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The costs of the Italy trip of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s wife, Anna Hakobyan, have been kept strictly secret. Moreover, Hakobyan’s My Step Foundation gave a cynical response to Panorama.am’s request for information on the travel costs and their sources.

Even the roughest estimates reveal that Hakobyan’s week-long visit and entertainment cost taxpayers several million drams. According to the videos posted on social media, Anna Hakobyan was accompanied by at least three security guards, her personal hairdresser and daughter during the trip in November.

After all, the public and the media have the right to learn how much money Pashinyan's wife spent to attend the events marking the 1000th day of the Russia-Ukraine war, visit Ukrainian children and travel to Venice.

As it happened

On November 26, Panorama.am submitted a signed request for information via e-mail to the head of the Armenian government's Information and Public Relations Department, Armen Khachatryan.

In accordance with the established manner, Panorama’s journalist cited the law "On Freedom of Information", asking the government to respond to the following questions within the set timeframes and in the manner prescribed by law:

1. On November 18, it became known that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan travelled to the Holy See along with his wife and daughter. After the prime minister's return to Armenia, Anna Hakobyan stayed in Italy for a few more days. How many security officers escorted the prime minister’s wife and daughter at the time?

2. How much did the trip of the prime minister's wife to Italy cost. We kindly ask you to share a copy of the cost breakdown, including the sum paid for the return flight tickets, hotel stay, museum visits, etc.

3. From what sources were the expenses incurred? Please disclose the amount of funds provided from the state budget.

4. What tangible results did the Italy trip of the prime minister’s wife provide for Armenia?

In his response via e-mail less than two hours later, the head of the government’s Information and Public Relations Department told Panorama to forward the request to the My Step Foundation.

Panorama.am forwarded the request and the government’s response to the My Step Foundation via e-mail on November 26. For a long time, the request remained unanswered. On December 18, Panorama.am re-submitted the request to the foundation’s e-mail address as a reminder.

On December 19, Panorama.am received the following response from the My Step Foundation:

“To Panorama.am journalist

Lala Ter-Ghazaryan

Dear journalist,

In response to your query, we are inviting you to participate in the Communication Skills professional training and capacity-building courses as part of the My Step Charity Foundation’s “Education is Fashionable” initiative which would allow you to acquire new knowledge and distinguish which institution and to whom you should address your questions, and in which cases you can refer to the law “On Freedom of Information” in your requests.

Davit Mkrtchyan

Deputy Director for Operations and Public Relations of the My Step Charitable Foundation.”

Incidentally, the response letter was unsigned.

It was impossible to imagine a more cynical response. Apparently, the response was aimed at insulting the journalist who sought information on the money spent by Anna Hakobyan, so that she would not dare to ask such questions next time. Otherwise, the foundation could refuse to provide information, citing the relevant grounds, for example, on the basis of the lessons learned during the initiative launched by it.

In addition, one of the grounds for refusal could be that Anna Hakobyan is not officially married to Nikol Pashinyan, and the foundation wants Hakobyan to be referred to in the request not as his spouse, but as the executive director of the My Step Foundation.

Incidentally, Pastinfo news website asked the government to disclose the costs for the purchase of cars servicing Anna Hakobyan, as well as to reveal when they were bought and how much money is allocated for their annual maintenance. The State Protection Service declined to answer the questions, arguing that it is a state secret.

Now we publicly address the above-mentioned questions to the My Step Foundation regarding the expenses during Anna Hakobyan's visit to Italy.

In the meantime, Panorama.am calls the attention of international organizations, human rights activists, defenders of freedom of information and experts to the foundation's, to put it mildly, highly problematic and inadequate response.