March: 24, 2026
Armine Hayrapetyan published the transcript of Nikol Pashinyan’s hysterical attack in the subway and Armine Mosiyan’s answers.
“Before the famous hit, he had already offered the map badge to 3 people: a man coming out of doors, a young man looking into his phone, and also a famous journalist on the same train. All three refused, and the journalist’s “I don’t want a map with that image” was received with special respect. “Very good, we have an ideological disagreement.”
In general, on that day in the train, everyone could refuse the gift of “breastplate-map”. To all, EXCEPT ONE.
The next heroes of the live show were the little boy and his mother reading a book. A little later, under the noise of the wheels gathering momentum of the train, the question was sounded.
(I transcribed the entire text below word by word from the famous video, you can compare)
Nikol Pashinyan – Brother, can I give you one of these?
Child: No
Nikol Pashinyan – No?
A woman from Artsakh – We are from Artsakh and to tell the truth, we have a different map
Nikol Pashinyan – What map do you have, sorry?
A woman from Artsakh – More different… (the last few words are not heard)
Nikol Pashinyan – Yes, very good, very good
Five seconds later
Nikol Pashinyan – But your son will live in this map, take that into account
Artsakh woman – Maybe now, but…
Nikol Pashinyan – (interrupts) there is none
A woman from Artsakh – But there is
Nikol Pashinyan – there is no more, we will not let your ideology…
A woman from Artsakh – You won’t let us live in our Artsakh, you haven’t already?
Nikol Pashinyan – You know what…
Artsakh woman – You cannot deprive us of living in Artsakh, the hope of return and everything else
Nikol Pashinyan – You know what, I did everything…
Woman from Artsakh – (interrupts) Please don’t continue, I don’t want to
Nikol Pashinyan – I will not continue, I will continue
A woman from Artsakh – We are late for the tournament, to be honest…
Nikol Pashinyan – My talking does not disturb the train
A woman from Artsakh – (voice obviously excited) – please listen, we are late for the chess tournament, otherwise we would have gone down immediately, but since our hours are counted and we will be defeated for being late, we stayed here, please do not continue our conversation
Nikol Pashinyan – (interrupts) Very well, but since I listened to you, you should also listen to me. We have done everything for you to live in Artsakh, Karabakh, in 2023 it was you who accused me of closing the borders so that the people would not come to Artsakh… so that the people from Karabakh don’t come to Armenia, and you demanded me to open the borders, and you said that I should close them specifically so that the people from Karabakh don’t leave. Now you came here, you say we wanted to come back, (very loudly, waving a finger) but we spent billions earned by the citizens of Armenia so that you could stay here… why didn’t you stay?
A woman from Artsakh – (interrupts) Don’t talk to me waving your finger
Nikol Pashinyan – I will talk to you like this
Parallel:
Artsakh woman – Don’t talk to me in a loud voice and your position here has nothing to do with it
Nikol Pashinyan – I will talk to you like this, and don’t talk about this map so condescendingly
A woman’s voice in the background of Nikol Pashinyan’s loud voice
Woman from Artsakh – What you said has absolutely nothing to do with what I said
Parallel:
Nikol Pashinyan – (in a very loud voice) Any of you, any of you (waving his finger), any of you, any of you (repeats 4 times, looking into the woman’s eyes, waving his finger)
A woman’s voice in the background of Nikol Pashinyan’s loud voice
Artsakh woman – I was talking about a bigger map plus 12,000 square kilometers, don’t talk to me in a loud voice
Nikol Pashinyan – I will talk to you in a loud voice
Artsakh woman – Don’t try
Nikol Pashinyan – Then next time don’t try to say that… with the fugitives, don’t try to say that I gave Karabakh…
A woman from Artsakh – with runaways… if you have found one or two Karabaghs, Artsakh people who talk to you to please the government, it does not mean that all Artsakh people have the same opinion.
Nikol Pashinyan – Listen, tens of thousands of citizens…
Artsakh woman – We are late, don’t make us get off early, we are very late…
Nikol Pashinyan – It is the last stop
The camera pans to capture the woman’s face
Woman from Artsakh – Thank you, there is no need to take pictures of us
Nikol Pashinyan – Tens of thousands of people from Karabagh have received Armenian citizenship and are living in Armenia.
Artsakh woman – Because we have no other choice
Nikol Pashinyan – Don’t use those people in vain, in vain, in vain…
Woman from Artsakh – Until then, we had blue passports of the Republic of Armenia, which were passports, not travel documents.
Nikol Pashinyan – Yes
A woman from Artsakh – For your information, for us and for everyone
Nikol Pashinyan – I know, for your information, and that of Armenia…
A woman from Artsakh – And if people take citizenship again, it means that they have no other means, people live without work, they pay rent, they do it to take advantage of the small rent, that’s just the reason, and not because people find that they are not citizens of the Republic of Armenia and get citizenship again.
Nikol Pashinyan – Listen… people… I am asking for one thing alone…, I am asking for one thing alone. that travel thing… the trend should be removed, the child should calm down, this child does not need to stay…
Artsakh woman – This child wants his house, he wants his room
Nikol Pashinyan – It will
A woman from Artsakh – She wants her toys
Nikol Pashinyan – He will have, he will have…
A woman from Artsakh – She wants her Artsakh, she wants to go to her grandfather’s great-grandfather, who was a legendary commander in 1993 and was killed
Nikol Pashinyan – Dear… very good…
A woman from Artsakh – I’m not interested anymore… in general… I am not one of the Artsakh people you know… (in a loud emotional voice)
Nikol Pashinyan – That child will live in Armenia
Artsakh woman – I don’t continue at all
Nikol Pashinyan – That child will live in Armenia
A woman from Artsakh – (to herself) The child is so angry, will there be a competition after this? We are going out now.
Nikol Pashinyan – The child will live in Armenia, the child will live in Armenia… My request is that you don’t need to stay in the child… enter, I won’t say anything either, don’t come out, I’ll leave you alone…I leave you alone
Artsakh woman – The child, the child… the child is in the motherland, because he does not understand the homeland only Artsakh, he understands Artsakh and Armenia, united
Nikol Pashinyan – Yes, yes, the Republic of Armenia
A woman from Artsakh – 12,000 plus 30,000 square kilometers…
Nikol Pashinyan – Republic of Armenia
A woman from Artsakh – it is the first time in the history of the Armenian people that a Turk lives on the land of Artsakh
Nikol Pashinyan – (Repeats in the same tone) The Republic of Armenia
The train stops
Woman from Artsakh – Today is the worst day of my life, I never imagined that I would see you
Nikol Pashinyan – It’s okay, you have to… do you have to…
Artsakh woman – Please your policemen…
Nikol Pashinyan – (interrupts) Very good, very good, they will leave you alone… quiet
A woman leaves with a child
ATTENTION, THE DOORS ARE CLOSING.”
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As Pashinyan handed over Artsakh to the enemy, he will do the same with Armenia. Run
March: 24, 2026
Political scientist Vazgen Hovhannisyan in my opinion, a sober person cannot have such an idea that the people of Artsakh have fled.
“A moral person will never have such a question that the people of Artsakh have fled. The people of Artsakh were subjected to ethnic cleansing. 2023 The threat of genocide hung over the heads of the people of Artsakh like a sword of Damocles, those people simply had no other option and were subjected to ethnic cleansing, which is one of the tools of the genocide.
As for Pashinyan’s statement that he did not surrender Artsakh, the November 9 statement was signed on his own initiative, that is, the war was defeated by that person, and then he created such conditions, as a result of which Azerbaijan, implementing its consistent policy, subjected the Artsakh state to dismantling and subjected the people to genocide with the tools of ethnic cleansing.
In other words, the fault lies with the military-political leadership of the day, which signed the statement of November 9 and after that tried to leave the Artsakh issue little by little.” 168TV “Review” he said during the program, emphasizing that as long as Pashinyan is in power, we will constantly hear the narrative that he is not guilty and that Artsakh was surrendered in September 2023.
Pashinyan does not say Artsakh in 2023. it was handed over in September, but he says that it was handed over by the previous authorities, Artsakh was part of Azerbaijan for 30 years, etc., Vazgen Hovhannisyan responded like this: “Oh, that’s delusional, what does it mean, the previous authorities handed it over?” A normal historian will write in the history book that by 2018 The Armenian units controlled not only the territory of the Republic of Armenia, but also the Republic of Artsakh, which was the subject of negotiations between the Republic of Armenia and Azerbaijan. After 2018, the narratives changed, after which we saw a war, after the war, the gradual dissolution of Artsakh by Azerbaijan…”
He emphasized that Pashinyan and his teammates are promoting the Azeri agenda, according to which Armenia should have a miserable status, where the decision-maker is not the RA citizen and the RA state interest, but the service of Azerbaijan’s strategic interests. “I continue to insist that Nikol Pashinyan’s stay in power every day leads to the dissolution and dismantling of the Armenian state.”
According to him, when Pashinyan declares that if he is not re-elected, there will be a war, then it should be looked at with Azerbaijan’s logic. “Since Pashinyan’s government is collaborationist, Azerbaijan is not using a military tool at the moment, because Nikol Pashinyan meets all the demands.
When will Azerbaijan use a military tool, i.e. pay a higher price to get something? at a time when there will be a containment policy against him. In the case of Pashinyan, they do not use force, because just as Pashinyan strangled Artsakh and handed it over to the enemy, he will strangle RA in the same way. In other words, the map that he is walking around in his hand, tomorrow if Azerbaijan decides to subject Syunik to military occupation, he will walk around with a smaller map.”
Details in the 168TV video
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You are such a “duh” prime minister, give me a name, say: Putin, why did you colonize us?
March: 24, 2026
Nikol Pashinyan’s statements about the possibility of a “new war” show that in reality we are dealing not with peace, but with the process of fulfilling Turkish-Azerbaijani demands under the threat of war and death. About this 168 TVof Revue mentioned on the air of the program International scholar Menua Soghomonyan, member of “HayaVote” national-civic union.while talking about Pashinyan’s recent statements.
“I mean, if he [Nikol Pashinyan] became incapacitated or, let’s say, died of a heart attack, does that mean it’s over? The Armenian people don’t have a chance to live?” This shows that we are dealing not with peace, but with war, with the process of remaining silent under the threat of death and fulfilling the demands of a meek-submissive Turkish-Azerbaijani tandem, with concessions made, in return for which they do not shoot at us for a short time, and these concessions will continue until they trample us and eliminate us completely,” commented the international expert.
According to Menua Soghomonyan, Pashinyan emphasizes in his speech the need for the KP to obtain a constitutional majority as a result of the new National Assembly elections in order to be able to re-appoint the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia, the Chairman of the Investigative Committee, the members of the Constitutional Court, make all the changes he wants in the Constitutional Court, and have all the independent state bodies, including the National Assembly, the CEC, in his hands to make further concessions to Turkey and Azerbaijan. purpose. The representative of “HayaKve” emphasizes that if this happened, these would be constitutional crimes.
Menua Soghomonyan answers Nikol Pashinyan’s predictions that the opposition forces are preparing “a new September war” with a question.
“And who said that there must be a war?” If he is sincere (of course, he cannot be considered a sincere person), then he should tell in more detail. He declares that he even knows for a month, “it will happen in September”. And maybe he knows the day, maybe he already knows the day that the war will take place. If he knows that there will be a war in September, then someone told him about it.
The speaker must be from Ankara, Turkey, or from Baku. Who else should threaten us with war? If they said such a thing, let the people tell them from where they said that there will be a war in September, who said it, because he himself says: “If it’s up to me, I’ll conduct foreign policy live. I’m open to the people, no one has ever been more open than us.” Now let him say the following that “Erdogan told me that there should be no such change in the Constitution in connection with the Declaration of Independence, if there is no such change in connection with the role of the Church…”, list those “ifs”, so to speak, “hotelkas”, and say that: “Dear people, this is not peace, but blackmail, and I offer a policy of concessions in exchange for that blackmail.” Menua Soghomonyan.
The international expert also raises another question, for example, did he contact the Russian President Putin in connection with these blackmails?
In this context, referring to the telephone conversation between Pashinyan and Putin that took place yesterday, March 23, Menua Soghomonyan expressed the opinion that the anti-Russian attitude carried out by these authorities is just a show.
“For example, did he turn to Putin or Macron or Trump, to whom he constantly said: “God bless you”, “God bless you”? Has he applied for this blackmail and what did people say? Did they say: “We are washing our hands of this matter, go and look at your head.” If that’s the case, let him stand up and say: dear people, I went, I spoke, they told me directly.
Let him say so, if that is what he represents. Let him say, and then let the people decide whether they need such a leader who has no grace, no tongue, no ability to create a security cushion around Armenia, no ability to make agreements with various actors, no ability to ensure internal social cohesion, eliminate hatred and division, no ability to rapidly and steadily develop the military defense system.
Let the people know what kind of leader they need, do they need such a leader, who puts blackmail in front of them every day, at every step, and says, “Well, we have to give, we have to give.” So don’t call it peace and don’t say that Armenia was more sovereign than ever. “Sovereign Armenia cannot be intimidated by a month-to-date war,” says Soghomonyan.
According to the interlocutor’s assessment, the level of Armenia’s sovereignty is at its lowest point in history, and Armenia has never been so rudely dictated to, first of all by Azerbaijan and Turkey. According to the international expert, it is so, because the people at the head of the state think about their power, not the state. According to Menua Soghomonyan, the authorities of the day are “authorities suitable for everyone”, including, as surprising as it may seem at first sight, they are suitable authorities for Moscow or at least “certain towers of the Kremlin”. Well, as they say, there is no question about Turkey and Azerbaijan, the United States and the European Union.
“Actually, look what’s happening. The anti-Russianness carried out by these authorities is just a geopolitical show, but that show affects the consciousness of a part of the Armenian people. Their failures, the damages suffered by the state as a result of their betrayal, the handing over of Artsakh, in the search for the culprits to justify all this, they point to Russia, they demand absolution from Russia on Facebook, but at the same time we see that they are signing a trade deal with the same Russia, under historically record indicators. We have to take all this into account, is this anti-Russian?
Does Sandu of Moldova call Putin or go to meetings with Putin? There is no such thing, therefore this is not anti-Russian, this is a geopolitical show that the West is satisfied with, and this situation is beneficial to the Russians to the extent that they are still busy with the Ukrainian war and have a very good excuse for themselves: “look, your authorities are speaking anti-Russian like that, and we are not fulfilling our contractual obligations because of it.” Pashinyan also says: “Since we appealed to the CSTO, they did not respond, I am also freezing them.” What cooling? There is no such status in political science. For several years now, he has been saying, “CSTO is a security threat.”
Well, you are such a “stupid” prime minister, leave the CSTO, remove the Russian military base. Or you talk about “colonization”, you point the finger at everyone: “colonization”, “colonization”. Name one more state. More precisely, name a president. If by “colonization” you mean that Russia keeps us colonized, then talk about it, say it out loud. Who has been at the head of that “colonization” of Russia for 26 years, Vladimir Putin? Well, dear “Dukhov”, tell the people about it, tell it to Putin. “Putin, why are you colonizing us?” added Menua Soghomonyan.
Let’s remind that on March 19, in a briefing with journalists after the regular session of the Government, Nikol Pashinyan once again called the opposition forces called “war party”, declaring that “the forces acting from the positions of peace revision are preparing a new September war with grave consequences”.
And on Sunday, March 22, while summing up the intra-party campaign day in Yerevan, Nikol Pashinyan announced in a conversation with the party members. “There will be a war in September, and a catastrophic war at that, if the “Civil Agreement” party, I’m not saying wins the elections, does not get a constitutional majority.”
Full interview in the video.
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It is a special “compressed spring”, the opening of which sometimes has disastrous consequences
March: 24, 2026
Political scientist Vahe Davtyan writes: “There are conditions in which the only alternative to revanchism is assimilation. Substantial nutrition. A people living in a closed cycle of injustice for years cannot help but accumulate negative energy. And that energy sooner or later transforms into big waves of extremism. It is a special “compressed spring”, the opening of which sometimes has disastrous consequences.
The reality is, sooner or later that spring snaps.
Read the classics of geopolitics, from Haushofer to Gumilev, who long established this fundamental pattern at the biological level. Each ethnic group strives for the expansion of its living space. Meanwhile, the purposeful compression of that space within the ethnic group leads to deep mental distortions, collective complexes. As a result, there is a desire to establish justice. Sometimes it’s a healthy aspiration, sometimes it’s fanatical. But that is perhaps another topic.
That accumulation begins with the elementary opposition “I-he”, “us-them”, without which there is no identity. Neither national nor political. Instead there is a virtual identity, a digital identity with extensive artificial intelligence infrastructure.
And today they are trying to root out that organic opposition by unilaterally establishing “peace” and liquidating the Declaration of Independence, by symbolic importation of wheat and gasoline, and by statements about the non-existence of the Artsakh movement. The goal is simple: by excluding that opposition, we also exclude our re-consciousness.
Parallel to that, in Azerbaijan, “us-them” is a basic factor of state policy. The second Artsakh war and subsequent developments created fertile ground for nation-building, national and political identity formation in Azerbaijan. Today they are in the most active stage of that process. Meanwhile, they urge us not to use the place name “Artsakh” so that in Azerbaijan… they don’t use “Goychan”.
This is a psychological operation, the goal of which is the deactivation of collective memory, the gradual dismantling of political subjectivity. In this context, the artificial cancellation of the “us-them” contrast is not a reconciliation mechanism, but a disorientation mechanism.
The paradox is that on one side “us-them” is institutionalized, on the other side it is presented as a source of backwardness and even a threat.
However, historical experience shows that such asymmetries do not last long. A spring cannot be compressed indefinitely.”
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168: Trump announced a five-day moratorium on deploying Marines
March: 24, 2026
168TVof “Trigger” the guest of the program Expert of “APRI-Armenia” scientific research center, candidate of historical sciences, internationalist, Israelologist Sergey Melkonyann is
During the conversation, the main aspects of the escalating conflict in the Middle East, its possible escalation from regional to global, as well as Iran’s ability to control the level of tension in the background of ongoing hostilities were touched upon.
Particular attention was paid to the conflicting impulses surrounding possible negotiations between the United States and Iran, including Washington’s attempts to reach out to Tehran through third countries.
Tools to pressure Iran, including informational and psychological, as well as leaks about contacts with individual representatives of the Iranian elite and risks of internal destabilization, including possible contradictions within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), were discussed.
The expansion of the geography of the conflict, including events in the Caspian Sea region, Iran’s influence on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and related risks to the global energy market were also at the center of the conversation.
Reference was made to the dissemination of information about possible terrorist attacks and the use of chemical weapons as an element of the information background, as well as the possible role of the EU.
The consequences of the already observed disruptions in logistics and the increase in energy prices for the South Caucasus and Armenia were considered, including the Iran factor as a possible deterrent in the regional security system.
In addition, the position of the world’s key players, Russia and China, and the conditions under which they can strengthen their participation, as well as the factors that can turn the current conflict into a large-scale global crisis, were discussed.
Hayk Derzyan
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RFE/RL – Bypassing The Kremlin: Armenia And Azerbaijan Expand Trade, Testing R
- By Ulviyya Asadzade
Longtime rivals Armenia and Azerbaijan are increasing trade in ways that analysts say could support peace-building, ease Armenia’s longstanding blockade, and gradually weaken Russia’s role in the region as Moscow remains preoccupied with its war in Ukraine.
Azerbaijan has begun exporting energy products to Yerevan and is serving as a transit route for wheat from Kazakhstan and Russia.
Armenian officials, meanwhile, say they are finalizing a list of industrial and agricultural goods for export to Azerbaijan.
“I agree that Armenia and Azerbaijan are acting in a way that reduces Moscow’s influence in the Caucasus, though I don’t know to what extent the Russia factor is driving their calculations,” Joshua Kucera, a senior analyst for the South Caucasus at International Crisis Group, told RFE/RL.
“I suspect it is a secondary consideration: Their first priority is to resolve their conflict, and their relations with Russia or any other power is secondary to that.” he added.
The neighboring countries were at war for more than three decades over Nagorno-Karabakh, a region of Azerbaijan that was mostly populated by ethnic Armenians. Momentum toward normalization followed Azerbaijan’s recapture of Karabakh in 2023 and a Washington peace summit in August 2025 that helped break the deadlock.
For decades, Armenia has faced a partial blockade, with borders closed by Azerbaijan and its ally Turkey. With Iran constrained by international sanctions, Armenia has relied heavily on Georgia as its main transit corridor — particularly for trade with Russia, its largest trading partner and supplier of essential goods.
Armenia Imports Azerbaijani Gasoline, Seen As Move To Reduce Dependence On Russia
But both Baku and Yerevan have seen ties with Moscow deteriorate.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has frozen his country’s participation in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Moscow-led alliance, further distancing the country from Russia’s security umbrella. And Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has sharply criticized Moscow over the downing of an Azerbaijani airliner in late 2024.
Both leaders have also backed the US-supported Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), a corridor signed in Washington last August aimed at connecting Azerbaijan with its Nakhchivan exclave while reducing the logistical and political influence of both Russia and Iran.
Against this backdrop, new trade flows between Armenia and Azerbaijan are beginning to take shape.
Oil And Gas: From And Through Azerbaijan
Currently, goods from Azerbaijan to Armenia transit through Georgia. However, Richard Giragosian, founding director of the Regional Studies Center in Yerevan, does not rule out the possibility of direct trade opening up across the Azerbaijan-Armenia border.
“What we see with the recent arrival of Azerbaijani civil society activists through a border crossing point in the northern Tavush region, we should expect the opening of road access,” Giragosian said.
For this to take place, however, “We need to have concluded the delimitation and demarcation of this passage,” Farhad Mammadov, director at the Center for Studies of the South Caucasus, a pro-government think tank in Baku, told RFE/RL.
Despite a sharp decline in trade with Russia, Moscow still accounted for 35.5 percent of Armenia’s foreign trade last year, according to Armenian government statistics, followed by China (12.5 percent) and the European Union (11.8 percent).
US Steps Up South Caucasus Push As Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Hangs In Balance
Azerbaijan sent its first trains of 22 wagons loaded with gasoline to Armenia last December. In-mid January, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian stated on social media that “premium-grade gasoline has mainly been imported from Azerbaijan, and…the minimum price of premium gasoline in Armenia has decreased by 15 percent.”
Armenia imported 490,000 tons of petrol and other fuel last year, about two-thirds of which came from Russia.
“Any amount of petroleum products, gas supplies from Azerbaijan, etc., represents progress in terms of offsetting Russia’s dominance of the market,” Giragosian in Yerevan told RFE/RL.
“Armenia may consider gas imports from Turkmenistan through Azerbaijan. At the same time, there is also a more ambitious plan for Armenia’s import of Azerbaijani natural gas, as well,” he added.
“If Azerbaijan has enough gas to give Armenia and Armenia and Turkmenistan agrees how to deliver Turkmenistan gas to Azerbaijan, these can be possible too,” Mammadov told RFE/RL from Baku.
Azerbaijan has broadly agreed to take on a transit role for Armenia since last year and is already serving as a transit route for wheat from Kazakhstan and Russia. According to Azerbaijani official statistics, Russia has so far sent about 23,000 tons of wheat and about 700 tons of fertilizer to Armenia through Azerbaijan.
However, the peace remains fragile without a final treaty in place. Baku still demands Armenia amend its constitution to remove perceived territorial claims over Karabakh.
Emily Babakanian Frazier, a research fellow at the Regional Studies Center, told RFE/RL last year that while immediate supply cuts are unlikely, Armenia remains vulnerable to Azerbaijan cutting energy links in the medium to long term.
Giragosian argues that Russia found itself marginalized with the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, during which Moscow had wielded primary leverage over both nations. However, he warns, this shift is temporary.
“I expect an angry, vengeful Putin to try to regain lost Russian influence after a cease-fire in Ukraine. Armenia and Azerbaijan are drawing closer because of this shared threat,” he added.
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RFE/RL – Armenian Podcaster Shifted From House Arrest To ‘Administrative Super
A lower court in Yerevan has approved a defense motion placing indicted opposition podcaster Narek Samsonian under “administrative supervision,” just over a month after an appeals court ordered his transfer from pre-trial detention to house arrest.
Attorney Ruben Melikian said the measure includes restrictions on Samsonian’s public speech.
Samsonian and his co-host on the Imnemnimi podcast, Vazgen Saghatelian, were jailed in November for verbally abusing Parliament Speaker Alen Simonian in response to his insults.
Simonian branded the two podcasters as “sons of a b*tch” when he commented on their seven-hour interview with former President Serzh Sarkisian broadcast live on YouTube earlier that month. They responded to him with offensive language.
The speaker affiliated with the ruling Civil Contract party demanded criminal proceedings against them, saying that they not only insulted but also threatened him. Two days later, officers of Armenia’s National Security Service demonstratively detained the podcasters, searching their homes and their studio in the process. Another law-enforcement agency, the Investigative Committee, swiftly charged them with hooliganism.
The two vocal critics of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian continued to strongly deny the accusation when they went on trial on January 9. Samsonian announced his hunger strike in the courtroom right after the presiding judge extended his and Saghatelian’s arrest by three months.
The Court of Appeals overturned that extension in February, granting Samsonian house arrest, ten days after he underwent surgery in a hospital in Yerevan following a two-week hunger strike in prison. Samsonian stopped refusing food in late January after prison authorities reluctantly allowed his transfer to the Izmirlian Medical Center in the Armenian capital.
Earlier this month, a coalition of Western press freedom groups for the first time included Armenia on its list of countries in wider Europe jailing journalists or other media figures. In doing so, the Platform for the Safety of Journalists cited the pre-trial detention of the two Armenian podcasters.
Dozens of other critics of Pashinian, including an opposition mayor and three archbishops of the Armenian Apostolic Church, have also been arrested in recent months in what the Armenian opposition calls a pre-election government crackdown on dissent. The authorities deny that they are political prisoners.
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Armenian Government Refuses To Disclose Bonuses For Senior Officials
The Armenian government has declined to disclose the amounts of bonuses that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, his deputy, and cabinet ministers will receive based on the evaluation of their work during the second half of last year.
In response to a written request from RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, the government said on March 24 it cannot provide information on the payments to the mentioned senior officials, citing restrictions under the country’s freedom of information and personal data laws, as well as the labor code.
Meanwhile, only several months ago, the government provided the Hetq online magazine with information on the amount of the prime minister’s bonus for the first half of 2025, which was about 12 million drams (approximately $31,500).
The government referred RFE/RL’s Armenian Service to a decision issued several weeks ago, which only specifies the total bonus funds to be allocated across government departments. According to that decision, more than 4.6 billion drams (about $12.1 million) will be distributed to state employees by the middle of the year. Officials in the executive branch have not yet received their bonuses.
Hefty bonuses for government officials have been criticized by opposition figures and civic activists, who claim the payments constitute a form of political corruption.
Critics have also argued that awarding cash to political allies and public sector employees is intended to secure their loyalty ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for June.
Prime Minister Pashinian and other officials have rejected these accusations, defending the bonuses. In January, Pashinian told reporters that the extra pay helps prevent corruption among senior officials.
“Armenia’s investment environment is changing significantly, and large-scale investments will soon flow into Armenia. There will be a lot of competition to implement investment projects in Armenia, and our assessment in this regard is that corruption risks could rise significantly, so we need to protect state officials against corruption risks,” he said.
Pashinian also argued that the bonuses are needed to retain skilled professionals within the government, preventing them from moving to the private sector.
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Armenian Rights Groups Condemn Pashinian’s Behavior Toward Displaced Karabakh
More than a dozen Armenian civil society groups have condemned Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s conduct and rhetoric during a public exchange with a woman displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh, calling his behavior “unacceptable” and warning of rising polarization ahead of elections.
The incident occurred on March 22 during a live-streamed metro ride in Yerevan that Pashinian and his political allies staged as part of their weekly campaign outings in the run-up to the June parliamentary elections.
During the encounter, the prime minister confronted a woman later identified as Armine Mosiyan, who refused to accept a pin depicting Armenia without Nagorno-Karabakh or allow him to give it to her young son.
Mosiyan, a 36-year-old daughter of a soldier killed during the first Karabakh war in the early 1990s, was among more than 100,000 Armenians who fled Nagorno-Karabakh following Azerbaijan’s military takeover of the region in September 2023.
In a heated exchange Pashinian referred to Karabakh Armenians collectively as “runaways” and said they had no right to accuse him of “giving away” the region.
The incident, broadcast online by the prime minister’s team, triggered strong reactions on social media. Pashinian later apologized to the woman and her son, citing “heightened emotion” and acknowledging “inappropriate remarks, gesturing and facial _expression_.” He also said he wished to meet her again for a “calm” conversation and invited her to his office to deliver a personal apology.
On March 23, a group of leading Armenian non-governmental organizations, including the Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center, the Yerevan Press Club, the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Armenian Committee, the Media Initiatives Center and others, issued a joint statement condemning the prime minister’s behavior.
“We, the undersigned civil society organizations, consider unacceptable and condemn the conduct and rhetoric of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Nikol Pashinian, during a conversation on March 22, 2026 with a woman forcibly displaced from Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh]. This behavior constitutes not only a violation of the standards of conduct expected of a public official, but also reflects intolerance and hate speech towards Armenians forcibly displaced from Artsakh,” the statement said.
The NGOs said the presence of the woman’s child during the exchange was particularly troubling, arguing that it exposed the child to inappropriate conduct toward his mother and involved him in a political campaign.
“We find it unacceptable as it shapes future generations’ perceptions of power, the quality of speech, and interpersonal relations. This incident also sends a broader signal to society, legitimizing violence and polarization, which, regrettably, tends to intensify in the pre-election period,” the statement said.
The groups also said that despite Pashinian’s apology, his remarks had already triggered a new wave of hatred and targeting against Karabakh Armenians, particularly on social media.
They argued that the spread of hate speech was further fueled by an article published by the media outlet civic.am, which they described as affiliated with the ruling Civil Contract party, alleging it sought to discredit the woman.
According to the NGOs’ statement, such rhetoric by public officials, including Pashinian and Parliament Speaker Alen Simonian, is not isolated. They emphasized that such behavior is particularly “unacceptable and alarming” as it “leads to increased polarization, undermines social cohesion, and results in the re-victimization of the forcibly displaced population.”
The organizations demanded that the Armenian authorities, in particular, Prime Minister Pashinian “refrain from and exclude the use of rhetoric that spreads hatred and intolerance, or contains discrimination and insult…; ensure accountability for individuals who express and disseminate hate speech against forcibly displaced persons from Artsakh; exercise restraint in public speech and adhere to the ethical standards and rules of conduct of public officials; ensure that public officials and media outlets moderate hate speech in posts and comments on their social media platforms; more broadly, guarantee respect for human rights and ensure the implementation of the rule of law in the Republic of Armenia, including the protection of the right to privacy.”
Earlier, Armenia’s state ombudsperson, Anahit Manasian, also urged officials to exercise restraint in public discourse when addressing issues affecting displaced persons and refugees.
Various opposition groups in Armenia also condemned Pashinian’s conduct and statements regarding Karabakh Armenians.
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RFE/RL – Pashinian Accused Of ‘Blackmailing’ Voters Ahead Of Elections
Armenia’s parliamentary opposition has accused Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian of attempting to influence voters ahead of upcoming parliamentary elections by invoking the threat of war.
Speaking in parliament on Tuesday, opposition lawmakers described as “blackmail” recent statements by Pashinian that Armenia could face another “disastrous” war “very soon” unless his ruling Civil Contract party secures a strong majority in the June 7 vote.
“This is already a crime,” said Artsvik Minasian of the Hayastan faction. “It is a threat designed to influence people’s will, which is prohibited and is a criminally punishable act.”
Minasian called on Armenia’s prosecutor-general to open an investigation into what he described as actions undermining the country’s sovereignty. He argued that invoking the possibility of war amounts to coercion of voters.
“The free _expression_ of the will is one of the important elements of democracy,” Minasian said. “When he [Pashinian] challenges the will of the people by invoking a probable war, that is, with possible violence, he is already committing a crime against sovereignty.”
Another opposition lawmaker, Taguhi Tovmasian from the Pativ Unem faction, also condemned what she described as intimidation of voters. She said the issue should draw attention not only within Armenia but also from international organizations.
“If we were a truly democratic country, and the Central Election Commission of Armenia weren’t a subsidiary of the ruling party, but a truly independent body, it would already have been established that there is an act of violence against the will of the citizens of Armenia,” Tovmasian said. She characterized the alleged pressure as a form of blackmail.
Tovmasian said that while past electoral fraud involved ballot stuffing, the government is now influencing voters through warnings of renewed conflict. She called on international bodies to register what she described as violations of voters’ free choice.
Pashinian and his allies have rejected the criticism, saying they are making political statements that reflect what they see as realistic risks facing Armenia if opposition forces come to power.
In a live video broadcast on Sunday, Pashinian said he had previously been criticized for failing to inform the public about the real situation before the 2020 war and suggested he was now doing exactly what his opponents once faulted him for not doing.
The prime minister has accused his opponents of planning to revise the current peace with Azerbaijan if they win the elections. He specifically named political forces associated with former President Robert Kocharian, Russian-Armenian businessman Samvel Karapetian, and businessman Gagik Tsarukian.
“I want to say this very directly that [if they win] it will be a war with the loss of not only territory but also sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia,” Pashinian said last week.
Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan also warned in parliament of the risk of war if the ruling party is not reelected, citing what he described as territorial claims toward neighboring countries advocated by opposition parties.
Minasian rejected that assertion, saying the opposition is instead focused on securing international guarantees for the “safe and dignified” return of Armenians to Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Armenian government has not raised the issue of the return of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians who fled Nagorno-Karabakh following Azerbaijan’s military recapture of the region in 2023. Pashinian has said that doing so could hinder the current peace agenda and has urged Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev not to raise the issue of ethnic Azeris who left Armenia amid tensions at the start of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict in the late 1980s.
Opposition leaders also say they support peace but argue it should include clear security guarantees from major international actors. They have criticized the peace deal initialed by Armenia and Azerbaijan in Washington last year for lacking such guarantees.
Pashinian has dismissed those concerns, maintaining that Armenia’s primary security guarantee lies in its internationally recognized “legitimate” borders, with diplomacy and military strength serving as supporting factors.
He has also warned against trying to renegotiate the deal, arguing that any such attempt will inevitably lead to a new war.
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