April 1, 2026
18-year-old Davit Minasyan, who was arrested on Sunday in the case of the St. Anna church incident, was detained for two months. The court, chaired by Mnatsakan Martirosyan, satisfied the petition of the investigator.
Hours after the decision 168․amhad the opportunity to ask questions to the judge who visited the bank on his own business during working hours. A short Q&A is below.
– Did you act according to your conscience?
– You are disturbing me now.
– You know, don’t you, that today’s decision was emotionally reacted to by various public circles․ You actually deprived a school-aged boy of his freedom.
– You can’t pursue this order.
– I’m not chasing, I’m just raising questions, the opportunity has arisen…
By the way, footage of how one of Nikol Pashinyan’s bodyguards hit a school-aged boy in the church, who was taken into custody, recently appeared on the Internet.
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“There has never been such a degenerate and immoral situation. Nikol Pashinyan is afraid
April 1, 2026
18-year-old Davit Minasyan, who was arrested on March 29 after the provocation with the participation of Nikol Pashinyan in Saint Anna Church in Yerevan, was detained for 2 months today. Judge Mnatsakan Martirosyan decided to satisfy the investigator’s request to detain the 18-year-old student for 2 months. The lawyers do not know on what basis the judge made such a decision, because they have not yet received the court’s decision. 18-year-old Davit, who studies in the 12th grade, was transferred to “Armavir” prison, but before entering the penitentiary, Davit lost consciousness and was transferred to the hospital.
Founder of “Njar” constitutional movement, human rights activist Nina Karapetyantsi by definition, unfortunately, there has been no justice system in Armenia at all times, but he assures that there has never been such a depraved and immoral situation.
“For more than a year, he has been provoking situations, playing with people’s religious feelings, humiliating, if you want, killing people and not giving an answer. Then he is surprised when he finds himself in an environment where he is not expected, and an 18-year-old boy has an outburst, expresses his attitude, after which a whole system attacks one 18-year-old boy – this is beyond all moral norms. Let them not tell me that there was an incident that should be given a legal assessment.” 168.amNina Karapetyants said in a conversation with
According to our interlocutor, before making a legal assessment of David’s actions, all those who spread such rumors should first of all demand a legal and political assessment from the justice system, against the person who was the God of hatred and anti-Armenian propaganda, and who carried out manipulations and propaganda on a cosmic scale.
“If they have not condemned the actions of this man for several years, then they have absolutely no right to speak about the morality or legality of David’s actions.
Nikol Pashinyan is afraid of 18-year-olds, according to his ideas, it is these 18-year-olds and a little older people who will come and reject him.
Honestly, I expect a response from young people today, not in the form of violence, but in the form of participating in the elections and rejecting Nikol. This will be the best answer to give him. Nikol Pashinyan will constantly provoke situations, and I must ask, very much, the young people not to give in to provocations, this is very important. They should have a clear idea that Nikol Pashinyan will go after all young people in different ways, he will sacrifice some of them, and then he will declare them as “senseless victims”, Nina Karapetyants stressed.
According to him, Nikol Pashinyan will fill the prisons with some of the young people and declare that they are guilty.
“Nikol Pashinyan, with his security guards, will subject you to violence and say, ‘You are to blame’. There should be only one answer to this: Nikol Pashinyan should be rejected. The hearts that he sends are not addressed to you dear young people, but to those who should have appreciated his work, directed against you.
This is one of the shameful pages of our justice system, Nikol Pashinyan sees a direct threat from the youth, I hope that the youth will express their attitude very concretely and objectively,” emphasized Nina Karapetyants.
Let’s remind that on March 29, when there was a service in Saint Anna Church, Nikol Pashinyan decided to enter the church with his teammates and security guards, and his security guards tried to open the way by pushing the gathered people. At that time, David and his brother Michael were participating in the liturgy in the church and were urged not to push each other. At that time, a stampede started, one of Nikol Pashinyan’s security guards punched David. After the incident, 2 brothers were arrested, at the moment Mikael is free as a suspect, he was released in exchange for a bail of 5 million drams and a signature not to be absent.
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“We are also dealing with a lack of masculinity. if you speak, then
April 1, 2026
Yesterday, the Government officially announced that today, April 1, Nikol Pashinyan will leave for the Russian Federation on a working visit.
During his visit to Moscow, will Nikol Pashinyan also discuss with the Russian President the issue of “hybrid war against Armenia from the north”, which various representatives of the government have announced on different occasions. Will this issue be on the agenda of both parties?
YSU international relations and diplomacy chair associate professor, international scholar Grigor Balasanyan naturally, the issue of “hybrid war” will be on the discussion agenda.
“Nikol Pashinyan will not ask the president of the Russian Federation why they are waging a hybrid war against Armenia, but will say: what technologies do you have to fight against a hybrid war?”
If you remember, just a few days ago, the RA Foreign Minister said that they should also try to find out from Russia what kind of tools they have to fight against the hybrid war. It’s just not known here who is fighting whom, and it’s not known what they mean by ‘hybrid war’.” 168.amGrigor Balasanyan said in a conversation with
According to him, since the leader of Armenia says one thing, but does another thing, then interprets everything differently, therefore it is difficult to say what answer will be given to those questions.
“I have no doubt that the question will be asked by Nikol Pashinyan: how to fight against the “hybrid war”, Grigor Balasanyan added.
Our interlocutor emphasized that Nikol Pashinyan and his teammates in Armenia do not clarify anything by talking about “hybrid war”, because they leave room for maneuver.
“It is clear to everyone that if it takes money from the EU to fight against the “hybrid war”, then who is the EU’s geopolitical rival in the region? Iran, no, the United States, no? here we are also dealing with a lack of masculinity. If you speak, then call things by their proper names, and if you are not sure that you can give an answer, perhaps you should not destroy the “beehive” and put this issue on the agenda,” said G. Balasanyan.
According to him, the issue of the railway will also be on the agenda, because the Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation said a few days ago that the Russian Federation has no mood and desire to give the concession to anyone.
“Here the question arises, what made the RA leader assume that the Russians agree to cede all that, even to their ally, but in any case, geopolitically and in a certain sense, rival Kazakhstan? Where did Pashinyan get the information that they are ready to cede it to the Kazakhs? As they say, quite a full agenda is expected in Moscow,” emphasized Grigor Balasanyan.
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It would be desirable if pro-Russian politicians could participate in elections
April 1, 2026
Russia would like all pro-Russian forces to be able to participate in the Armenian parliamentary elections. This was stated by Vladimir Putin during the meeting with Nikol Pashinyan.
Earlier we informed that the meeting between Pashinyan and Putin started in the Kremlin.
“We always conduct a sincere dialogue with you, and we would like all political forces and politicians to be able to participate in the internal political processes. Some of them are in prison despite having Russian passports. It is your decision, we do not interfere, but in any case, we would like them all to be able to participate in the internal political processes,” Putin said.
He added that regardless of the outcome of the elections in Armenia, Russia is committed to strengthening friendly relations with Armenia.
To remind, Nikol Pashinyan left for Moscow today. The leaders of Armenia and Russia last met in December 2025 in St. Petersburg, within the framework of the informal summit of the Eurasian Economic Council and the CIS.
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What role did Anna Hakobyan play in the 44-day war?
April 1, 2026
Head of the security team of the “Strong Armenia” party, colonel-investigator Arthur Avanesyan (Kandaz) on March 31 reminded Taken during Anna Hakobyan’s visit to Tavush on April 1, 2023 the statement that 11,000 deserters was during the 44-day war.
“The reality is that we had 11,000 defectors during the 44-day war, I’m not expressing myself differently, you understand what I’m talking about. 11 thousand soldiers, volunteers, officers, etc., you can imagine, right, what a number that is.” Hakobyan insisted.
Apart from the fact that Artur Avanesyan reminded about this statement of Anna Hakobyan, he also emphasized. “Our soldiers are not deserters, they fought like lions, and your husband left our soldier defenseless, without a weapon.”
Anna Hakobyan decided not to let the detective’s video reminder go unanswered.
“I cannot remember this person during the 44-day war. It would definitely have caught my eye, and of course it would have impressed me, I would hardly forget it. And the degree of his awareness about the war and the degree of awareness about the sensational news of just one month old in Inner Armenia are directly comparable. Obviously, he has no idea (news) from both of them.” he wrote on his Facebook page.
I wonder what upset Anna Hakobyan the most here: the reminder of her statement and the opposition to it, keeping the honor of a regular army soldier, or at least the accusation publicly addressed to her ex-husband? In any case, this response raised new questions and confirmed the validity of the existing ones.
For example, why did Kandaz have to be in Anna Hakobyan’s eyes, where was it possible to see her and not see her, is it possible to see all the participants of the war, the command, and then, did Anna Hakobyan hold the position of a military leader, did being the wife of the head of the country at that time allow her to be in the command post, to have access to information and actions containing elements of secrecy? Anna Hakobyan has a serious responsibility in the context of being at the command post during the war, especially when and how 168.amto had reported RA Ministry of Defense:“According to the governing documents, permanent or temporary permits are issued for access to relevant officials performing operational duties at command points.”
Does Hakobyan’s status at that time apply to this requirement defined by the governing documents, did Anna Hakobyan have the right to be in the bunker and remotely observe the hot combat operations taking place at that time, as she once told Former Minister of Defense of Artsakh, former Secretary of the Council of Artsakh Samvel Babayan.
Here another question also arises: who gave such permission outside the law: the head of the General Staff of the RA Armed Forces, the commander of the Armed Forces, the then president of Artsakh, Arayik Harutyunyan, or…
Let’s not forget that during the days of the 44-day war, Anna Hakobyan is also an important discussion had In the room of Araik Harutyunyan, the former president of Artsakh who was sentenced to life in Baku.
Moreover, it was in the days when Baku first began to accuse Armenia and the RA armed forces of targeting the civilian population of Ganja, why not, also when the well-known counter-strike operation was being developed or confirmed, for the failure of which Jalal Harutyunyan was first accused and then acquitted. Of course, there are other issues related to Anna Hakobyan and her participation in the context of the 44-day war, which we have touched on more than once, the last time on February 27 of this year, “Open and kept secret facts. Anna Hakobyan’s responsibility related to the 44-day war cannot be canceled or negotiated in the article, so we won’t go into too much detail in this case.
By the way, we even wrote on one occasion why Anna Hakobyan was not called to the Investigative Commission, or why she was not questioned in specific cases.
If the government circles or Anna Hakobyan had doubts about the 44-day context of the same Artur Avanesyan, Kandaz, and did not believe what was published in the press. data, why didn’t they talk about it earlier and only remembered now? It would be good if the same was done for the KP or pro-KP volunteers, who have many questions about what was done and what was not done in the 44-day war. there are questions and nothing that Artsrun Hovhannisyan invited them to briefings during the war.
And we have raised the issues related to the 44-day holiday that concern us in these years, not according to political convenience and preference, and we have always tried to get information or clarification from the relevant bodies. Another question is the extent to which they do or do not hide the information they have.
For example, from the Ministry of Defense reported where was Ashot Pashinyan during the 44-day war, but when and for how long, they avoided answering, do you agree that this is a key episode, or when did his squad retreat from the Alpasha hill, etc.?
By the way, we have not been able to find out why during the 44-day war 4 high-ranking officials of the NSS get rid of from work, including the director of the National Security Service, the head of military intelligence, the reason is unknown.
In particular, on October 7, 2020, as the official sources reported, he was removed from his post were Levon Shahumyan, head of military counter-intelligence of the NSS. “Armenian time” that presented in the context of espionage detection operations, is the reason here? And a day later?in 2020 on October 8 From the position of the director of the NSS was released Argishti Kyaramyan, who on October 5 had participated to the development of the mentioned operation or its discussion, does Anna Hakobyan know why? Despite this, Kyaramyan remained in Artsakh until the end after his dismissal, and later headed the RA Investigative Committee.
As for desertions during the 2020 war, of course there have been such cases, but the question is how many, from the regular army, or from casual war field reservists and volunteers, and what prompted it?
Anna Hakobyan seems to question the fact that the soldier is not a deserter, the degree of awareness of others on such delicate issues, we do not doubt that she possesses a serious information base.
Moreover, it is possible that neither the 44-day investigation commission nor the law enforcement agencies have much of the information that Nikol Pashinyan has in his hands, why?
Doesn’t possessing such a volume of information base and not fully transferring it to the relevant authorities imply specific responsibility?
And we have sent written requests to the RA Investigative Committee, the RA General Prosecutor’s Office and the RA Ministry of Defense in order to obtain new data related to the desertion. We will publish the answers as soon as we receive them. Maybe Anna Hakobyan is right: what we have is old, it needs updating, even though it is a year old.
In particular, RA Investigative Committee June 9, 2025in response to our inquiry, he informed that during the 44-day military operations of 2020, in the cases of crimes against military service in the divisions of the Main Military Investigation Department of the RA Investigative Committee About 1,500 criminal proceedings have been initiated against 11,000 or more servicemen. with which a preliminary investigation was carried out and the course of many criminal proceedings was resolved in accordance with the law.
In turn, at the same time RA General Prosecutor’s Office also announced the following.
“In response to the request of June 9, 2025, we inform you that in the service area of the RA Military Prosecutor’s Office During the 2020 44-day war and declared martial law (from September 27, 2020 to March 24, 2021) in accordance with Part 7 of Article 361 (voluntarily leaving a military unit or place of service), Part 3 of Article 362 (desertion) and Part 3 of Article 364 (refusal to perform military service duties) of the RA Criminal Code adopted on April 18, 2003, as well as As of May 1, 2025, an investigation is being carried out in the pre-trial proceedings with criminal proceedings initiated by a combination of articles Regarding 8240 persons. Committed crimes provided for in the mentioned articles 352 guilty verdicts were passed on the persons.
Due to the course of pre-trial and judicial investigations, the said digital data are constantly changing.”
In June 2025, we tried to find out from Suren Papikyan through a written inquiry whether the number of 11,000 deserters corresponds to reality, how many of the alleged deserters are from the regular army, and how many are not, to which the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia answered.
«The question raised by you is beyond the scope of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia.”
And? 168.amin 2025 «Is Anna Hakobyan’s number about 11,000 desertions during the 44-day war a lie or a leak? with the text article: published, where we asked whether the number of 11,000 defectors mentioned by Anna Hakobyan might be a leak, and if so, by whose hand was it taken out of the walls of the Investigative Commission, although Andranik Kocharyan later did not deny the authenticity of that number. But here is a question, we repeat: were there deserters from the regular army, and what number are we talking about?
And it is precisely to find out the answer to these and other questions that we believe that the report of the 44-day investigative commission should be published, in this case it will become clear what reasons the military leadership mentioned during their interrogations for the defeat in the war, how relaxed they were in this matter, where is their responsibility and where is the political leadership?
In the end, one should also know how much the lack of modern weapons contributed to the defeat of the war, how much the quality and wrong use of the existing weapons, how much the command decisions led to the defeat, how much the Pashinyan management system itself, also the above-mentioned statutory violations, i.e., the organized disorganization or “complicated” state, how much the legislative loopholes played a role in the defeat, and finally how much the fact that only against us Azerbaijan did not fight.
By the way, it is interesting that the former military leadership should be demanding in answering and publicizing these questions, especially when all the responsibility is placed on the army, if, of course, the 44-day report covers them comprehensively. But we won’t know this if the report is kept under wraps.
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RPA decided not to directly participate in the elections
April 1, 2026
The Republican Party of Armenia issued a statement, informing in particular: “The meeting of the Executive Body of the Republican Party of Armenia took place today, during which the 2026 election was discussed. the question of the party’s participation in the parliamentary elections to be held on June 7.
As a result of a comprehensive analysis, a decision was made about the immediate non-participation of the Republican Party in those elections.
The reasons for the decision and the next steps of the party will be presented at the 18th congress of the RPA to be held on April 4.
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Samvel Karapetyan, next to the Armenian Diaspora
April 1, 2026
Armenians around the world have always felt the devotion of the national philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan and the Karapetyan family.
In August 2020, the Armenian community, which was affected by the catastrophic explosion in the city port of Beirut and was in a critical condition, immediately felt the care of the national philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan and Karpetyan.
The national philanthropist provided 200,000 dollars to restore the St. George Armenian Church in Beirut damaged by the explosion, as well as 10,000 dollars in direct support to the families of the dead Armenians.
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Another attempt to deceive grandparents. 10,000 drams for 5 years of deprivation
April 1, 2026
In recent years, the pension in Armenia has always been lower than the value of the minimum food basket. But the members of the Communist Party, who lavishly fill their own pockets with money from the state budget, “realized” only 5 years after the previous elections, that the pensioners given by them cannot even solve their own food issues.
We are not even talking about the minimum consumer basket. The value of the minimum consumer basket is almost twice the pension of a pensioner.
The members of the CP have not recently learned about this. But they remembered the pensioner only before the upcoming elections. For five years, they have not done anything to alleviate the social problems of pensioners, on the eve of the elections they decided to increase pensions and show that they have fulfilled their promise regarding the increase of pensions.
Let’s remind that in the previous elections, they promised to increase the average pension to 61 thousand drams. At the moment, it does not even reach 50 thousand drams. They raised it by only 5.4 thousand drams in five years, before the upcoming elections they decided to increase it by 10 thousand drams at once and announced that they fulfilled their promise.
It doesn’t matter that in the previous 5 years the pensioner was starved, they didn’t even give him a pension equivalent to the minimum food basket. During those 5 years, the social situation of the pensioner only worsened. It got worse not only because the pensions were raised very little, but also because the inflation exceeded the pension increase. Not counting the additional financial burden imposed on the pensioner through the increase of various taxes and fees.
Everyone understands why they decided to raise the pension now. You were an increaser, you would have increased it in previous years so that the pensioners could provide themselves with at least a minimum food basket. Otherwise, they permanently worsened the situation of the pensioner for 5 years, and on the eve of the elections, they became concerned about the pensioner.
Cumulative inflation in Armenia in five years, we are talking about average inflation, was 20.2 percent. 2021 was 7.7 percent, in 2022 – 8.3 percent.
After two years of sharp, cumulative 16 percent inflation, in 2023 only 0.6 percent inflation was recorded.
Inflation was recorded again in the next 2 years. 1.5 percent in 2024, and 3.3 percent in 2025.
During this period, the price of food became much higher. Cumulative average inflation of food made more than 24.4 percent.
In 2021-2022, in just 2 years, food inflation of almost 23 percent was recorded. 2023 There was a 4.8 percent deflation, but food prices continued to rise in the following 2 years. Cumulative inflation in those years was another 6.3 percent.
At first glance, inflation in Armenia has moderated in recent years, the rates of price increases have weakened. But this happened after previous sharp price increases. It is because of these price increases that the inflation rates have weakened in the previous 2-3 years. If we compare today’s prices with 2021 back, we will see that there are significant differences, and these differences have been borne by the pensioners for years. However, the authorities at that time were busy filling their own pockets and did almost nothing to alleviate the impact of inflation on the most vulnerable sections of society.
In the past 5 years, according to official data, the average pension in Armenia has increased by only 12.5 percent. Meanwhile, during that period, cumulative inflation was 20.2 percent, food prices increased by 24.4 percent on average.
The increase in the price of food almost doubled the increase in the average pension.
It doesn’t even make sense to talk about the much sharper price increases of basic necessities, when even the average inflation was much higher than the increase of the average pension. And that means that the living conditions of pensioners have only worsened these years.
After worsening the social condition of pensioners for five years, by increasing their pension by 10,000 drams, they want to deceive their grandparents that they will live better from now on. However, those 10,000 drams will not even cover the effect of the high inflation of the previous period. With that, they may live a little better than last year, which is not yet certain, considering the recent inflation activation, but they will continue to live worse than they did years ago, because the impact of inflation, especially real inflation, is much greater than the increase in pensions.
For five years, they did nothing to at least adjust pensions to the level of inflation, they left this vulnerable social class to become impoverished and bear the heavy impact of inflation, today, before the elections, they started talking about indexation of pensions in the following years. Recently, Nikol Pashinyan announced this within the framework of the party campaign. Until recently, they insisted that pensioners need a pension increase, but they don’t know how to spend the money. Before the elections, they are afraid that they will lose the pensioners’ votes. not only have they decided to raise pensions from April 1, but they also promise to adjust pensions with inflation every year.
He says, “I have made a decision. From 2027 or 2028, every year, the government will make a decision to increase pensions by the rate of inflation.”
If someone asks, why didn’t you raise pensions every year in line with inflation in the previous 5 years?
They let the pensioners suffer for 5 years in order to deceive them before the elections that, in case of re-election, we will index pensions.
You used to do it before, who was holding your hands? You have not done it for five years, now why should the pensioner believe that you will do it later?
HAKOB KOCHARYAN
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CP members knew the political order to detain Davit Minasyan, a schoolboy
April 1, 2026
Arman Tatoyan, head of the “Wings of Unity” political initiative, writes. “All day today, it was obvious that the members of the CP knew about the political order to detain schoolboy Davit Minasyan and were waiting with their fingers crossed for when they would go to their favorite work: writing status, mocking, insulting a person.
And so it happened: a shameless self-proclaimed crocodile scientist, who holds a high-ranking position in our country and is obliged to serve every citizen, dares to make fun of a schoolboy for the fact that he will not be able to participate in the Last Call due to a political arrest.
He is sure that he will be appreciated for that writing, he will remain in his position. He is related to his boss, isn’t he?
First of all, law is justice, and arresting a schoolboy is an obvious abuse of law, a political order, it is unnecessary to even talk about the fact that there are no grounds. The child and his family are not political at all.
A simple question: if 18-year-old Davit Minasyan, who did not show “respect” to the person holding the position of prime minister in the church, had not been charged with such charges and even more so he had not been arrested, the boy would have continued to attend school, study classes, attend until the final verdict, what would have happened? The answer is definitely nothing.
All this has one explanation, the CP and their party leader are trying to instill an atmosphere of fear, to teach people a lesson not to express a public position about them, and they do not look at all that they are playing with the fate of a schoolboy entering a big life.
As I said, we need a different logic. not a government that is protected by law, but a law that protects the citizen. Including from the government itself.”
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168: It is necessary to name and shame not only the dictators, but also their fathers
April 1, 2026
RPA Vice President Armen Ashotyan referred to the provocation that took place in the church on Palm Sunday and the noisy realities that followed it. “The European and international experience of fighting against authoritarian regimes dictates that it is necessary to name and shame not only the dictators, but also the persons who serve them, carry out their orders, and are instruments of oppression.
That approach is called naming and shaming.
Therefore, within the framework of that toolkit, I remind you which of Nikol’s bodyguards hit 18-year-old student Davit Minasyan in the church.
His name is Mkrtumyan Ashot.
Shame on all the tools of dictators. May God punish them and their children for their actions.”
The photo that Armen Ashotyan attached to his post is a reminder of two Liturgies. in one case, the said bodyguard shuts the mouth of a citizen who uttered the name of His Holiness, in another case, he hits a school-aged boy.
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