Rubio in Yerevan

Marco Rubio arrived in Yerevan from India and signed documents with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan to deepen US-Armenia ties. He also endorsed Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s beleaguered government shortly before June 7 parliamentary elections. The visit lasted about an hour but was seen as reflecting broader Trump administration ambitions for the Caucasus and concerns about foreign election interference. In Yerevan, two young democratic socialist activists who supported the 2018 Velvet Revolution now oppose Pashinyan after the 2020 Karabakh War. They describe a shift from promised democracy to silenced investigative journalists, hounded political opponents, and attacks on national identity. The June 7 election is the first after Pashinyan’s 2022 recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, enabling ethnic cleansing by Baku.

"Rubio arrived in the Armenian capital from India, where he was doing damage control on behalf of President Trump. While in Yerevan, he signed a series of documents with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, intended to deepen US-Armenia ties. He also endorsed the beleaguered government of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, one week before the country heads to the polls in the June 7 parliamentary elections."

"Although Rubio's visit lasted just one hour, it signaled the Trump administration's outsize ambitions for the Caucasus, just as it launched a new attack on Iran, once again, amid diplomatic negotiations. "If nothing else, Rubio's visit to Armenia shows the Trump administration's continued addiction to election interference abroad," notes James Carden, a former adviser to the Obama State Department."

"Since the 2020 Karabakh War, however, both have turned sharply against the Armenian PM, as have most Armenians. Ishkhanyan and Navasardyan also wear the hats of journalists and filmmakers and represent a rising independent activist scene in Yerevan. As they underscore, promises to bring true democracy to the post-Soviet republic have been betrayed. Instead, Armenians face a reality in which investigative journalists are silenced, political opponents are hounded, and the pillars of national identity are under attack."

"The election on June 7 is the first since Pashinyan's controversial recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) as part of Azerbaijan in 2022, a declaration that paved the way for Baku's ethnic cleansing of the m"

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