The Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, and the main rival of his party in the upcoming elections are roughly known. This is the Armenian-origin Russian oligarch-billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, who is under house arrest, and the "Strong Armenia" movement he founded.
Recent opinion polls also show that after the ruling party, Karapetyan has the most supporters. He has already stated that he will renounce his Russian and Cypriot citizenships to remove the main obstacle related to the elections. Whether he will keep his word by April 23, when the registration period ends, remains to be seen. Otherwise, the local Central Election Commission may not allow Karapetyan to participate in the elections...
However, such a possibility is not great. Mainly because it is currently not former president Robert Kocharyan, the leader of the "Armenia" bloc, but precisely Samvel Karapetyan who is considered the main figure on whom Russia has "bet." Another reason: unlike Kocharyan, who is the main symbol of the past junta regime and an object of public hatred, Karapetyan is a kind of "new and clean face" for Armenian society. Moreover, he is a very wealthy man.
It is also no secret that during the meeting with Nikol Pashinyan at the Kremlin on April 1, Putin thoroughly made Karapetyan's request. The recent visit of Russia's ambassador in Yerevan, Sergey Kopirkin, to the Armenian Central Election Commission is undoubtedly directly related to the "Karapetyan issue."
For this and other reasons, Nikol Pashinyan will likely make an open demarche regarding Samvel Karapetyan and will not unnecessarily provoke Russia during this turbulent period. Instead, he will prefer his main figure to win the elections so that after June 7 the legitimacy of the country, both domestically and internationally, will not be questioned...
It appears that Karapetyan’s supporters, who assume there will be no registration problems, have already started to become active in several directions for this reason. For example, the rally held recently in the center of Yerevan is notable on this point. In his video message, although the billionaire promised Armenian voters a "prosperous future" and hundreds of thousands of jobs, he did not say anything about the country’s number one issue – the importance of normalizing relations with Azerbaijan and Turkey. Instead, he talked about the mythical "rights of the Artsakh people."
President of the Tashir Group of Companies, founder of the Armenia Investors Club Samvel Karapetyan - Sputnik Armenia, 1920, 28.06.2025
Additionally, some materials distributed by his supporters depict Karabakh once again as a part of Armenia. According to incoming information, they have even started distributing money to voters to bribe them. Would a force confident in its victory go that far? Several people have already been arrested...
As expected, Pashinyan’s reaction to such movements by the radical opposition was very harsh. The Prime Minister said that certain opposition forces want to drag the country and people into a "destructive adventure," claiming that Armenia should not be limited only to its 29,743 square kilometers of internationally recognized territory and openly promoting this approach.
"Today opposition forces raise maps depicting Karabakh and surrounding regions as well as flags symbolizing them. The continuation of this logic inevitably means war. That is why people must stand up for peace with Azerbaijan, because this is their peace, and any interference would be a disaster," Pashinyan emphasized, warning that Armenia has already experienced the severe consequences of such policies in its history. He concluded by highlighting that the only condition for preserving peace in the region is an approach based on international law.
In other words, the imperative is again not to go beyond the 29.7 thousand square kilometers. Because peace and reconciliation do not come with a stone under the armpit! Our response to those who turn the old piece of "Artsakh" into a war banner will be unequivocal and unparalleled...
Zahid SAFAROGLU