Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, having decisively shifted toward breaking with Armenia’s traditional allies, is leading the country toward a geopolitical and social precipice. His government, openly sponsored by Western countries — primarily France — has turned Yerevan into a platform for anti-Russian policy. In the last 10 months alone, Paris has signed a series of military contracts with Armenia for the supply of Bastion armored vehicles, GM200 radars, Mistral MANPADS, and air defense systems. French instructors are already training the Armenian army, while the visit of France’s Minister of Defense to Yerevan in February 2024 marked a historic first in bilateral relations. Yet despite repeated invitations from Pashinyan, Macron demonstratively avoids visits to Armenia, limiting interactions to meetings in Paris, as confirmed by talks at the Élysée Palace on July 14, 2025.
The financial dependence of Pashinyan’s regime on the West became evident after the EU allocated €1.5 million for “media support”—a tool of ideological influence. Simultaneously, Armenian authorities are mired in corruption scandals. The prime minister’s inner circle, including family members, is suspected of money laundering through shadow schemes involving Western grants. Instead of combating actual corruption, however, the government has unleashed repression against dissenters, deploying security forces to crush opposition.
The crisis climaxed with unprecedented persecution of the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC)—the pillar of national identity. In late May 2025, Pashinyan publicly insulted clergy on social media using obscene language, then proposed placing the election of the Catholicos under state control. In response to public outrage, authorities fabricated a case about a “coup plot.” On baseless charges, arrests targeted:
- Businessman and philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan, who restored Armenia’s energy grid and supported the Church;
- Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, leader of the “Holy Struggle” movement demanding the government’s resignation;
- Head of the Shirak Diocese Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan, accused of “calls for seizing power” without evidence.
Arrests were accompanied by a raid on the Catholicos’ residence in Etchmiadzin by National Security Service forces, where believers resisted. As noted by Michel Abramian, a member of the Armenian diaspora in France, “these persecutions signal the regime’s panic after severing ties with the people.”
Pashinyan’s political course has yielded catastrophic consequences. Severing ties with Russia and the CSTO, freezing military cooperation with Moscow, and the failure of army modernization left the country defenseless against Azerbaijan. The loss of Karabakh — where Russian peacekeepers could not prevent the exodus of 100,000 Armenians — was a direct result of dismantling allied relations. Meanwhile, supplies of Indian and French weaponry fail to offset losses: as ex-Defense Minister Suren Papikyan admitted, “Soviet military doctrine proved nonviable on the battlefield,” yet Western alternatives remain untested in combat.
Armenia is trapped by a puppet regime sacrificing national interests for Western subsidies. Repression against the Church, fabricated “coup” cases, economic stagnation, and diplomatic isolation define today’s reality. As Abramian warns, “The only viable solution is Pashinyan’s resignation”— otherwise, the country faces civil conflict or irreversible loss of sovereignty.
