Pashinyan is also a vocal critic of Armenia’s membership to the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). In 2016, he endorsed mass demonstrations and gave a speech in front of protesters, accusing Russia of secretly pushing the so-called “Lavrov plan” - a Karabakh conflict resolution envisaging a handout of Armenian-controlled lands to Azerbaijan. The 42-year-old lawmaker for years championed an Armenia-centric approach, arguing that there’s no place for pro-Russian or pro-Western political forces in the country.Īs an opposition MP, Pashinyan repeatedly criticized Armenia’s alliance with Russia. If things go Pashinyan’s way, Russia will have to deal with a young, Moscow-skeptic democrat. Having spent the last ten days running around Armenia’s capital in a camouflage T-shirt and an Adidas baseball hat with a black eye and his right hand bandaged from barbed wire, he coordinated the movement that forced out the country’s long-despised ruler. The momentum, however, is on Pashinyan’s side. On Monday, Karapetyan had a phone conversation with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. He has business interests in Russia, partnering with Samvel Karapetyan, an Armenia-born Russian billionaire (the two are not related). Before returning to Armenian politics in 2016, Karapetyan spent five years in Moscow, where he served as vice president of Gazprombank and then CEO for a Gazprom subsidiary. It’s safe to assume that the people’s candidate right now is Pashinyan.įor the Kremlin, a better partner would be Karapetyan, a 53-year-old Gazprom veteran, known for his affinity for tailored waistcoats. Speaking in front of the crowd chanting “Victory! Victory!” Pashinyan reiterated his demand for an appointment of “a people’s candidate” to head an interim government that will be overseeing snap elections. This Wednesday, he is set to meet with Pashinyan to negotiate a further transition of power. On Monday, after Sargsyan’s resignation, Deputy PM Karen Karapetyan assumed office. Later that day, after Sargsyan’s resignation, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called Armenians “a great people” and wrote, “Armenia, Russia is always with you!” On Monday, Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called the political crisis "exclusively an internal affair" of Armenia and ruled out any Russian interference.
So far, Pashinyan’s geopolitics-blind protest platform has met with praise in Moscow. A longtime critic of Armenia’s alliance with Russia, this time he narrowed his demands to domestic issues and called the protest “the first mass movement in the post-Soviet space in the last 20 years that is not associated with any foreign power.” Protest leader Nikol Pashinyan, a National Assembly MP with the opposition Yelk bloc, seemed to be conscious of Russia’s long-standing fear of color revolutions. As the position has no term limits, it was an attempt to extend his rule indefinitely.
In power since 2008, Sargsyan became prime minister earlier this month after his second presidential term expired. I comply with your demand.”Īrmenia’s unpopular leader was pushed out of office by an inclusive and egalitarian movement uniting Armenians of all classes and ages. “The movement in the streets is against my tenure.
“I am addressing you for the last time as the country’s leader,” Sargsyan wrote. On Monday, Armenia’s Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan resigned amid mass peaceful protests.