Kocharyan dismisses Rubio's Armenia visit as government-driven propaganda

Former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan dismissed the recent visit of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Yerevan as a government-driven initiative with little substance, describing it as “more propaganda than policy.”

Kocharyan, the prime ministerial candidate of the opposition Hayastan alliance, told reporters on Wednesday that the one-hour stopover was largely symbolic. He argued that the agreements signed during the visit could have been finalized in a more formal setting, rather than at the airport, which he said diminished their significance.

“I don’t understand the enthusiasm of the EU and the U.S. in supporting [Prime Minister Nikol] Pashinyan,” Kocharyan said. “In the past, we had effective cooperation, but this level of intrusion into Armenia’s domestic political space does not bode well.”

He suggested the visit was intended more as a geopolitical signal to Russia and Iran than as a step forward for Armenia. “We are becoming a tool in this process, which does not serve Armenia’s national interests,” Kocharyan added.