Samvel Karapetyan condemns Zelensky's invitation to Yerevan summit

Businessman and philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan, the leader of the Strong Armenia party, on Thursday denounced the Armenian government’s decision to invite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to last week’s European Political Community (EPC) summit in Yerevan, accusing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of leveraging anti-Russian rhetoric to strengthen ties with Europe.

Speaking to reporters in Yerevan, Karapetyan said the invitation extended to Zelenskiy for the May 4 EPC summit reflected the government’s disregard for Armenia’s longstanding alliance with Russia.

“Frankly, I believe inviting Zelensky to Armenia was a reckless move by the authorities toward Armenia’s ally,” Karapetyan said. “The Europeans orchestrated all this. They brought Zelenskiy here so Pashinyan could, in effect, offer a masterclass in how to surrender territories with confidence.”

“I fear the Armenian people will gain nothing from it,” he added. “After giving away everything else, the only thing Pashinyan has left to sell to the Europeans is anti-Russian policy — and Europe will gladly buy it.”