On March 13, another protest took place in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikola Pashinyan.
Kiev. Ukraine. Ukraine Gate – March 14, 2021 – International News
At first, protesters shouting, such as “Nicole is a traitor” or “Nicole, go away,” protested outside the Foreign Ministry building, where he held a meeting, then moved to the president’s residence when Pashinyan arrived to negotiate with Sargsyan. Speaking about possible ways out of the internal political crisis, the President and the Prime Minister also discussed how to solve the problem of holding early parliamentary elections.
Both parliamentary factions and non-parliamentary opposition forces were invited to meet with the president; this invitation was accepted by the factions of Pashinyan’s ruling party My Step and the opposition Enlightened Armenia.
The third parliamentary faction, the opposition Prosperous Armenia, as well as the invited opposition Movement for the Salvation of the Fatherland, which unites more than a dozen non-parliamentary parties and groups, refused.
They said they would take part in such a meeting only if it was on their agenda, if only Pashinyan’s resignation, the appointment of an interim government, the dissolution of parliament, and early elections were discussed.
They want to see former Prime Minister Vazgen Manukyan, who headed Armenia’s first government since independence in 1990-1991, as head of the caretaker government.
A new round of political crisis is unfolding in Armenia after Pashinyan’s statement about the use of Russian Iskander missile systems during the conflict with Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Prime Minister stated that in the autumn of last year, the Iskander missiles were in the republic, “did not explode or exploded only by 10%.” In turn, Deputy Chief of Staff Tirana Khachatryan disagreed with Pashinyan, calling his statement frivolous, after which he was fired at the suggestion of the Prime Minister. The Russian Defense Ministry denied Armenia’s use of Iskanders during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Khachatryan’s release caused a wave of outrage among the military, and the General Staff demanded the resignation of the government and Pashinyan. After the General Staff issued a statement, Pashinyan fired his immediate superior, Onik Gasparyan, calling the military’s demand for his resignation an attempt at a military coup.
The day before, Armenian President Armen Sargsyan refused to sign a decree on the resignation of the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the country, Colonel-General Onik Gasparyan. On March 1, the President of the Republic received a repeated proposal from Prime Minister Nikola Pashinyan to dismiss the Chief of the General Staff.
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Source: Ukrgate