By Tigran Grigoryan The Armenian parliament ratified the Framework Agreement between the Republic of Armenia and the United States of America on Strategic Cooperation Concerning the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP). Strong Armenia, the main opposition faction in parliament, refused to vote in favor of ratification, despite having previously publicly embraced the […]
By Hayk Khanumyan #DemocracyWatch – In 2017, I wrote a Facebook post mocking the fact that, in some Armenian communities, a representative of the ruling party was competing against another member of the same party. I suggested that this was exactly how an alternative to one-party, single-candidate elections in the Soviet Union might have developed […]
By Eduard Arakelyan On October 20, Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan arrived in the Czech Republic on an official visit and published a video showing an L-39 Skyfox aircraft in flight, accompanied by the caption: “Soon, these wonders will be soaring in Armenia’s skies.” The minister also posed for a photograph next to an aircraft […]
By Eduard Arakelyan On October 1, an incident occurred in the village of Shaki in Armenia’s Syunik Province that exposed serious vulnerabilities in the security system protecting Armenia’s border regions. Armed Azerbaijani serviceman Nasimi Musayev, who had apparently abandoned his post without authorization, likely a frontline combat position, spent several days moving freely through Armenian […]
In recent months, Russian officials at various levels and representatives of the Russian media have repeatedly stated that Armenia could lose its current “preferential” price for Russian gas and be forced to purchase gas at “market prices.” The wholesale price of natural gas in Europe is often cited as an example of such a market […]
The Regional Center for Democracy and Security (RCDS) has published its final report examining hate speech targeting Nagorno-Karabakh refugees during Armenia’s June 2026 parliamentary elections and the period immediately following them. Based on four months of monitoring, the report documents the main narratives used to stigmatize and marginalize refugees, the political figures and pro-government media […]
By Tigran Grigoryan Over the past week, public debate in Armenia has centered on an incident in the village of Shaki in the southern Syunik region. An armed Azerbaijani soldier who had gone AWOL days earlier and crossed the Armenian border ended up, unnoticed, 15 kilometers inside Armenian territory, at a house in Shaki, where […]
By Tigran Grigoryan The practice of initiating criminal proceedings against critics of the ruling party based on their public statements has been one of the important manifestations of democratic backsliding in Armenia in recent years. When the provision criminalizing “grave insult” was decriminalized in 2022 under public pressure, the practice of criminal prosecution for public […]
By Eduard ArakelyanIn September, Russian President Vladimir Putin unexpectedly declared that Russia was ready to withdraw its military base from Gyumri if the Armenian authorities decided that they did not need it. Armenia, speaking through its prime minister, responded that it would not seek the withdrawal of the base, but would also not object if […]
