According to the preliminary investigation of the criminal proceedings carried out by the RA Anti-Corruption Committee, it was established that the person who held the position of fuel secret materials storekeeper of the N military unit of the RA Defense, using his official and official powers, committed theft of diesel fuel.

In particular, the preliminary investigation revealed that the mentioned official agreed with the worker-driver of the military unit in 2026 to take the diesel out of the territory of the military unit in order to manage it personally.

The employee of the military unit, accepting the official’s proposal, removed the diesel fuel from the military unit’s territory by providing funds and removing obstacles and assisted in the process of stealing it. The mentioned diesel fuel was found from the vehicle by the employees of the Ijevan department of the RA Ministry of Defense.

The above-mentioned official of the N military unit of the RA Ministry of Defense was charged under Article 256, Part 2, Clause 2 of the RA Criminal Code, and the person who assisted him was charged with Article 46-256, Part 2, Clause 2 of the RA Criminal Code. The latter pleaded guilty to the presented charges and gave confessions.

The preliminary investigation in the criminal proceedings has been completed, and the materials of the proceedings have been sent with the indictment to the supervising prosecutor with a request to confirm it and send it to the court.

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ArmLur.am received new details regarding the case of the soldier who died yesterday.

In particular, according to information received by ArmLur.am, the serviceman was forced to commit suicide. According to preliminary data, the soldier was beaten before committing suicide, and the law enforcement officers also discovered other circumstances.

According to the information of ArmLur.am, according to the initial version, the dead serviceman had climbed the positions for the first time, which may have been fatal for him. Our sources of the law enforcement system inform that the arrest of two people is planned as part of the proceedings initiated in connection with the case of the soldier’s suicide.

To remind, yesterday the RA Investigative Committee announced that a criminal proceeding was initiated in connection with the death of a soldier of the N military unit of the Defense Ministry recorded on July 21. Necessary investigative and administrative actions are being carried out.

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Gagik Tsarukyan, the chairman of the “Prosperous Armenia” party, was returned to solitary confinement after being transferred to the Investigative Committee once again. Today’s planned investigative actions, including the confrontation, have not been completed.

According to Tsarukyan’s defense attorney Emin Khachatryan, the defense submitted a motion to challenge the entire investigation team. According to his assessment, in the created conditions, when, according to him, the principle of competition is absent and illegalities are allowed, it was not possible to continue the investigative actions.

This morning, Gagik Tsarukyan, who was detained after the elections, was taken to the Investigative Committee again accompanied by the police. The previous day, he had already confronted one of the Iranian businessmen accusing him, and today he was expected to face the second businessman.

However, Tsarukyan’s other lawyer, Yerem Sargsyan, was removed from the proceedings during the investigation. According to him, the basis of such a decision was the application of one of the Iranian businessmen recognized as a victim.

The latter stated that Yerem Sargsyan had previously participated in the meetings between him and Gagik Tsarukyan, therefore he should be interrogated as a witness and not involved as a defense attorney. Yerem Sargsyan evaluated that decision of the law enforcement officers as illegal, informing that he had already received a summons to be questioned as a witness on the same day.

Gagik Tsarukyan was charged with particularly large fraud and money laundering articles. According to law enforcement officers, he organized the theft of property worth more than 21 million dollars belonging to Iranian businessmen. However, the defense side claims the opposite, stating that it was the Iranian businessmen who had financial obligations towards Tsarukyan, which, according to them, is confirmed by the relevant contracts.

It should be noted that yesterday, a few hours before the interrogation, Tsarukyan’s message from the isolation cell was published. This time, he did not address the criticisms of the authorities, but presented the results of his activities and announced that he intends to “continue building”.

At the same time, dozens of enterprises related to Tsarukyan remain closed, and the management of the “Araratcement” factory has already been transferred to the state.

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The Supreme Body of the ARF of Armenia has issued a statement that says:

“The current government of RA, caught in the crisis of legitimacy, has brought legal permissiveness to political opponents to a new level, ruthlessly using the law enforcement system in its goals.

Not satisfied with illegal wiretapping, arrests, detentions and many illegal criminal prosecutions, the arbitrary investigative bodies have moved on to pursue people who donated to opposition parties.

In particular, it has been a long time that the investigative body has been illegally detaining and illegally “interrogating” ARF members and supporters, just citizens who have made donations to the party in accordance with the requirements set by law. This is in the case when the numerous undeniable facts spread in the press testify to the fact that the “Civil Agreement” party itself receives illegal incomes and uses the administrative resources in the elections completely and impermissibly for their own party interests. Predictably, law enforcement and other competent authorities remain silent in this case.

Assessing all this as a violation of Articles 8 and 46 of the RA Constitution, as well as an obvious attempt to subvert the foundations of democracy,

We demand from international organizations and observation missions to give an adequate, impartial assessment of such actions of the ruling administration.

We demand the law enforcement agencies to immediately return to the field of legality, observing the requirements of the Constitution and the Constitutional Law “On Parties”.

We draw the public’s attention to the one-wheeled neo-Bolshevism of the political authorities and election corruption at the state level.

We declare that thousands of ARF members, sympathizers and supporters will not succumb to the illegalities of the punitive machine, will not be afraid of fake interrogations and will resolutely continue the struggle against the current administration for the sake of a legal, democratic and safe Armenia.”

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The Central Electoral Commission agreed to initiate criminal prosecution against Narek Karapetyan, who heads the electoral list of the “Strong Armenia” bloc, to the request of the Prosecutor’s Office. This was reported by lawyer Armen Feroyan.

Lawyer Aram Vardevanyan announced yesterday that the criminal case related to Narek Karapetyan refers to the accusation attributed to “Strong Armenia” supporter Aleksan Aleksanyan. Aleksanyan is accused of taking financial advantage of people in order to participate in the gathering and of laundering large amounts of money.

Vardevanyan described this as “political absurdity, political theater, political persecution”, which, according to him, is aimed at interfering with the activities of Narek Karapetyan in the National Assembly.

Although the prosecutor’s office submitted the petition on July 13, the CEC began examining it only yesterday, after issuing mandates to the deputies. Narek Karapetyan also received the parliamentary mandate.

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Narek Karapetyan, deputy of the “Strong Armenia” faction, will not be arrested. The Central Electoral Commission rejected the petition of the Prosecutor’s Office.

To remind, today the CEC deprived Karapetyan of parliamentary immunity.

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Today, the first instance court of RA extended the detention of “Mother Armenia” party leader Andranik Tevanyan for 2 months.

Earlier, Tevanyan made a statement from the isolation cell, demanding an open trial in his case. He believes that the people should know what they are accusing him of, and the reality should be shown to the public.

Tevanyan was arrested in May this year on charges of espionage and treason. On May 21, the RA Investigative Committee reported that citizen A.T. (Andranik Tevanyan), being a deputy, was allegedly recruited by foreign special services in 2024 and engaged in agency activities.

According to the investigation, he illegally obtained detailed information from the closed parliamentary discussion held in April 2024, translated the materials into Russian and transferred information containing state secrets. As the RA Investigative Committee claims, he received 622 thousand dollars for this purpose. A criminal case has been initiated regarding the fact.

Tevanyan himself denied the accusations, calling them absurd and based on political motives.

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The World Bank’s July report on Armenia’s economy warns of dangerous trends already emerging.

Economic activity increased by 11.7% in May 2026, and by 8% in January-May. However, during the same period, exports decreased by 3.7%, imports increased by 2.2%, and the trade deficit reached around 7% of the projected annual GDP. Exports to Russia were reduced by 15% in May alone.

Inflation reached 5.1% in June, and food inflation reached 8.6%. Even the seemingly positive 0.8% surplus in the budget was formed amid a 54.5% reduction in capital expenditures and a freeze in defense spending.

The World Bank separately emphasizes the risks arising from political developments with Russia.

40% of tourists and 61% of net remittances in May are from Russia. They strengthened the dram, increased bank liquidity and supported domestic demand. In other words, dependence on Russia is no longer only a matter of foreign trade. It simultaneously refers to exports, transfers, tourism, domestic consumption, exchange rate and energy security.

In May-June, Russia restricted the entry of Armenian agricultural products, flowers, fish products, mineral water and alcoholic beverages into its market.

The World Bank is already warning that if these restrictions are maintained or expanded, their consequences will go beyond foreign trade and will affect economic growth, prices and social conditions.

And what does the Armenian government oppose to this danger? State compensation for transport and customs costs and optimistic statements about the rapid redirection of exports to the EU market.

Although the assistance of the European Union is politically important, it is limited in economic scope, and based on it, the government’s expectation to replace the Russian market with the European one in a short period of time is absurd.

The European market is not only the elimination of customs duties. It requires compliance with other quality and safety standards, certification, traceability, expensive logistics, stable supplies, distribution networks, new packaging, marketing and business relationships built over years. Especially fresh agricultural products, flowers or fish products cannot be transferred to another market in one day by the decision of the government or the statement of a European official.

The goods exempted from customs duty are not yet sold goods.

But the most painful side of the problem is different. The government consistently brought political relations with Russia to a confrontation, but left the economy in a multi-layered dependence on the same Russia. It did not build economic safety bags, did not prepare the manufacturer, did not create realistic alternatives.

The greenhouse owner, the farmer, the fish breeder, the winemaker, the exporter, the consumer and the tax payer will have to pay the price of that apathy. The latter is also due to the fact that the government will now try to cover the consequences of the work it did not perform with compensation from the state budget.

Russia has turned Armenia’s economic dependence into a tool of political coercion, and the Armenian government, unable to either manage and weaken this dependence, or create a realistic alternative to it, has transferred the entire price of its geopolitical improvisation to the economy and citizens of Armenia.

Davit Ananyan, former chairman of the RA SRC

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The politician believes that in the conditions of global instability, the only chance of survival for Armenia is friendship with Russia and EAEU membership.

Recently, there was a principled conversation between the Prime Ministers of Armenia and Russia Nikol Pashinyan and Mikhail Mishustin in Yekaterinburg. Russian Senator Vladimir Jabarov said this during the press conference held on the Sputnik Armenia multimedia platform, answering the question about the current state of bilateral relations in the background of the RA National Assembly elections.

“The situation in Armenia is difficult. You know that recently a meeting of prime ministers took place in Yekaterinburg. There was a principled conversation, and it was clearly said that Armenia should take a stand,” said the Russian senator.

He is convinced that the only chance for Armenia to survive in the conditions of global instability is to maintain friendship with Russia and membership of the Eurasian Economic Union.

“We will follow concrete steps. The villagers, who are unable to sell their products, are already expressing dissatisfaction. We do not intend to take revenge on the people, but we must understand that we have our own interests,” Jabarov said.

The meeting of the Prime Ministers of Armenia and Russia Nikol Pashinyan and Mikhail Mishustin took place on July 6 in Yekaterinburg. During the negotiations, Pashinyan expressed hope that the existing problematic issues will be resolved.

Earlier, the Kremlin announced that the desire to integrate into the European Union is Armenia’s sovereign right, but Yerevan cannot and should not implement this policy at the expense of EAEU countries. This was followed by restrictions on the export of Armenian products to Russia.

On May 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a press conference that he believes that it would be right for both the citizens of Armenia and Moscow, the main economic partner, for official Yerevan to take a decision on EU membership as soon as possible. He also emphasized that although it is not Russia’s business, it is possible to hold a referendum and find out the opinion of RA citizens regarding membership. According to him, depending on its results, Moscow would also take action, he did not rule out that there could be a soft, civilized separation. Putin noted that Russia will support any decision of Armenia that will benefit the country.

Nikol Pashinyan told journalists on May 11 that Armenia remains a full member of EAEU, and the referendum will be held when there is an objective need.

After that, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk announced that some work is being done in Armenia towards the transition to EU standards, and if Armenia starts making changes in technical regulations, it will already create certain threats for EAEU.

On May 29, at the EAEU summit held in Astana, the leaders of the member states of the association issued a joint statement, in which, in particular, they emphasized the need to decide on the further integration of Armenia as soon as possible. After the summit, Putin announced that leaving the EAEU could result in a loss of about 14% of GDP.

According to statistical data, if Armenia leaves the Eurasian Economic Union, it will lose almost 40% of its trade turnover.

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The Armenia-Iran forum has started in Syunik, in which representatives and experts of leading Armenian and Iranian analytical centers are participating. This was reported by the RA Syunik Marz Governor’s Office.

Syunik Marz Governor Robert Ghukasyan took part in the official opening of the event and gave a speech of welcome. In his speech, the governor highly appreciated the Armenian-Iranian friendly relations and their significance for Armenia, particularly for Syunik. He welcomed the participants of the meeting and wished the discussions an effective and successful working process.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Iran to Armenia Khalil Shirgholami also welcomed the attendees and thanked them for their participation. He expressed his belief that the work done by expert groups can further develop cooperation between friendly countries.

The purpose of the conference is to facilitate the harmonization of the approaches of Yerevan and Tehran, to identify new directions of cooperation between the two countries, as well as to develop practical recommendations for decision-making bodies.

During the workshop, expert discussions will refer to political, economic, regional developments and other issues.

As a result of the conference, it is planned to develop proposals and form future programs of Armenian-Iranian expert institutional cooperation.

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