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Vahagn Aleksanyan, an Armenian MP from the ruling Civil Contract party, removed the Artsakh flag, which had been installed on the parliament podium by opposition Hayastan faction head Seyran Ohanyan.

Ohanyan put the flag on the podium on Tuesday, announcing that opposition MPs were boycotting this week’s parliament session and travelling to Artsakh and Armenia’s border settlements.

After deputies from the Hayastan and With Honor factions left the sessions hall, Aleksanyan took the podium and removed the flag, calling it “empty populism”.

“I urge people not to fall for the empty populism the opposition is currently engaged in,” he said.

“They come here and deliver populist speeches, pretending to be defenders of Artsakh and Armenia, but, in fact, they were engaged in enriching themselves and their families for 30 years,” the MP noted.