Vanetsyan says Armenian authorities equating wealth with plunder

Homeland Party leader Artur Vanetsyan has accused Armenia’s current authorities of portraying wealth as inherently criminal, arguing that they unfairly equate legitimate success with corruption.

“The authorities are telling the people: you live badly because there are rich people,” Vanetsyan said in an interview with ArmLur.am on Monday. “Moreover, they have equated being wealthy with being a plunderer.”

Vanetsyan said government officials justify their own comfortable lifestyles, including purchasing homes, driving expensive cars and vacationing at top global resorts, while condemning similar behavior by others.

“When they buy homes with mortgages, drive good cars, it is considered normal,” he said. “But when someone else does the same, that person is immediately labeled a plundering rich man.”

He stressed that wealth acquired through honest work should not be condemned. “If you have earned your wealth through fair labor, there is nothing wrong with it,” Vanetsyan said. “I would very much like our citizens to live well, to have no poor people, no families struggling to buy bread, no students unable to pay tuition.”

The Homeland Party leader has recently increased his visits to Armenia’s regions, where residents frequently ask what he would do if he came to power.

“I tell them that we must do everything to ensure people live well, have security and social guarantees, have good jobs and earn a decent income,” Vanetsyan said.

Responding to criticism that portrays him as wealthy and disconnected from ordinary citizens, Vanetsyan rejected the characterization. “That is not true,” he said. “I was born and raised in this city, I have lived here all my life and I actively communicate with my friends and with citizens.”