Your trusted source

Russia is not intervening in Armenia’s internal affairs, opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan, the leader of the "My Step" initiative, said in an interview with RFE/RL's Armenian Service, commenting on the recent telephone conversation held between Acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I think it is a wrong interpretation, since Russia, just as other countries, is not meddling in Armenia's domestic affairs," Pashinyan said in response to the question whether this conversation suggests that the Russian side no longer maintains a neutral stance on Armenia’s political developments.

“It is a misunderstanding to consider legitimate the outcomes of the [2017 parliamentary] elections based on pre-election bribes,” he added.

As reported earlier Karen Karapetyan and Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation on Thursday to discuss the domestic political situation in Armenia.

The officials stressed that the crisis in Armenia should be settled solely within the legal framework in compliance with the effective Constitution and based on the outcomes of the 2017 legitimate parliamentary elections, the prime minister's official website reported.

In this context, the two officials attached importance to the elections of prime minister scheduled for May 1.