This article is part of a partnership with OC Media. You can read the original in English here.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has stated that attempts to unite the country’s opposition forces are nothing new. He made the remarks in response to a statement by Samvel Karapetyan, the Russian-Armenian billionaire and leader of the “Strong Armenia” bloc, regarding his intention to consolidate the opposition.
“The consolidation you are talking about is nothing new. It happened a long time ago; it just wasn’t announced publicly so as not to lower public morale. These are the same forces, controlled from a single center and acting on the same principles. What is new here? This is an obvious fact,” Pashinyan said at a briefing on Thursday.
Pashinyan had previously identified Samvel Karapetyan, Armenia’s second president Robert Kocharyan, and businessman Gagik Tsarukyan as his main political opponents, grouping them together as the “three-headed party of war.” According to the prime minister, they seek to revise the peace agenda and, if they come to power, could drag Armenia into a new war. Unlike Pashinyan’s government, which claims to pursue a balanced foreign policy, these forces advocate for closer cooperation with Russia.
Karapetyan made his statement on the need to consolidate the opposition during an interview with several media outlets on Wednesday. According to him, it was a serious mistake that such a unification did not take place before the parliamentary elections.
“Many opposition forces, which may have indeed fought an honest battle, overestimated their capabilities. We failed to reach an agreement with many opposition parties. That is why such consolidation is extremely important for our country and our people now,” Karapetyan stated.
He proposed creating a coordinating council for the future opposition coalition, which would operate on a permanent basis after the elections, discussing current issues and developing a common strategy of action.
A fragment of the interview was published on the day of the recording, while the full version was released only the following day. This triggered a sarcastic reaction from Arman Yeghoyan, an MP from the ruling Civil Contract party.
“For the past 24 hours, editors of the free and independent press have been patiently waiting for the editing of Samvel Karapetyan’s interview to be completed and handed over to them, so they could freely publish it on their independent media platforms,” Yeghoyan wrote on Facebook.
In the same interview, Karapetyan claimed that Pashinyan did not win the elections and that the government he formed is illegitimate. He described the current authorities as “a mechanism created by Azerbaijan and Turkey in Armenia,” which is allegedly leading the country toward “Turkification and destruction.”
According to Karapetyan, his political force intends to do everything possible to prevent these processes.
He did not specify whether his bloc would accept the parliamentary mandates won in the elections, but announced his intention to appeal the voting results in the Constitutional Court while simultaneously holding protest rallies.
Following these statements, Karapetyan’s team did indeed file a corresponding complaint with the Constitutional Court on Friday, demanding either the annulment of the election results approved by the Central Electoral Commission or a second round of voting.
The Constitutional Court is expected to rule within 15 days of the filing of the lawsuit.
Russian Statements Align with Opposition Assessments
Karapetyan’s bloc, like other major opposition coalitions, is considered pro-Russian. Notably, their statements regarding the alleged illegitimacy of the elections and Pashinyan’s government largely align with the rhetoric of Russian officials.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has not yet congratulated Pashinyan on his election victory. Instead, a number of Russian officials have pointed to alleged irregularities during the voting and questioned the legitimacy of both the elections and their results.
Furthermore, it was previously reported that Russian state media, on instructions from the presidential administration, were advised to cover the election results as a defeat for Pashinyan and to focus on alleged violations in order to “sow doubt about his legitimacy.”
This approach marks a notable departure from Moscow’s previous practice of routinely congratulating Armenian authorities on election outcomes.
On the eve of the 2026 elections, Putin declared Russia’s interest in the participation of “pro-Russian” political forces in the campaign. During the pre-election period, Russia also effectively blocked the import or transit of a long list of Armenian goods.
The latest such statement came from Konstantin Zatulin, First Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma (the lower house of parliament) Committee on CIS Affairs, who declared on Thursday that Russia should not recognize the election results in Armenia as “fair and objective.”
At the same time, he recalled the allied relations between Armenia and Russia and the “traditionally established ties” between the two countries, emphasizing the need to continue cooperation with whichever government remains in power after the elections, despite describing them as “unfair and undemocratic.”
“I will leave open the question of whether these relations should be maintained at the ambassadorial level. In this way, we will establish our position: de facto we recognize the existing situation, but de jure we cannot recognize it,” Zatulin stated.