion of contract service, mandatory service in Armenia is now one and a half years. The army is not complete without a reserve force. For many years, reserve training in our country was treated negligently. Hundreds of thousands of reservists did not know what training exercises were, were unaware of their assigned units, or of the potential tasks and missions they might face. Previously, the relevant authorities did not have information about people’s whereabouts, their further education, changes in employment, health conditions, possible disabilities, or even deaths,” he noted.
He emphasized that a new system has now been established, through which 25-day training musters are conducted, with thousands of Armenian citizens participating each year.
The minister highlighted the substantive and fundamental reforms carried out at the Monte Melkonian Military Sports Lyceum and the Vazgen Sargsyan Military Academy as key to staffing, educating, and training the officer corps. He noted that educational programs have been revised, scholarship amounts increased, and both living and learning conditions improved.
“In 2026, at the Vazgen Sargsyan Military Academy, cadets’ scholarships—depending on their year of study—range from 75,000 to 175,000 drams for those with excellent academic performance. The same applies to the Monte Melkonian Military Sports Lyceum, where students receive scholarships ranging from 15,000 to 45,000 drams. Starting this year, graduates of the Military Academy, upon appointment, will receive housing certificates worth up to 35 million drams to purchase apartments. Upon entering service, they may receive salaries ranging from 620,000 to 750,000 drams,” he elaborated.
Papikyan recalled that during the years of Civil Contract’s governance, defense spending has increased several times over.
“In 2018, at the start of our administration, defense spending amounted to $640 million. In 2025, that figure reached $1.741 billion. Procurement of armaments and military equipment in 2022–2025 was 5.4 times higher than in 1998–2018, which demonstrates our commitment to the homeland and the army,” Suren Papikyan concluded.
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Armenia’s parliamentary speaker says country will leave CSTO and Eurasian Eco
Armenia’s parliamentary speaker Alen Simonyan said his country would leave the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Eurasian Economic Union if Russia raises the price of gas it supplies to the republic.
“If they make that decision, Armenia will make its own decision and withdraw completely from the CSTO, from the Eurasian Economic Union,” Simonyan said at a briefing for journalists on Saturday, April 4, the Russian news agency Interfax reported.
He added that he did not think it would come to that, since Armenia’s prime minister and Russia’s president had held a very productive conversation.
At a meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that Armenia receives Russian gas at a favorable price. “Today, as you know, energy prices — gas prices in Europe — are going off the charts, above $600 per thousand cubic meters. Russia sells gas to Armenia for $177.50. The difference is large. The difference is substantial,” Putin said.
Armenia has suspended its CSTO membership since 2024 and stopped paying dues to the organization. Formally, Armenia has not withdrawn, though Pashinyan said as far back as December 2024: “In essence, we already consider ourselves outside the CSTO.”
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