The Iran War Shows Why the “TRIPP” Caucasus Corridor Matters

Emil Karabekian
The National Interest
April 1 2026
The Iran War Shows Why the “TRIPP” Caucasus Corridor Matters
The Nakhchivan Corridor crossing through Armenia could become an essential American economic lifeline to Asia—and America’s adversaries are taking note.

Five weeks into “Operation Epic Fury,” the war with Iran shows no end in sight. Some 1,500 miles to the north, however, a far more effective peace process is underway. Last week, the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan praised “positive developments” in their normalization process. Buried inside the two sides’ peace deal is a 27-mile corridor that may be the most consequential piece of infrastructure the United States has built abroad in a generation—and the war in Iran is proving why.

American power has historically followed the world’s narrowest passages. The Panama Canal is the defining example: a 50-mile strip across the Isthmus of Panama that reshaped global trade, projected US influence across the Western Hemisphere, and remained under American control for nearly nine decades.

The US-backed “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” (TRIPP) follows the pattern. The TRIPP is a transit corridor linking Azerbaijan’s mainland to its exclave of Nakhchivan through southern Armenia, near the Iranian border. Initialed at the White House last August after 32 years of war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, TRIPP has the potential to become a new Eurasian chokepoint.

Like Panama in its early days, TRIPP is not valuable because of its size, but because of its vital location. The corridor would allow goods to pass from Asia to Europe while skirting both Russia and Iran, giving the West access to Central Asian strategic minerals and rare earths without requiring them to move through China first.

The Iran War Shows the Importance of TRIPP

The crisis in the Strait of Hormuz underscores the importance of such a passageway in real time. Within hours of the first strikes on February 28, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) began blocking passage through the strait, leading to the worst disruption to global energy supply since the 1970s.

The US Navy’s Fifth Fleet sits permanently in Bahrain in order to keep Hormuz open. When Houthi militants disrupted shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb, Washington responded with military force. TRIPP applies the same logic to an overland corridor—but the logic is no longer theoretical. The maritime chokepoints the global economy depends on are now contested in a shooting war.

Iran’s hostility to TRIPP has also moved from rhetoric to kinetic action. On March 5, Iranian drones bombed Nakhchivan International Airport and a nearby school, injuring civilians and damaging the terminal building, marking the corridor’s first direct encounter with the threat its designers anticipated. An IRGC-affiliated Telegram channel described the target zone as a place where “foreign officials” were planning attacks against Iran—a thinly veiled reference to TRIPP infrastructure. President Ilham Aliyev placed Azerbaijan’s military on full combat readiness in response.

Yet the strike on Nakhchivan did not derail the peace process, but rather accelerated it. Within hours, the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers discussed the strike, emphasizing the need to avoid escalation. Last week’s call between the two foreign ministers—the second in three weeks—was notably warmer in tone, commending the Armenia-Azerbaijan normalization progress and discussing regional cooperation. NATO, in its annual report released the same day, welcomed “meaningful progress” toward peace.

America Is a More Reliable Partner for Armenia and Azerbaijan than Russia

Russia has a vested interest in prolonging the Iran conflict, as doing so has led to skyrocketing oil prices, allowing Russian exporters to reap a windfall and the Kremlin to devote greater resources to its cash-strapped war machine. For the same reason, Moscow has sought to undermine or shut down the TRIPP—but has so far been unable to.

Russia’s position in the Caucasus has weakened considerably since the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in 2023. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan replaced Moscow with Washington as their primary mediator last year, and the war in Iran has further exposed the limits of Russian influence in the region. Moscow’s response to the Nakhchivan strike was telling: it called on Azerbaijan and Iran—which it nominally continues to refer to as its “strategic partners”—to “exercise maximum restraint” in their relations with Iran, effectively blaming the victim for actions taken by the aggressor.

Other overland routes remain at risk. Georgia, long considered a key transit hub in the Caucasus, continues its drift toward Moscow. The main East-West highway there runs a mere 400 meters away from Russian troops in South Ossetia, making large-scale logistics vulnerable to disruption. TRIPP offers a secure alternative, complementing the broader Middle Corridor linking Asia to Europe.

For over 30 years, Armenia and Azerbaijan were entrenched in one of the fiercest ethnic conflicts of the post-Soviet era, with more than 30,000 killed on both sides and one million displaced. Russia cynically exploited the conflict to keep both neighbors dependent, selling weapons to both sides and propping up separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh while playing mediator. Both sides grew wise to the Kremlin’s strategy, and swapped Moscow out for Washington, leading to a peace summit in August. The United States agreed to secure TRIPP in exchange for a 74 percent stake in the company that will develop and manage the corridor for the first 49 years. Armenia retains a 26 percent share, but operational control rests firmly with Washington.

The time for the United States to act in securing the corridor is now. The Hormuz crisis has exposed the structural fragility of maritime-dependent energy supply chains. America still relies on China for the lion’s share of its rare earth imports, a strategic vulnerability Beijing exploited twice last year with export controls. Central Asia holds some of the world’s largest critical mineral reserves. But accessing those resources has historically meant moving goods through China, undermining supply-chain diversification. TRIPP creates a secure, US-controlled corridor that links Central Asia directly to European markets outside Beijing’s grasp.

Political Opposition to TRIPP Is Short-Sighted

The corridor has also found a surprising opponent in Armenian diaspora lobbying groups. The Armenian National Committee of America called the route a “surrender of Armenia’s sovereign rights to a neo-colonial US-backed corporate consortium.” The American wing of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation called TRIPP a “calculated loss of sovereignty” and “betrayal without mandate.”

But the war in Iran has made the counterargument plain. Armenia’s 26 percent stake in the corridor provides sustained revenue from a project that will exist regardless of its participation, while US security guarantees offer protection from precisely the regional powers that have historically constrained Armenian sovereignty. For a landlocked country of three million, the alternative to American strategic engagement is not autonomy, but exposure.

Tehran and Moscow see TRIPP as a shift in the balance of influence in Eurasia. The United States should take that opposition as confirmation of the corridor’s value—and ensure it is secured, funded, and operational before the war ends and the window of strategic urgency closes.

About the Author: Joseph Epstein

Joseph Epstein is the director of the Turan Research Center, a senior fellow at the Yorktown Institute, an expert at the N7 Foundation, and a research fellow at the Begin Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar Ilan University. He also sits on the advisory board of the Alekain Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to providing education to women and girls in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. He specializes in Eurasia and the Middle East, and his work has been featured in various outlets such as Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, The Hill, the Atlantic Council, Novaya Gazeta, RFE/RL, Foreign Policy, and others.


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Russia At Risk Of Losing Control Of Railways In Armenia – Analysis

Badalian Vardan
Eurasia Review
Apr 1 2026
 April 1, 2026  0 Comments

By Paul Goble

Russia’s once powerful railways once dominated both the entire Soviet space and the Soviet empire abroad. They are now at the point of collapse, however, both domestically and internationally. Within the Russian Federation, Russian Rail is suffering from sanctions, aging equipment, and a lack of investment that is reducing its effectiveness in tying the country together and helping Moscow export raw materials (Riddle, December 12, 2025; see EDM, January 13, February 18;Svobodnaya Pressa, March 28).

Abroad, ever more countries that Moscow formerly dominated are going their own way, changing from Russian gauge to international gauge tracks and otherwise limiting Russian influence in ways that will make it ever more difficult for Moscow to recover its former position (Window on Eurasia, April 28, 2016, December 1, 2023, May 14, 2025). Moves in that direction are becoming clear in Armenia, whose position as a potential transit country has dramatically increased amid the peace process for the Second Karabakh War, and whose government is now seeking to get out from under the Russian influence it tolerated earlier when it had few alternatives.

In recent weeks, Yerevan has been pressing Moscow to sell its control of South Caucasus Railway, Armenia’s sole railway operator and a subsidiary of Russian Railways, to a third country with good relations with both Armenia and Russia. Armenian officials have suggested that Kazakhstan, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar are among the interested parties. If that happens, it would end Russia’s control over railways in Armenia—which is under a 2008 agreement set to run to 2038—and deprive Moscow of yet another of its levers of control in the South Caucasus. This would not only help Armenia develop economically but also allow it to pursue a foreign policy increasingly independent of Russia (see EDM, August 5, 2024).

The Russian government does not want to agree, but if it resists too much, Yerevan could respond by denouncing the 2008 agreement and seeking an alternative partner to help run its railways. This would be even less to Russia’s liking, as Yerevan appears confident that other partners—particularly the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the European Union, which would not want Moscow to slow east–west trade —would back Yerevan, further reducing Moscow’s leverage.

Railways played a key role in Armenia’s integration into the Russian and then Soviet political space. When the Soviet Union disintegrated, those links were largely shattered. Armenia’s railway problems were compounded by the closure of the country’s borders with Azerbaijan and Türkiye following the First Karabakh War, and by Yerevan’s inability to prevent the deterioration of the lines (Journal for Conflict Transformation: Caucasus Edition, April 30, 2025).

The situation became so dire that in 2008, Yerevan agreed to transfer control of Armenian Railways to Russian Railways under an agreement scheduled to run until 2038. With the end of the Second Karabakh War, the opening of transit with Azerbaijan, and the warming of Yerevan’s relations with Türkiye, the situation has dramatically changed. As a result, Armenia under Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has been seeking to increase Yerevan’s control over its railway system, which requires reducing Russia’s role in that sector and will inevitably lead to a decline in Moscow’s influence in Yerevan more generally (Caspian Post, February 18).

Since the August 2025 summit in Washington D.C., at which the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia announced plans for the opening of the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) (formerly referred to as the Zangezur Corridor by Azerbaijan) transportation corridor via Armenia’s Syunik Province, Armenia has increasingly questioned Russia’s role in controlling its railways (see EDM, August 12,September 8, 2025). In December, Pashinyan announced that he had asked Moscow to “urgently address” the restoration of rail links in Armenia to Nakhchivan and Türkiye, steps he said were required by Russian Railway’s current role as the owner of South Caucasus Railway (OC Media, December 19, 2025). A few weeks later, Baku said it would reopen transit to Armenia and provide a link so that Armenia could reach Russian rail via Azerbaijani territory (see EDM, November 6, 2025;International Railway Journal, January 26).

In early February, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksei Overchuk said that Moscow had “decided to begin substantive negotiations” with Yerevan about the restoration of the two short sections of rail in Armenia connecting it with Türkiye and Nakhchivan (OC Media, February 13). In response, Pashinyan said that “there is no need for negotiations” for something Russia is required to do by the 2008 accord. He then raised the discussion to a political level by suggesting that Russian Railways’ role in Armenia was causing Yerevan to lose its competitive advantage, as some countries do not want to invest in Armenian routes because of Russia’s presence there. He pointed out that several states, including Kazakhstan, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, could serve as replacements for Russia as the manager of South Caucasus Railway (RBC, February 13; International Railway Journal, March 5; Arka. am, March 26). Commentators in Kazakhstan have shown enthusiasm for this possibility (Altyn-Orda, March 26).

Moscow reacted with outrage. The Russian Foreign Ministry denounced Pashinyan’s words, and Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu said that Armenia’s railways would simply collapse “overnight” if Russia were to lose its management rights (TASS, February 18; Türkiye Today, February 19). Despite this language, the Russian government decided that it risked more by not engaging and subsequently entered into working-level talks with Yerevan about the future of Russia’s role in managing Armenia’s railways. Pashinyan suggested that this became possible because cooler heads in Moscow recognized that Armenia’s proposals were not directed against Moscow and that shifting control to a third country with good ties to both Russia and Armenia would be a workable compromise (Armenpress, March 5).

Unsurprisingly, Moscow is resisting. Pashinyan has since taken a more cautious position, saying that any change in the status of the South Caucasus Railway must be achieved through negotiations rather than unilateral action. “Scrapping a contract is always a bad thing,” he said, with a negotiated agreement the best way forward (Oragark, March 9). Armenian Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan said that several countries have already expressed interest in acquiring the Russian concession for the South Caucasus Railway. He said he had been meeting with various ambassadors. He believed that such a change in railway management would align with Yerevan’s national interests (Russia’s Pivot to Asia, March 5).

Other Armenian officials, including most prominently Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, are maintaining a tougher line. If Moscow modernizes the links Yerevan is most concerned about, that would be well and good. If it does not, or if it acts in ways that discourage investment by other countries in Armenia, however, then other steps will have to be considered (1lurer.am, March 23).

It is unlikely that any decision will be made in the immediate future. That such statements are being made at all, however, shows just how much the situation has changed not only in transportation in Armenia with the development of the TRIPP, but also in Armenia’s relations with Moscow more generally—and how much influence Russia has already lost.

  • This article was published at The Jamestown Foundation

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Armenian court bans screening of documentary about Declaration of Independence

Ani Basmajian
OC Media
Apr 1 2026

A Yerevan court has banned the screening and distribution of Our Road to Independence, a documentary about Armenia’s Declaration of Independence by its director, Tigran Paskevichyan. The Public TV holds the rights to the film, and has not broadcast or published it since its production in 2020.

The court ruling was issued on 27 March following a case launched in June 2025, by which the Yerevan court recognised Public TV’s exclusive property rights to the film, prohibiting its director, Paskevichyan, from using it in any form, including public screenings.

The court also ordered Paskevichyan to pay ֏40,000 ($100) to the Public TV to reimburse the state fee paid for the initial court proceedings.

The lawsuit concerned the screening of the documentary by Paskevichyan in May 2025, without the Public TV permission.

The two-episode documentary was produced for the 30th anniversary of Armenia’s Declaration of Independence, adopted on 23 August 1990.

According to the case materials, Paskevichyan’s company signed a contract with the Public TV in July 2020 and delivered the finished film in November of the same year. Under the agreement, the filmmaker transferred the film’s property rights to the Public TV, and received ֏4,240,000 ($11,000) in return.

During the court proceedings, Paskevichyan argued that he had previously attempted to discuss the film’s status with the director of the Public TV. He said that a letter he sent to the broadcaster’s director on 3 March 2023 requesting to ‘discuss issues related to the film’ remained unanswered.

Speaking with CivilNet, Paskevichyan stated that he had requested permission to screen the film in his letter.

In court, Paskevichyan also said that when he delivered the documentary in November 2020, as Armenia was defeated in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, he had himself proposed postponing its debut screening, ‘considering the moral and psychological state of society’.

Paskevichyan said that after Armenia held snap parliamentary elections in June 2021, the Public TV never aired it or uploaded it to its YouTube channel, despite ‘dozens of opportunities to broadcast the film’.

In a separate Facebook post, Paskevichyan accused the channel of ‘locking away’ the documentary for the past four and a half years.

‘How much must one hate the history and achievements of one’s own country to take such a petty step?’, Paskevichyan wrote, in what appears to be a statement directed at both the management of the Public TV and the Armenian authorities.

‘Nevertheless, I am not discouraged. […] I am used to waiting, being patient, and enduring for as long as necessary’, Paskevichyan wrote in his post.

The filmmaker also recalled that his earlier documentary, Armenia’s Lost Spring, about the violent crackdown on opposition protests in March 2008, faced similar difficulties, but eventually was broadcast by the Public TV.

ECHR rules Armenia violated rights of victims of deadly 2008 protest crackdown

Despite the court ruling, Paskevichyan vowed to continue screening the film in other formats.

The dispute over the documentary comes amid ongoing debates in Armenia about references made to the Declaration of Independence in the country’s constitution. The document states it is ‘based’ on a joint decision made by Soviet Armenia’s Supreme Council and the Nagorno-Karabakh National Council on the ‘reunification’ of the two territories.

Azerbaijani officials, including President Ilham Aliyev, have repeatedly stated in past years that Armenia’s constitution contains territorial claims against Azerbaijan, demanding that Yerevan change it.

While the Armenian authorities have confirmed plans to hold a referendum on changes to the constitution, also hinting that references to the Declaration of Independence would be removed, they have continuously denied that they were doing so under Azerbaijani pressure.

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Dr. Oz Sued By Meat Market Owner: Your ‘Fraud’ Vid Screwed My Biz!!!

Emil Lazarian
TMZ
April 1 2026

Dr. Oz Sued By Meat Market OwnerYour ‘Fraud’ Vid Screwed My Biz!!!

Dr. Oz is being dragged to court by an L.A. Armenian meat market owner … claiming the former TV doc falsely tied her shop to massive healthcare fraud and the mafia in a viral video.

According to a new lawsuit — obtained by TMZ — Anna Ivanyan, who owns Tigranakert Meat Market in Van Nuys, says Oz trashed her reputation by featuring her business in a clip about alleged fraud in the Armenian community.

In late January … Oz posted a video across social media showing him riding in a car and posing outside businesses, claiming billions of dollars in healthcare fraud — including alleged hospice schemes — are tied to what he describes as the “Russian Armenian Mafia.”

Ivanyan says Oz filmed right outside her business while laying this out … making it look like her shop is part of a criminal operation — something she says is completely false.

The lawsuit claims the video reached millions of viewers … and Oz’s defamatory statements were also amplified by L.A. local news outlets, which added fuel to the fire.

As a result … Ivanyan claims the alleged defamatory statements spread rapidly — reaching her customers and the broader community. She says the video hurt her business and reputation … and she’s now seeking damages.

We reached out to reps for Oz … so far, no word back.

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Project Save Hosting “My Armenia” Photographic Exhibit in Expanded Gallery in

George Mamian
Watertown News
Apr 1 2026

The following announcement was provided by Project Save:

A new documentary photography exhibition by Arlington-based photographer Winslow Martin, “My Armenia (1999–2008),” traces a deeply personal journey through post-Soviet Armenia and the historic moments he witnessed along the way. Opening April 16 through May 30, the exhibition inaugurates Project Save Photograph Archive’s newly expanded gallery space in Watertown.

Project Save is the world’s largest photo archive dedicated to preserving the regional, national and global Armenian experience. Its expansion doubles the group’s space and creates a venue dedicated to exhibitions, public programs, and community engagement opportunities.

ABOUT “MY ARMENIA” EXHIBITION

Curated by fellow photo documentarian Nubar Alexanian, the exhibition traces Martin’s unexpectedly life-changing journeys to Armenia that began when he accompanied St. James Armenian Church pastor Fr. Dajad Davidian on a trip from Watertown to his ancestral homeland. A former high school history teacher who later turned to photography to document Boston’s music scene as well as community news stories, Martin jumped at the opportunity to cover Fr. Davidian’s visit. He has since made dozens of trips to the region on his own over 27 years, exploring the landlocked country’s rich history and stunning natural beauty. [Davidian died in 2018.]

Martin’s 30 photos in “My Armenia” cover the period from 1999-2008, when he returned to capture powerful images of culture, history and daily life during a pivotal period. “The people were overwhelmingly welcoming to me, and I had full access because of my connections there,” Martin says. “I witnessed life as it unfolded, and captured major historical events from the inside, like the election of a new head of the Armenian church, and the funerals of victims from the Armenian National Assembly shooting and hostage crisis in 1999.” [The assassination and its aftermath is remembered in Armenia as “October 27.”]

W says Martin’s exhibition, which includes 30 photographs, stands apart for its commitment to documentary photography rooted in lived experience, sustained presence and trust, rather than observation from a distance.

“Winslow captures a dimension of Armenia rarely seen from the outside,” he says. “The photographs are intimate, unfiltered and deeply human. And here, they mark a new chapter for Project Save, as we create a space where historical ephemera and contemporary photography like this meet and inform each other.”

“My Armenia” is sponsored by Mass Cultural Council, Watertown Savings Bank, Watertown Cultural Council, and Herman and Laura Bilazarian Purutyan.

ABOUT PROJECT SAVE’S NEW GALLERY

Since becoming Executive Director in 2021, Vaun has led a period of significant growth for Project Save, including its 2024 acquisition of its first permanent, public-facing home in Watertown and this spring’s expansion of its headquarters to include a dedicated gallery for contemporary photography. The expansion doubles the organization’s space and creates a dedicated venue for exhibitions, public programs, and community engagement.

It also reflects Project Save’s evolving role as a steward of photographic history and a place where history can exist in conversation with the present day. “At a moment defined by global displacement and instability,” Vaun says, “the stories photographs carry are more vital than ever. Our new space creates a rare space where historical memory and contemporary photography meet—inviting deeper reflection and connection.”

Founded in 1975, Project Save began as a grassroots effort to document the lives of Armenian immigrants through photography. Over five decades, the organization has grown into the world’s largest Armenian photographic archive, with more than 150,000 original images and ephemera from communities around the globe. Project Save continues to expand its mission through exhibitions, public programming, and initiatives that bring historical archives into dialogue with contemporary photographic practice.

GALLERY LOCATION AND HOURS

  • “My Armenia (1999–2008)” on view April 16 to May 30, 2026 at Project Save Photograph Archive, 600 Pleasant Street in Watertown, Mass.
  • Gallery hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2-5:30 p.m., Saturdays from 12-4 p.m., and by appointment. Directions and more details at projectsave.org or 617-923-4542.
  • Opening reception Thursday, April 16, 6:30-9 p.m. RSVP here.
https://www.watertownmanews.com/2026/04/01/project-save-hosting-my-armenia-photographic-exhibit-in-expanded-gallery-in-watertown/

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Turkish press: Putin warns Armenia against dual alignment with EU and Eurasian

Adrine Hakobian
Daily Sabah, Turkey
April 1 2026

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Armenia it cannot simultaneously pursue membership in both the European Union and the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union, underscoring growing tensions as Yerevan pivots toward the West.

The warning came as Armenia accelerates its foreign policy shift away from Russia, a move fueled in part by Moscow’s inaction during Azerbaijan’s 2023 operation to liberate Karabakh from Armenian occupation.

The former Soviet republic froze its membership of the Russian-led CSTO security alliance in 2024, and in the same year expressed an interest in joining the European Union, further deepening its rift with Moscow.

“We see that Armenia is discussing developing relations with the European Union, and we are completely calm about this,” Putin said.

“But it should be obvious… Being in a customs union with the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union is impossible. It’s simply impossible by definition,” he added.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said he was aware that being in the two unions was incompatible, but that pursuing both paths was possible “for now.”

“When the processes develop to the point where a decision needs to be made, I’m confident that we, I mean the citizens of the Republic of Armenia, will make that decision, of course,” he said.

Moscow and Yerevan are formally allies, but their ties have become increasingly strained under Pashinyan.

Armenia’s foreign intelligence service warned earlier this year that “external actors” were trying to meddle in Armenian politics, in what analysts believe was a reference to Russia.

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Turkish press: Putin and Pashinyan clash over CSTO failures as Armenia eyes EU

Kajoyan Gevork
Turkey Today
Apr 1 2026

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met at the Kremlin on Wednesday to discuss bilateral relations, regional connectivity and Armenia’s growing ties with the European Union, in a wide-ranging exchange that also surfaced unresolved tensions over Armenia’s relationship with the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization.

The meeting addressed strategic partnership, Eurasian integration, the development of economic transport links in the South Caucasus, and a series of regional questions, with both leaders speaking candidly about the limits and the future of their countries’ alignment.

Trade figures underscore economic depth despite political strains

Putin opened by pointing to the scale of economic ties between the two countries. Bilateral trade reached 11 billion dollars the previous year, he said, before easing to 6.4 billion dollars in 2025, and he noted that Armenia’s exports to the Eurasian Economic Union had grown tenfold in recent years. He contrasted the Russia-Armenia trade figure with the 4.9 billion dollars recorded between Russia and neighboring Azerbaijan, calling the comparison instructive.

Putin said Moscow viewed Armenia’s deepening engagement with the EU with equanimity, but drew a clear structural line. “The issue here is not political, it is economic,” he said, adding that simultaneous membership in both the EU and the EEU’s Customs Union was not possible given incompatible phytosanitary standards and a range of other regulatory divergences. He expressed hope that the two blocs would eventually resolve those differences, while acknowledging that earlier Russian attempts to coordinate with Europe had produced no results. “Europeans take a tough stance on everything,” he said.

Armenia’s EU path leaves a sovereign decision to citizens, Pashinyan says

Pashinyan acknowledged the structural incompatibility directly but declined to treat it as an immediate dilemma. “What we are doing and our agenda are compatible with each other for now,” he said, adding that when the process reaches a point requiring a definitive choice, “I am confident that the citizens of Armenia will make that decision.” He said Armenia continued to cooperate with Russia in the energy sector and that discussions on constructing a nuclear power plant were ongoing with Moscow and with other partners, as Yerevan sought the most advantageous option.

The Armenian prime minister also confirmed that peace had been established between Armenia and Azerbaijan and acknowledged Trump’s contribution to that process, a point Putin echoed. Pashinyan noted that Armenia had recognized Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, but specified that the move came after Russia’s senior leadership had raised the issue publicly on two separate occasions.

CSTO dispute and upcoming elections add friction to the summit

The most pointed exchanges concerned the CSTO, the Russian-led security alliance Armenia has effectively suspended participation in. Putin pushed back against Armenian criticism that the organization had failed to intervene during the Karabakh conflict, arguing that Armenia itself had recognized Karabakh as Azerbaijani territory at talks in Prague in 2022, making CSTO intervention categorically inappropriate. He called for the matter to be closed, particularly as Armenia prepares for parliamentary elections, and said it would be undesirable for the CSTO dispute to become a fixture of the domestic campaign.

Putin also raised the situation of pro-Russian politicians in Armenia, noting that more than two million Armenian nationals live in Russia and that some Russian-passport-holding politicians in Armenia are currently imprisoned. He said Moscow was not interfering in those decisions but wanted all political forces to participate in the electoral process, and expressed hope that whatever the outcome, the two countries’ shared commitment to building and strengthening ties would endure.

Pashinyan was direct in response. He said Armenia had never concealed its difficulties with the CSTO, and that in 2022 the organization’s mechanisms had simply failed to function. “We still could not explain to our people why, despite CSTO obligations, there was no response,” he said, describing this failure as the reason for Armenia’s current posture toward the alliance. He pushed back on Putin’s remarks about imprisoned politicians, saying Armenia is a democracy with no banned social media platforms and relatively few jailed political figures, and pointing out that under the Armenian constitution, holders of Russian passports are ineligible to stand as parliamentary or prime ministerial candidates.

Both leaders closed by affirming that bilateral relations would continue to develop regardless of electoral outcomes.

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Pashinyan teases Putin about ‘excess’ of democracy in Armenia

Dabaghian Diana
RBC Ukraine
Apr 1 2026
Wed, April 01, 2026 – 23:15
2 min
The Armenian prime minister praised the achievements of Armenian democracy during a meeting with the head of the Kremlin

Kateryna Shkarlat Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, noted that his country has no political prisoners and that social media are free, according to News.am.

Read also: Russia panics over war setbacks, Kremlin launches internal crackdown — ISW

He noted that municipal elections are effectively held twice a year in Armenia. At the same time, some residents even complain about this level of political activity.

“We have quite a lot of our citizens — not a very large number, but there are citizens who think that there is too much democracy in Armenia, but this is a matter of principle for us,” the head of the Armenian government added.

He also stressed that social media in Armenia is “100% free” with no restrictions. At the same time, there are no “participants in the political process” in prisons.

Pashinyan separately pointed out that parliamentary elections will soon take place in the country, and only citizens with exclusively Armenian passports can participate.

“With all due respect, people with Russian passports, according to the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, cannot be candidates for members of parliament or candidates for prime minister,” the Armenian prime minister said.

Dictatorship in Russia

Pashinyan made this statement just weeks after Telegram was blocked in Russia.

Instead, Russians have effectively been forced to use a single alternative in the form of the Max messenger, where the Kremlin actively spreads its propaganda.

Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service recently reported that the Kremlin leader’s approval rating has been rapidly declining lately.




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Putin warns Armenia it can’t be both a member of EU and Russia-led economic bl

Maral Chavushian
The Hour
Apr 1 2026
ByAssociated PressApril 1, 2026
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday warned Armenia, which aspires to join the European Union, that it won’t be able to be part of both the EU and a Moscow-led economic alliance.
Armenia, which signed a U.S.-brokered agreement last year ending decades of hostilities with Azerbaijan, has increasingly sought to forge closer ties with the U.S. and the EU. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has declared an intention to join the EU and his government has suspended the country’s participation in a Moscow-dominated security pact, the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
Speaking at the start of talks with Pashinyan in Moscow, Putin said Russia is “absolutely calm” about Armenia’s efforts to forge closer ties with the EU, but he noted that for Armenia ”it’s impossible to be in a customs union with the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union.”

The Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union, created in 2015 and also including Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, is a single market allowing the free movement of goods, capitals and labor.

Putin’s statement appeared to send a warning signal as prospects for Armenia’s EU membership look distant and no prospective tariff-free deal between Armenia and the EU has been discussed yet.

The Russian leader noted that the two blocs have widely different market regulations regarding various groups of goods and that reaching common ground is unlikely any time soon. He said that it’s up to Armenia to set its course, but he emphasized that the country is currently getting Russian natural gas at a much lower price compared to the European prices.

Pashinyan, in turn, said that he realizes that Armenia can’t simultaneously be a member of both blocs, but for now it can combine its membership in the Eurasian Economic Union with developing cooperation with the EU. “Ties with Russia are very deep and important for us,” he added.

Armenia’s relations with its longtime sponsor and ally Russia have grown increasingly strained after Azerbaijan fully reclaimed the Karabakh region in 2023, ending decades of ethnic Armenian separatists’ rule there.

Armenian authorities accused Russian peacekeepers who were deployed to the region of failing to stop Azerbaijan’s onslaught. Moscow, busy with the conflict in Ukraine, has rejected the accusations, arguing that its troops didn’t have a mandate to intervene.

Putin argued Wednesday that Pashinyan’s decision in 2022 to recognize that Karabakh was part of Azerbaijan made it impossible for Moscow to intervene. He noted that a U.S.-mediated peace deal signed last year between Armenia and Azerbaijan and a prospective transport corridor promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump opened up new prospects for regional cooperatiion.

Putin also voiced hope that pro-Russia forces will be allowed to freely compete in Armenia’s parliamentary elections set for June, noting that some of their representatives have been put in custody – an apparent reference to Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, a critic of Pashinyan who was arrested last year after calling for the ouster of the government.

Pashinyan, who has been in office since 2018, responded thatArmenian law bans holders of Russian passports from taking part in elections.


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Armenia hopes peace established between the two states will eliminate hate spe

Emil Lazarian
Aysor, Armenia
April 1 2026

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry issued a statement on March 31, making false accusations that “Armenian groups committed genocide against Azerbaijanis in 1918.” In an interview with Armenpress, Ani Badalyan, the spokesperson for the Armenian Foreign Ministry, responded to the statement.

– How would you comment on the March 31, 2026 statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan?

– During the decades-long conflict, a number of hostile and unfounded narratives had taken shape which, unfortunately, continue to be used in Azerbaijan, even at the state level. We hope that the peace established between Armenia and Azerbaijan will not only contribute to stable, peaceful coexistence and the development of good-neighborly relations between the two states and societies, but will also put an end to fabricated claims and rule out hate speech. 

We recall that the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan reached an agreement on this in Washington, where the declaration signed on August 8, 2025, clearly states in its fifth point the intention to close the chapter of hostility between the two peoples and to embark on building good-neighborly relations following a conflict that caused immense human suffering.

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