Armenian opposition MP accuses Pashinyan of undermining national sovereignty

Armenian opposition lawmaker Artur Khachatryan hit out at Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at a parliamentary debate on the government’s 2025 program execution on Friday, accusing him of misrepresenting the fragile ceasefire as peace and eroding the country’s independence.

Khachatryan, a member of the Hayastan faction, rejected government claims that critics oppose peace, insisting instead that they oppose Pashinyan personally because “he is incapable of establishing peace.” He ridiculed the prime minister’s depiction of Armenia’s path as one of sacrifice and suffering, saying: “Mr. Pashinyan, you are not Moses leading people to the Promised Land. You brought grief, tragedy, the fall of Artsakh and the Third Republic of Armenia.”

The MP further criticized Pashinyan’s remarks at the European Parliament, where the prime minister suggested Armenia’s independence was tied to joining the Commonwealth of Independent States in 1991. “Lithuania did not join the CIS, is it not independent? Georgia left the CIS, is it not independent? And yet this man presumes to lecture us on sovereignty,” Khachatryan countered.

He also accused the government of exaggerating the significance of importing 5,000 tons of fuel via Azerbaijan, roughly 5% of Armenia’s demand, portraying it as the elimination of a “fuel mafia”. He warned that such rhetoric could pave the way for deeper Azerbaijani involvement in Armenia’s economy and security. “Do not be surprised if someday Azerbaijani soldiers arrive to ‘guarantee’ Armenia’s security,” he said, adding that the government had already suggested Baku was a guarantor of Armenia’s safety.

Concluding his remarks, Khachatryan accused Pashinyan of misleading the public in 2018 and 2021, but vowed that “in 2026, it will not work anymore.”