An extraordinary session is underway in the National Assembly on the initiative of the CP, there are 4 issues on the agenda, one of which concerns the parties.

According to the project presented by the CP, it is proposed that the name of the alliance of parties cannot include personal names, names of state and local self-government bodies, or confusingly similar names and their shapes. The name of the alliance of parties may not contain words or other expressions of an offensive or defamatory nature.

 Public-politician Mikael Nahapetyan by definition, the government in Armenia adapts the law to itself.

“The legislation is written based on political expediency, they change the rules of the game just 2 months before the elections. In today’s special session of the National Assembly, the members of the CP protested against us, “I am against everyone”. That’s why I don’t rule out that at some point the law will be regulated in such a way that we will not be allowed to participate in the elections or they will set a precondition for name change. The rules of the game are adjusted to the wishes of the ruling party.” 168.amMikayel Nahapetyan said in a conversation with

According to him, the government will not have the opportunity to create problems for others only with names, because political associations have the opportunity to rebrand their names.

“We have discussed some things in this context, at the moment it is not relevant, because the party is already registered. Therefore, I don’t see the need to update the scenarios, to think, we have done that “homework” in the past about what we will do in which case.

Excluding personal names in the name of the parties is a petty mischief, they just saw that the other party has political branding, they are planning, they want to make it so that a need for rebranding arises. There is no serious, structural obstacle here. I repeat, they are doing petty mischief, they could have gone, torn or scratched the type on their competitor’s bus, or punctured the wheel so that they could not drive in the morning. Now, they do such acts not by trained hooligans, but by members of the National Assembly, but the essence does not change from this, one thing is that they are car door breakers,” Mikayel Nahapetyan added.

As for Nikol Pashinyan’s statements on the eve of the elections, that if “KP does not become the government, then there will be a war”, Mikayel Nahapetyan said that this is blackmail against the Armenian people.

“Nikol Pashinyan conveys Aliyev’s ultimatum to us, that we must have a leader, and that leader is Nikol Pashinyan. Moreover, this is a very direct ultimatum that what Ilham Aliyev wants should be done, because if we go to the field of comments, what he means, then I can say that, apart from him, there is Hayk Marutyan, who welcomed the August 8 announcement on August 9.

That person does not want to renegotiate any point in the given contract, he agrees with everything. Now, if Hayk Marutyan is elected, will there be a war, if not, then Nikol Pashinyan is a liar, if so, then this does not mean anything other than that he is an agent of Azerbaijan. This is not a question of political course, because if it was a question of political course, I say Hayk Marutyan welcomed the statement of August 8,” emphasized Mikayel Nahapetyan.

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The health condition of 18-year-old Davit Minasyan, who was detained for 2 months and is now in the hospital after the provocation with the participation of Nikol Pashinyan in St. Anna Church on March 29, continues to be a concern.

Davit Minasyan’s lawyer Varduhi Elbakan he said, he saw Davit a few minutes ago, he continues to be bothered by headaches and dizziness, the doctors injected painkillers for the pains.

“David can’t look at the light at all, for a moment a light fell on his face, he quickly closed his eyes. We always go to David, but we try not to make him talk too much so that he doesn’t spend extra energy talking. The other lawyer, Lusine Martirosyan, and I are going to find out if he ate something or not. No matter how much the parents try to feed him, he does not eat. Yesterday Lusine and I convinced him to eat a little.” of 168.am Varduhi Elbakyan said in a conversation with

Varduhi Elbakyan replied to the question, “Does Davit say anything about this situation, that he does not, neither Davit nor the lawyers do.”

“We also have a psychological problem here, we approach it very delicately in this matter. Imagine, at the age of 18: the investigation department, the criminal department, the detention center for the arrested, then the isolation cell, the hospital, then again the isolation cell, again the isolation cell. Can you imagine that David’s life changed 360 degrees in 6 days? I don’t know what happened to this child,” added Varduhi Elbakyan.

The lawyer also conveyed that at the moment only his lawyers can see Davit.

“Yesterday evening, Arsen Babayan and Ruben Melikyan visited, after that Armen Melkonyan and I, well, Lusine and I probably visit 6-7 times during the day. The meetings of all of us probably last 10 minutes, except for Ruben Melikyan, because they have spiritual conversations, which I can’t do,” stressed the lawyer.

Regarding the question, what do the doctors say about Davit’s health condition, is the condition on the way to stabilization, the lawyer answered that they have not talked to the doctors yet, although the doctors are there every day.

“We do not ask the doctors this question, of course, we have officially made an inquiry, we are afraid to disturb them. As of now, official information has not been provided to us,” Varduhi Elbakyan emphasized.

It should be noted that Davit Minasyan was detained on April 1 for a period of 2 months.

Let’s remind that on March 29, when there was a service in Saint Anna Church, Nikol Pashinyan decided to enter the church with his teammates and security guards, and his security guards tried to open the way by pushing the gathered people. At that time, David and his brother Michael were participating in the liturgy in the church and were urged not to push each other. At that time, a stampede started, one of Nikol Pashinyan’s security guards punched David. After the incident, 2 brothers were arrested, at the moment Mikael is free as an accused, he was released in exchange for a bail of 5 million drams and a signature not to be absent.

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There cannot be a situation where we pay all employees, drivers normally for all overtime, and they do not support the process of collecting transport fees in any way. This was announced yesterday by the Mayor of Yerevan, Tigran Avinyan, accusing the drivers of the serious failure of under-collection of fares as a result of another unsuccessful “reform” – the increase of transport tariffs.

The mayor of the minority is right: people don’t pay in full, they don’t pay without noise, especially since they don’t understand why they have to pay for expensive transport that is overloaded in the morning and in the evening, but the responsibility for another failure should be placed on someone in one way or another, and that person is the city transport drivers today.

Already today they closed the doors in the middle of the buses and asked the passengers to get up through the front door and pay the fare.

“Dear people, understand that we are not to blame, we have a strict order from yesterday,” the drivers said in response to passengers’ complaints.

At some point, however, everything came back to normal, because in addition to the boarders, there are also boarders who have to get off from the middle or last doors, and all the same, there were boarders from the middle door, and the one who didn’t pay didn’t pay, also commenting on why.

The irony of the mayor’s absurd statement yesterday is that the payment terminals are not only placed at the beginning of the buses, but also in the middle, and in the case of large buses, also at the end. Therefore, of course, it is planned that the passenger can get up and pay from other doors as well.

But people don’t pay and they do the right thing, because they don’t want to go crammed themselves, only after missing a few buses, and the mayor gives tens of millions of gratuities to his own people at their expense.

On the other hand, drivers’ salary is not negotiable. They receive a fixed salary, which is not high at all in terms of their inhuman workload and responsibility, and it is unclear why the driver should also be a supervisor, becoming a bad person and being targeted by irritated passengers. Or is there a clause in the drivers’ employment contracts that they must also collect or be responsible for fares… Of course not.

So, this will also burst, as all CP bubbles burst.

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Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk warned on the air of Russian Channel One that in case of Armenia’s accession to the European Union, Armenia will not have air communication with Russia. This is not all. The Russian official also noted that Armenia is very close to the point after which Russia will have to build economic relations with Yerevan in a different way.

The RA authorities have announced that they aim to join the European Union.

On April 1, during the meeting held in the Kremlin with RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized that it is not possible to be a member of both EAEU and EU at the same time.

Pashinyan answered: “What we are doing and our agenda are compatible at the moment, and as long as it is possible to combine those two agendas, we will combine them. When it is not possible and a decision must be made, I am sure that the citizens of Armenia will make a decision.”

This choice between the EU and EAEU, which was proposed to the authorities during and after Pashinyan’s last visit to Moscow, is considered by various circles as an attempt at pressure.

Why and what was actually said on the topic? 168․am-answered the questions economist Atom Margaryan.

“The EU and EAEU are different integration entities, with their institutions, their formats, their regulations, their customs territory and, of course, taking into account the geopolitical realities, the Russian-Ukrainian war, etc., they are opposites.

What the Russian side says has, of course, objective grounds. On the other hand, there is also a question of orientation. If you are in the customs territory of the Eurasian Economic Union, you use that privileged status, you cannot take the road towards the EU.

But the problem is that Russian assets, investments, gas supply, the Russian market have no direct alternative for us, at least for the moment, at least in the visible horizon,” the economist added.

In this context, he referred to the bill on the initiation of the EU membership process, fully adopted by the National Assembly on March 26.

“The law on membership of the European Union, which was adopted, is just nonsense without consultations, without broad discussions, without, ultimately, a referendum,” he remarked.

Atom Margaryan drew attention especially to the issue of energy carriers, reminding Putin’s records regarding the gas tariff.

“If the price of gas triples, it means that our energy system will collapse. Those branches that are sitting on Russian gas will also collapse. There are different estimates of inflation. it can reach up to 20-25%. All livelihood sectors that depend on transport and energy sources will simply become uncompetitive. This is a very simple, elementary calculation.

The other is logistics. announced that if you join the European Union, air traffic will be stopped, this will also lead to collapse.

Next are the labor markets. there are 700,000-800,000 Armenian workers who are in the Russian Federation either with RA citizenship or with dual citizenship. Those people can simply be told to take their things and go to their homeland. what should they do?

These are in addition to the private transfers of 3-4 billion dollars every year, which enter Armenia from the Russian Federation,” explained Atom Margaryan.

The economist responded to the observation that the RA authorities mentioned about combining. “But what does it mean to combine? you can work with 3rd countries, like, let’s say, they work with other countries like China and India, but being a member of an integration organization means that the customs border is simply closed.

It is one thing to work with the European Union and quite another to be part of the EU, and the tariff and non-tariff regulations that operate within the borders of the Eurasian Economic Union, and Armenia, as a member of it, benefits from it, will cease to exist in a day.

But it will take decades to reach European Union standards, it is not easy to get there. The same Moldova, Ukraine – what is their condition, they are candidates for that membership? So, it is not saying that, and it is simply impossible from the point of view of legal regulations.”

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RA Defense Minister Suren Papikyan announced in the fall of 2025 at the session of the Standing Committee on Defense and Security of the National Assembly, in the context of reducing the mandatory military service period, that from 2026 it is planned to draft 20,000 reservists annually, instead of 16,000 in 2025. At the same time, last year it was decided to tighten the punishment for avoiding 25-day training sessions.

The other day, the RA Ministry of Defense reminded Suren Papikyan’s claim that “for many years, reservist gatherings in our country have been looked down upon, and for years hundreds and thousands of reservists did not know what the training camp was, they did not know about their assignment, unit, the potential problem to be put in front of them, the assignment.”

Moreover, according to the Minister of Defense, “the relevant bodies did not know about the location, further education, new nature of work, health, possible disability and even death of these people, and today a territorial defense system has been created, through which the 25-day training camps are carried out, thousands of reservist citizens are enlisted in the service every year.”

In the background of all this 168.amon March 18, sent a written request to RA Defense Minister Suren Papikyan to find out whether Ashot Pashinyan, who completed his military service, ever received a notice of participation in the training camp, if not, why, justify within the limits of the law. We have also asked the Minister or the Ministry of Defense to present the legislative bases: who will be called to the training sessions and at what intervals?

About 3 weeks later, on April 6, the defense department sent a reply, which states:

“In response to the letter dated 18.03.2026 addressed to the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia. In response to your request, we inform you that the training sessions of reservists are carried out in accordance with the procedure and time limits established by the RA government. The selection of reservists is carried out according to the schedule and specialty of military accounting.

At the same time, we inform you that in 2023-2026 During this period, only 4.7 percent of those registered in the reserve force with Ashot Pashinyan’s military accounting specialty participated in the training sessions, and Ashot Pashinyan has not yet participated.”

Let’s record that the Ministry of Defense did not mention Ashot Pashinyan’s profession or specialization of military accounting in the reserve forces, and also bypassed our questions to present legal justifications related to participation in training camps.

Article 59 of the RA Law “On Military Service and the Status of Servicemen”, in particular, defines that the reservists registered in the first and second ranks of the first group of the reservists are called to the training sessions carried out within the framework of reservist training, namely:

“Registered in the first rank of the first group of the reserve army`

1) reservists of ordinary and junior non-commissioned officers may be called to training camps up to four times, in each case for a period of up to three months, but not more than three months in a year;

2) senior non-commissioned officer and officer (except senior officer) reservists may be called to training camps up to twice, in each case for a period of up to three months, but not more than three months in a year.

The reservists of the formations mentioned in this point, who have a pilot specialty, can additionally be called to training camps up to three times, in each case for a period of up to two months, but not more than two months in a year, in order to perform flight exercises.

3. Registered in the second rank of the first group of the reserve army

1) reservists of rank and file and junior non-commissioned officers may be called to training camps up to six times, in each case for a period of up to three months, but not more than three months in a year;

2) senior non-commissioned officer and officer (except senior officer) reservists may be called to training camps up to three times, in each case for a period of up to two months, but not more than two months in a year. Reservists of the formations mentioned in this point, who have a pilot specialty, may be called to training camps up to four times for the purpose of flight exercises, in each case for a period of up to one month, but not more than one month in a year.

Article 60 of the same law states:

“1. A reservist of rank and file or non-commissioned officers or officers of the first or second groups of the reserve force may be called up for military exercises (command or staff, military training) or exercises (military games) no more than twice a year.

2. Reservists are called to military training (command or headquarters, military training) for a period of up to 10 calendar days, and military exercises (military games) for the entire period of their duration.

3. The reservist is called to military training or exercise by the military commissariat of his place of registration under this law. of part 4 of Article 20 pursuant to the notification issued pursuant to

At the same time, according to the Law of the Republic of Armenia “On Military Service and the Status of Servicemen”, reservists who have been discharged from mandatory military service and registered in the reserve force can be called to training camp no earlier than one year after their discharge from military service. In addition, a citizen who is serving a sentence of imprisonment or short-term imprisonment, or who is being prosecuted, cannot be invited to the announced training meeting, except for the criminal prosecution initiated against the citizen due to avoiding the training meetings, if the citizen has expressed his desire to participate in writing. at the announced training session.

And Article 29 of the RA Law “On Defense” as well defines:

“1. The conscription of the citizens registered in the reserve force during the conscription is carried out by the military commissariats within the terms stipulated by the conscription plans of the armed forces and other troops.

2. A citizen who:

1) fixed in accordance with the procedure established by the Government of the Republic of Armenia.

2) was declared unfit for military service due to his health condition;

3) has four or more children.

4) He is a member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia.”

Let’s go back to Ashot Pashinyan and note that he completed his mandatory military service or was discharged in July 2020.

After the 44-day war began in July 2020 demobilized Ashot Pashinyan following his father in 2020 on October 5, decided to volunteer.

168.am from the RA Ministry of Defense in 2023 reported that “Ashot Pashinyan voluntarily presented himself to the Military Police and Defense Forces Yerevan Territorial Unit No. 4 (Military Commissariat) on October 7, 2020.”

“Ashot Pashinyan voluntarily presented himself to the territorial division of the National Defense Service and the Armed Forces of Yerevan No. 4 (Military Commissariat) and, in accordance with Article 5, Part 6 of the RA Law “On Military Service and the Status of Servicemen”, he was drafted into the military service, being assigned to the 1st company of the 1st military army of the N unit (commander: Colonel A. Smbatyan) formed during the martial law. In the 1st platoon as a platoon commander.

The mentioned military unit took part in combat operations with its entire composition in the directions of Jrakan and Kubatlu, and in 2020. after November 9, he was on combat duty in the area of ​​Nerkin Khndzoresk,” added the Ministry of Defense in response to our written request.

The question here is that, when on October 5, 2020, Nikol Pashinyan applied those who have been demobilized in the last year and asked to appear at the Central Assembly Station, although, according to him, “according to our legislation, those who have completed their service in the last year, that is, those who have been demobilized in the last year, are not subject to conscription.”

In other words, during the 44-day period, Ashot Pashinyan was pushed to volunteer by circumventing or violating the law, namely Artsakh, which Nikol Pashinyan considers never belonged to us. And now, when he speaks every day about the sovereign territories of RA, 29,743 square kilometers, his son has never kept it with the option of participating in the training camp. Suren Papikyan says that 4.7 percent of Ashot Pashinyan’s military specialization participated in the training sessions, but which specialization is not mentioned, and why he is not among those 4.7 percent. As for whether it will happen, we think the answer is predictable, if there is political expediency, like during the 44-day period.

In this context, it should be emphasized that during the 44-day war of 2020, the RA mobilization plan failed, when first a general mobilization was announced, and then it became partial.

Moreover, the conscription did not take place according to professions, that is, many people who had a certain or specific profession, training, were not included in the mobilization. Or persons who had certain training and could occupy certain positions, so to speak, all persons were offered to go as volunteer soldiers. Whereas a man trained to perform certain functions, using him as a soldier, which was done, was absurd.

According to experts, if on the first day of the war, according to the mobilization plans, appropriate forces were created, combat units were formed, which could enter the battle and perform the tasks that the volunteer groups were not able to perform, we would have a different picture.

And the current authorities of RA are trying to justify such gaps by the fact that the previous ones had poorly trained the reserve forces. No one is saying that there have not been problems before, but one must also accept one’s own responsibility for the failure of mobilization.

As for the training sessions scheduled for 2026, the RA government in January has decided the schedule of training sessions of the reservists of the first and second ranks of the first group of reservists, enlisted ranks, non-commissioned officers and officers:

1) from February 3 to April 10, 2026 inclusive.

2) from March 31 to June 19, 2026 inclusive.

3) from April 15 to July 15, 2026 inclusive.

4) from June 9 to August 14, 2026 inclusive.

5) from August 4 to October 9, 2026 inclusive.

6) from September 15 to December 15, 2026 inclusive.

7) From September 29 to November 20, 2026 inclusive.

In the mentioned decision of the government, it is stated that training camps are announced for the purpose of improving the military abilities of reservists, professional training and preparation, training of reserve army officers from non-commissioned officers with higher education, involvement in combat duty, and that during the announced training camps, each citizen is involved for a period of no more than 25 calendar days.

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The Pashinyan-Putin meeting held in the Kremlin the other day continues to be widely discussed in the context of the upcoming parliamentary elections and tense internal political developments in Armenia. As we already reported, in his speech, Russian President Putin emphasized the benefits that Armenia’s economy receives due to EAEU membership and cheap Russian gas prices.

Vladimir Putin also referred to the prospect of RA EU membership, talking about the impossibility of combining EAEU with EU.  And most notably, Putin said that he would like pro-Russian forces in Armenia to be able to participate in internal political developments and not face restrictions.

The meeting was followed by the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk’s reference to the current Armenian-Russian situation, saying that Yerevan is very close to the point after which Russia “will be forced to build” economic relations with Armenia in a different way. According to him, in case of Armenia’s accession to the European Union, Armenia will not have air communication with Russia. “Now there is no air communication with the countries of the European Union. This means that we will not have air communication with Armenia,” said the Russian Deputy Prime Minister.

According to Overchuk, the citizens of Armenia should be aware of the possible consequences of the decision taken by the official Yerevan regarding rapprochement with the European Union. “Perhaps it sounds very harsh, but we want people in Armenia to understand that if this happens, it will happen, because the decisions of rapprochement with the European Union have been made,” said the Russian official. By the way, Overchuk is the official who from time to time addresses the topic of Armenia’s EU integration, noting the impossibility of the EU and EAEU, and the fact that Russian business is beginning to lose interest in Armenia. In one of his last references, he also noted a trend that the Armenian-Russian trade turnover is starting to decrease significantly. This was also done by the Russian President during his previous meeting with Pashinyan.

168.amin a conversation with Russian analyst Konstantin Simonov said that the Armenian-Russian relations have entered a pragmatic phase based on mutual interests. According to him, there is a significant decrease in the component of political loyalty in relations.

“Naturally, the economy came to the fore, because Yerevan is trying to seek political cooperation, as well as security in the West. This is a qualitative change due to regional realities, reinterpretation of the parties’ interests. For years, Armenian-Russian relations were built mainly around security: military cooperation, presence of a military base, Russia’s role as the main guarantor of security. However, the events of recent years have reduced the perception of the effectiveness of that model, as a result of which there has been a need to rethink the structure of relations. And against this background, the economy becomes the platform where the parties can maintain and even develop cooperation, avoiding the sharpest political contradictions.

It is especially important that Armenia remains a member of EAEU, which provides access to the Russian market, and for Russia, Armenia is an important economic partner in the region, both as a market and as a platform to maintain economic presence in the South Caucasus. In this sense, the deepening of economic relations also has a geopolitical context.

Emphasizing economic priority does not mean that political or security issues are completely off the agenda, but they have been moved to the background. This can be interpreted as an attempt to depoliticize relations in a difficult period, when the parties focus on the areas where cooperation is more realistic and effective,” said Simonov.

Therefore, according to him, it is no coincidence that the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation mostly refers to Armenian-Russian relations, referring to EAEU, economy, business, etc.   According to him, increasing the priority of the economy in Armenian-Russian relations is not only a situational step, but also a consequence of new realities, an attempt to maintain the strategic connection in the changing geopolitical environment, moving it to a more pragmatic and calculated dimension.

“However, the stability and effectiveness of this process will depend on the extent to which the parties will be able to combine economic interests with security and political contradictions. At the same time, Russia’s desire to maintain its influence is noticeable. However, the observations about the gas price and the impossibility of the EU-EEU combination should not be considered as a negative statement, I think that these statements are aimed at showing the fact that Armenia’s benefits are in the EEU, and Armenia aspires to the EU, which, if it joins, cannot be a member of the EEU and receive the same benefits as currently. This is an open conversation, I think it’s natural that it’s like this, because it’s about the quality of people’s lives,” said Simonov.

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