Six Russians Jailed in Armenia on Flimsy Espionage Allegations
Sputnik – 20.05.2026
Armenia continues to hold six Russian citizens on espionage-related charges linked to alleged filming activities for Azerbaijan, despite what their supporters describe as weak evidence and the absence of any classified material, RT reports.
The individuals—Artem Makhmutov, Daniil Semenyuk, Viktor Tikhomirov, Emirkhan Emirkhanov, Said Aliyev, and Vladislav Yeliseyev—were detained between June 2024 and March 2026. Three of them grew up together in a Moscow orphanage.
According to the defense, they were hired to film a documentary about Azerbaijani cultural heritage sites in Armenia, including mosques, cemeteries, and churches. None of the locations were restricted or classified. Daniil Semenyuk was arrested at the airport before entering the country.
The producer who commissioned the project, a Russian national from the film industry, has since disappeared and cannot be reached. Viktor Tikhomirov went to Armenia to investigate his friends’ detention and was subsequently arrested himself.
Armenian authorities have not presented evidence that the footage contains state secrets or sensitive military information. All of the sites filmed are publicly accessible and documented online.
Russian officials have called the charges baseless. The Kremlin says it is monitoring the case closely. Families of the detainees deny the espionage allegations and claim their relatives are being pressured to confess.
Court hearings have been repeatedly postponed, and no trial dates have been set. The six Russian nationals remain in custody pending further legal proceedings.
Pashinyan’s war on the Armenian Church signals a deepening national crisis
By Lucas Leiroz | Strategic Culture Foundation | October 22, 2025
The authoritarian spiral of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has entered a dangerous new phase: a systematic campaign of repression against the Armenian Apostolic Church — one of the world’s oldest Christian institutions and the cornerstone of the Armenian national identity. In a desperate attempt to consolidate his crumbling political legitimacy and strengthen alignment with the Western liberal order, Pashinyan has now turned his sights on religious leaders and sacred institutions, undermining the spiritual and historical foundations of the Armenian state.
In recent weeks, state-led persecution of religious figures has reached alarming levels. The arrest of Bishop Mkrtich Proshyan, head of the Diocese of Aragatsotn, marks just the most visible example of a broader, coordinated crackdown. Alongside him, five other clergymen were detained on vague and politically motivated charges, including “fraud” and “abuse of power.” The allegations, notably lacking in credible legal grounding, reveal the instrumental nature of the operation — a political purge disguised as law enforcement.
This assault on the Church is not an isolated event. Months earlier, Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan was sentenced to two years in prison for allegedly “inciting a coup” — a vague accusation increasingly used as a catch-all label for dissent. What is unfolding appears to be a deliberate campaign to silence religious voices that challenge the government’s ideological alignment with Brussels and its Western patrons.
Behind Pashinyan’s rhetoric of “fighting corruption” and “institutional modernization” lies a far darker reality: the calculated dismantling of Armenia’s last bastion of traditional resistance. With roots tracing back to the early 4th century, the Armenian Apostolic Church is not merely a religious authority — it is a symbol of moral unity, historical continuity, and cultural cohesion. For many Armenians, the Church is the guardian of the national soul — a role that naturally places it in opposition to a regime advancing policies that many view as anti-national and externally imposed.
The conflict is also ideological in nature. By attempting to reshape Armenian society in accordance with secularist, progressive values favored by the European Union, Pashinyan inevitably comes into conflict with the conservative and patriotic worldview still prevalent among the Armenian population. In such a context, any institution that resists this forced social transformation becomes a target — and the Church, as the most prominent voice of cultural continuity, is perceived as the primary obstacle.
The deeper backdrop to this crackdown is the widespread public disillusionment with Pashinyan’s leadership following the catastrophic military defeat to Azerbaijan and the total loss of Nagorno-Karabakh. The dissolution of the Republic of Artsakh not only represented a strategic failure but served as a powerful symbol of Pashinyan’s political project collapsing under its own contradictions. In the wake of that defeat, his administration has increasingly relied on authoritarian tactics and scapegoating internal “enemies” — including the conservative opposition and the Church — in an effort to deflect from its failures.
The arrest of Russian-Armenian businessman and vocal government critic Samvel Karapetyan further illustrates the broader context of political persecution. However, unlike typical political repression, the offensive against the clergy reveals something deeper: a systematic attempt to reengineer the Armenian national identity along foreign lines, disregarding the popular will and erasing centuries of religious and cultural continuity.
The mass demonstrations erupting in Yerevan since October 18 are a direct response to this rupture. Opposition movements like Mer Dzevov (Our Way) are channeling a growing national anger that transcends the arrests of individual figures — it reflects a public rejection of a government that has positioned itself as an adversary of Armenia’s historical institutions and spiritual heritage. The presence of thousands in the streets, demanding not only the release of political and religious prisoners but also the end of state hostility toward the Church, suggests that the divide between the regime and the population may now be irreversible.
Pashinyan continues to rely on international backers to maintain his grip on power, but even his Western sponsors may soon realize they cannot indefinitely prop up a government that has lost all domestic legitimacy. Meanwhile, the Armenian Apostolic Church retains the moral authority of history, faith, and national identity — forces that no imported ideology or political alliance can replace.
If internal stability is to be preserved, the Armenian government must immediately halt its campaign against the clergy and initiate dialogue with the legitimate representatives of civil and religious society. Failing to do so risks not only further loss of authority but a slide into institutional collapse — with unpredictable and potentially irreversible consequences.
The forced replacement of Armenian heritage with foreign ideological frameworks is a blueprint for national ruin — and in attacking the Church, Pashinyan is not merely repressing dissent; he is waging war on the very soul of his people.
Armenian opposition mayor detained in government crackdown
RT | October 20, 2025
Armenian law enforcement has detained the mayor of the country’s second-largest city along with several municipal staff and dozens of locals, sparking protests.
Gyumri Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan and seven others now face corruption charges. The arrests come amid an ongoing political standoff in the country between the government and opposition.
Ghukasyan, elected from the Communist Party of Armenia in April 2025, is a known critic of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s pro-Western foreign policy shift. Pashinyan previously threatened to “throw him out of the politics,” vowing to “resolve” the issue.
Video circulating online showed Ghukasyan being escorted by security forces into a vehicle, reportedly bound for questioning in the capital, Yerevan. When his supporters blocked the exit, armed police used force in an operation involving over 100 officers.
The situation prompted an immediate public backlash, with angry residents gathering outside the city hall, whistling at police and chanting “shame.” Law enforcement effectively locked down the area, blocking streets and dispersing the crowds. Twenty-three people were detained, among them a member of the opposition Mer Dzevov (Our Way) movement, led by jailed businessman Samvel Karapetyan. The movement had expressed unconditional support for Ghukasyan.
Pashinyan has been previously accused of targeting his opponents. In June, Russian-Armenian billionaire Karapetyan was arrested on charges of inciting a coup and money laundering. The businessman had publicly condemned the prime minister’s crackdown on the clergy of the Armenian Apostolic Church, which the government accuses of corruption and political meddling.
Tensions between Pashinyan and the church began in 2020 when the nation’s top cleric, Catholicos Garegin II, called on the prime minister to resign amid mass protests over territorial concessions to Azerbaijan.
Last week, police detained Bishop Mkrtich Proshyan, the head of the Diocese of Aragatsotn, and five other clergymen on charges of abuse of power and fraud. Earlier this month, Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan was sentenced to two years in prison for inciting a coup, a case he described as politically motivated.
The fallacy of Armenian ‘Europeanness’: Emotional nationalist rhetoric in service of Atlanticism
By Lucas Leiroz | Strategic Culture Foundation | September 10, 2025
The recent shift by Armenian elites toward the European Union is not merely a geopolitical mistake — it is a clear manifestation of a historical and cultural fallacy. By invoking a supposed “Europeanness” of Armenia as a justification for its pro-Western pivot, the leadership in Yerevan resorts to a nationalist rhetorical myth with no grounding in objective reality. It is a fabricated narrative, sustained by emotional discourse and by inferiority complexes typical of post-Soviet elites who reject their own identity.
By any reasonable criterion — geographic, cultural, or even genetic — Armenia is an integral part of Asia. It is located south of the Caucasus, a region historically considered a transitional zone, but unmistakably Asian. Forcing its insertion into Europe is an act of geopolitical distortion that ignores physical geography and rewrites the map according to Atlanticist interests.
The only tangible “argument” used to support this supposed European connection is linguistic. Indeed, Armenian is an Indo-European language — just like Portuguese, Tajik, or Sinhala. But no one in their right mind considers Brazil, Tajikistan, or Sri Lanka to be European countries. Language alone does not define civilizational belonging, nor does it align peoples with geopolitical blocs.
In practice, the Armenian people possess a genetic and cultural composition derived from the autochthonous peoples of the Caucasus, with some minor external influences resulting from centuries of invasions and migrations. Their religion, Miaphysite Christianity, links them more closely to the Egyptian Copts, the Ethiopian Tewahedo Church, and the Assyrians than to Eastern Orthodoxy or Catholicism. The very ecclesiastical structure of the Armenian Apostolic Church reflects this Asian and Oriental specificity.
Armenian “Europeanness,” therefore, is nothing more than an ideological discourse, rooted in a desperate attempt to detach from its geographic and historical neighborhood — Russia, Iran, and the Turkic world — and artificially insert itself into a Europe that doesn’t even recognize them as “equals.” The alliance with the West is not based on “cultural affinity,” as claimed, but on an illusory calculation of “protection” from its regional neighbors, especially Azerbaijan and Turkey. A strategic misjudgment with high political cost.
Furthermore, the Armenian nationalist obsession with the so-called “Armenian hypothesis” — which postulates the origin of Indo-European languages in historical Armenian lands — is another rhetorical element without mainstream scientific acceptance. The dominant theory in historical and linguistic sciences remains the Pontic-Caspian steppe hypothesis, which holds that the Indo-Europeans originated in the Eurasian steppes, not on the Armenian Highlands.
Curiously, this rejection of Asian identity is shared by their Azerbaijani rivals, who in turn deny their Caucasian origins in favor of a “Turkic” link to Central Asia, justified solely by their use of the Turkic language. Both sides reveal the same symptom: rejection of local reality and glorification of external identities as a form of psychological compensation and a bid to integrate into geopolitical projects alien to their own history.
At its core, Armenia’s rapprochement with the European Union has nothing to do with “European values” or “shared identity.” It is a project of subordinate integration, in which Brussels offers vague promises in exchange for geopolitical loyalty. The stance of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is symptomatic of this process of forced Westernization — even if it means isolating Armenia from its historical allies and falling into the hands of structures that will never guarantee its regional survival.
Russia, on the other hand, has always been the true guarantor of Armenian sovereignty — including during the most critical moments of its recent history. The attempt to break with Moscow in the name of an artificial identity project reveals the strategic myopia of Yerevan. True national freedom is not achieved by serving Ursula von der Leyen or Kaja Kallas, but by reaffirming a realistic and independent position within Greater Eurasia, under the multipolar security umbrella led by Moscow and its allies.
Armenian Apostolic Church Urges Authorities to Stop Pressure Campaign Against Its Spiritual Center
Sputnik – 21.07.2025
YEREVAN – The Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC) on Monday called on the state to stop the encroachment announced by Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan against its spiritual center, the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin (MSoHE).
On July 20, Pashinyan announced plans to hold a rally against the hierarchs of the AAC in Vagharshapat, where the center is located. He described it as a “spiritual meeting” and called on supporters to prepare for it. This follows almost two months of demands by Pashinyan that the Catholicos of All Armenians, Karekin II, resign.
“The MSoHE condemns this attempt to incite attacks and violence, which is an open interference in the life of the Armenian Church and its self-government,” the ACC said in a statement, urging ruling political forces to stop the unlawful anti-Church campaign and focus on addressing the serious challenges facing the country instead.
“At the same time, we appeal to the competent authorities and state officials to take all necessary and legal measures to prevent this illegal event,” the statement said. “We urge the sons of our people not to succumb to the provocations of the authorities, to remain vigilant and prudent, and to unite in faith and prayer to overcome current difficulties.”
Relations between the Armenian authorities and the Armenian Apostolic Church deteriorated sharply after Pashinyan posted offensive remarks about the Church on social media in late May, and proposed changing the procedure for electing the Catholicos of All Armenians and granting the state a decisive role in the process.
Businessman and philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan, who came out in defense of the Church, was arrested on trumped up coup plot charges, sparking outrage among Armenians worldwide. Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, head of the Sacred Struggle movement who led protests to demand Pashinyan’s resignation in 2024, was also arrested.
Lasha Kasradze: Azerbaijan as the Next Frontline Against Russia & Iran?
Glenn Diesen | July 13, 2025
As Azerbaijan takes an increasingly hostile approach to both Russia and Iran, it risks becoming a proxy in a wider regional war. Azerbaijan’s Zangezur corridor connects Azerbaijan closer to Turkey, and thus NATO. Many uncertainties emerge in terms of what happens to Armenia, to what extent Turkey and NATO can project power that deep into the South Caucasus, and how Russia and Iran will react. Lasha Kasradze is an international affairs analyst from Georgia, and an expert on the wider region.
Kremlin weighs in on unrest in Armenia
RT | June 29, 2025
Political turmoil in Armenia is an internal matter, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said, following the arrests of senior clerics and a Russian-Armenian businessman accused of plotting to overthrow Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government.
Earlier this month, the Armenian authorities took into custody Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, the leader of the Sacred Struggle opposition movement, and Archbishop Mikael Adjapahyan. They are both accused of plotting a coup. The arrests sparked a public outcry and protests, which devolved into clashes with police.
The archbishops are key members of the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC), which was the main driver of protests against Pashinyan. The unrest was sparked by the prime minister’s decision to return several border villages to Azerbaijan. While Pashinyan portrayed the land transfer as necessary to normalize relations with the neighboring state, many in Armenia saw it as a betrayal of national interests.
The authorities also arrested Samvel Karapetyan, a Russian-Armenian billionaire and supporter of the AAC, on charges of calling for the overthrow of the government.
In an interview with Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin, Peskov said Moscow is closely monitoring the situation but will not interfere.
“This is, of course, an internal matter for Armenia,” he stated. “We are, of course, interested in the preservation of law and order in Armenia, so that Armenia is a prosperous, stable country, friendly to Russia.”
Peskov noted that Russia has a large Armenian diaspora, many of whom “are watching these events with pain,” adding: “Many, of course, do not accept how this is happening.”
Russia and Armenia have historically had close cultural and religious ties. In recent months, however, Yerevan has distanced itself from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which comprises many former Soviet republics. Armenia has accused Russia of failing to provide adequate support during its stand-off with Azerbaijan – in particular, over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Russia has argued that Armenia never recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as its own territory, meaning the CSTO could not consider Azerbaijan’s military operation in the enclave as aggression against an alliance member. President Vladimir Putin has also said that Russia has on numerous occasions floated a territorial compromise that could have settled the conflict between the two states, and that Armenia rejected the initiative.
Globalist Blueprint: Pashinyan Seeks to Silence Church as Armenia Becomes NATO Proxy – Analyst
By Svetlana Ekimenko – Sputnik – 26.06.2025
Western globalists installed Nikol Pashinyan as prime minister to wrench Armenia away from its historical alliance with Russia, says international affairs expert Iskandar Kfoury.
The arrest of Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, a prelate of the Armenian Apostolic Church, is just the latest chapter in an effort to weaponize Armenia against its neighbors – especially Russia, Iskandar Kfoury told Sputnik.
The South Caucasus has always been a battleground for global powers, and now, under Pashinyan, American and NATO labs are conducting biological warfare research on Armenian soil, he said.
Furthermore, US military exercises have been welcomed on Armenia’s soil as part of a drastic geopolitical realignment.
The church – one of the last standing moral authorities in the country – is refusing to stay silent on this betrayal of Armenia’s national identity and sovereignty.
It was the church’s response that triggered the crackdown by Armenia’s authorities, Kfoury said.
What will a “European Armenia” bring?
By Erkin Oncan | Strategic Culture Foundation | January 14, 2025
The Armenian government has approved a draft law to initiate the country’s accession process to the European Union (EU). This proposal will be discussed in parliament before being put to a referendum.
European Parliament rapporteur Miriam Lexmann celebrated this development, stating, “I wholeheartedly welcome the Armenian government’s decision to begin the EU accession process.”
However, the Russian side has reacted negatively to this decision. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declared that Armenia cannot simultaneously be a member of both the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk also commented, “We interpret this as the beginning of Armenia’s withdrawal from the Eurasian Economic Union. The Russian Federation will shape its economic policy toward Armenia accordingly,” comparing EU membership to “purchasing a ticket for the Titanic.”
Armenia’s Journey Towards Europe
Armenia and the EU have a long history of interaction.
In 1996, Armenia signed a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with the EU, and in 2001 it became a member of the Council of Europe. Moreover, Armenia has benefited from the TACIS program, a European Commission initiative that provided technical assistance to former Soviet states to adapt to market-oriented economic systems.
In 2004, Armenia strengthened its ties with the EU under the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), joined the Eastern Partnership initiative in 2009, and, despite joining the Eurasian Economic Union in 2013, approved the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with the EU in 2017. In 2018, the Velvet Revolution brought Nikol Pashinyan to power, accelerating democratic reforms.
Armenia has now become the seventh former Soviet country to initiate European integration. This political shift mirrors the tug-of-war between the EU and EAEU, as well as NATO and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
Can Armenia Join the EU?
Although Armenia is not geographically part of Europe, like Georgia, it strives to align itself with “European values and cooperation processes.” From a European perspective, Armenia’s significance stems not from its adherence to these values but from its geographic proximity to Russia and Iran.
EU membership is a challenging and lengthy process—a path that only three former Soviet states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) have successfully completed. Other countries like Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia have long been politically shaped by their EU aspirations, experiencing intense internal conflicts between pro-Russian and pro-EU factions, often tied to so-called “color revolutions.” These parallels suggest that Armenia’s membership process could also stretch over many years. Furthermore, Armenia’s economic ties with Russia present significant challenges.
According to data from the Armenian Statistical Committee covering January-April 2024, trade between Armenia and Russia increased 3.1 times, while trade with EU countries decreased by 24.3%. During this period, Armenia’s trade volume with Russia reached $6.3 billion, whereas its trade volume with the EU was $695.5 million—making trade with Russia nearly nine times greater than that with the EU. Military ties between Armenia and Russia also remain a major topic of public debate.
For Armenia to fully “Europeanize,” it must entirely overhaul its economic system. However, the insistence of both the EU and Pashinyan’s administration on this path could lead to a deep economic crisis and political instability. This might result in Armenia entering the EU as a weakened state, perceived as a burden by EU leadership.
The EU’s primary objective appears to be not Armenia’s full membership but the continuation of the accession process, using it to advance strategic interests. A “European” Armenia would serve as a geopolitical defeat for Russia.
Broader Implications
Discussions around Armenia’s regional and international dynamics are often shaped in Turkey by nationalist narratives sown by imperialist forces, perpetuating historical prejudices that undermine solidarity among neighboring peoples. However, developments in Armenia carry significant clues about the future of the broader region.
Erkin Öncan, Turkish journalist focusing on war zones and social movements around the world.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/erknoncn Telegram: https://t.me/erknoncn
Iran expects boom in trade after gaining EAEU’s observer status
Press TV – December 29, 2024
Iran expects a major boom in trade ties with members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) after the country gained observer status in the bloc and just months before the two sides enter into a free trade agreement.
Iran’s trade minister Mohammad Atabak said on Sunday that observer membership in the EAEU will enable Tehran to increase its presence in the bloc’s meetings and exchange more trade and economic information with its members.
Atabak made the remarks after returning from an EAEU Supreme Council meeting in Saint Petersburg, Russia, where he signed the agreement for Iran to become an observer member in the bloc on December 26.
During the meeting, EAEU members also gave their final endorsement to a free trade agreement signed between Iran and the bloc last year. The agreement, which has been ratified by parliaments of both Iran and five EAEU members, will officially come into effect in the next two months after Iran’s Guardian Council, which vets legislation passed by parliament, approves the deal.
Atabak said that the free trade deal with the EAEU will eliminate tariffs on nearly 87 percent of Iranian exports to members of the bloc, namely Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Armenia.
He expected that trade between Iran and the EAEU would increase several times with the implementation of the free trade deal.
“The Eurasian region is a very good market for Iranian goods. Iranian technical and engineering companies can also expand their activities in these countries,” he said.
The minister said that Iran is planning to hold a major trade exhibition in Tehran in the coming months to showcase its economic and trade potential to EAEU countries.
The U.S. pressures Armenia to buy gas from Azerbaijan instead of Russia
By Steven Sahiounie | Strategic Culture Foundation | July 28, 2024
Ambassador Samantha Power, former U.S. Ambassador to the UN, and now director of USAID, an office of the U.S. State Department, traveled to Armenia on July 10 to strong-arm Prime MInister Nikol Pashinyan into buying gas from Azerbaijan, instead of Russia.
Armenia currently imports almost all of its hydrocarbons from Russia and Iran via gas pipeline.
The President Joe Biden administration supports the war in Ukraine by providing billions of dollars of weapons to Ukraine to fight Russia.
Prior to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline being destroyed, Biden had made a speech promising that the U.S. would prevent Russia from selling gas to Germany and Europe. It is an economic war waged on Russia, as well as militarily on the battlefields.
On February 28, 2023, the American Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Seymour Hersh, published an article exposing how the Biden administration had blown up the Nord Stream 2 underwater pipeline designed to deliver gas to Germany and Europe.
The Nord Stream 2 had been sanctioned by Germany, and Biden was afraid that Germany would lift the sanctions because of a bad winter.
According to Hersh, Biden was obsessed with reelection in 2024, and wanted to win the war in Ukraine. Biden’s advisors in the Oval Office feared that Germany and Western Europe might stop weapons support to Ukraine, and the German chancellor could turn the pipeline on.
Biden placed winning the war in Ukraine above the warmth and health of the German people, even though winning a war in Ukraine is improbable, according to military experts.
The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), has criticized Power’s trip to Armenia because USAID hasn’t provided financial support to Armenians who left Karabakh and returned to their homeland Armenia as displaced persons, and victims of ethnic cleansing.
Despite previous visits and flowery speeches, Power has not initiated any funding programs for the Karabakh Armenians who lost their homes, possessions, lands and livelihoods.
In September 2023, almost 200,000 ethnic Armenians fled the battles, and eventual defeat in Nagorno-Karabakh following Azerbaijan’s victory ending three decades of ethnic Armenian separatist rule there.
Protesters on the streets of Yerevan blamed the policies of Pashinyan for the defeat.
Power arrived in Yerevan on September 25 and said, “The United States is deeply concerned about reports on the humanitarian conditions in Nagorno-Karabakh and calls for unimpeded access for international humanitarian organizations and commercial traffic.”
The ANCA say the needy are still waiting for help from Power and the Biden administration.
During Azerbaijan’s attacks on the Armenian people living in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, the U.S. supported the Azerbaijan government. There is no reason for the government of Armenia to view the U.S. as a friend, or supporter.
By contrast, the Russian peace-keeping troops tried to perform their job in the Nagorno-Karabakh armed conflict, but in the end, Armenia was defeated.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have made peace; the armed conflict is over, but the pain of hundreds of Armenian deaths at the hands of the Azerbaijanis remains fresh in the minds and hearts of Armenians.
Now, Ambassador Power is asking Yerevan to buy their gas from a former enemy, instead of a loyal friend.
On July 15, just days after Power visited, joint military drills with the U.S. began, and reflects the pressure Power and the Biden administration are putting on Armenia to forge closer ties with the U.S.
Russia had been Armenia’s main economic partner and Armenia hosts a Russian military base. Armenian authorities accused Russian peacekeepers who were deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh of failing to stop Azerbaijan’s onslaught. Moscow rejected the accusations, arguing that its troops didn’t have a mandate to intervene.
American military help was completely absent in the struggle for Nagorno-Karabakh.
“Has she no shame?” asked Sossy Saroyan in Latakia, Syria while referring to Power.
After the attack and massacre in Kessab, carried out by the U.S. supported Free Syrian Army (FSA) and their allied Al Qaeda terrorists, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, was asked to comment on what happened in Kessab.
Power said, “The U.S. is very concerned about what happened in Kessab, but unfortunately the armed groups there are not ones we have leverage on.”
Power had lied. The FSA was the armed wing of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), based in Istanbul, Turkey and headed by its President, Ahmed Jarba. Both the FSA and SNC received their support, funds, training and weapons from the U.S. government through Congressional funding, and through the CIA program, “Sycamore Timber”.
To prove the U.S. connection to the attack, destruction, occupation, massacre and kidnapping in Kessab in March 2014, Jarba visited the FSA stationed in occupied Kessab on April 11, 2014.
On May 23, 2014, Jarba was sitting in the Oval Office with U.S. President Barak Obama and Susan Rice. On Jarba’s visit he met with Secretary of State John Kerry and received the use of two offices in Washington to be used as a U.S. base of operation for the SNC and FSA.
On the same day that Jarba was in Kessab, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, Francis J. Riccardone, Jr. visited the 26 very elderly kidnap victims from Kessab who had been taken at gunpoint to Vikifly, Turkey as captives of the FSA.
Ambassador Riccardone had brought his wife with him, as she was a language specialist, and they also had a translator with them.
Ambassador Riccardone had just one question to ask of the captives who all but one was over the age of 80. His question posed to the group of captives was, “Are any of you American citizens?”
Kessab, Syria does have a number of dual citizens, Syrians by birth, who have obtained U.S. citizenship after living, working and paying incomes taxes in the U.S. in the past. In fact, at least four American citizens had lost their homes, farms and businesses when the U.S. sponsored terrorists attacked Kessab.
However, the group collectively answered, “No, we are just Syrians.”
At that point, Ambassador Riccardone and his entourage got up to leave. He was there for one purpose only, to free any U.S. captive, but none were U.S. citizens so he left them.
The very elderly Syrian Christian Armenian kidnap victims were captives of an armed group whose stated goal was to establish an Islamic government in Damascus, and to remove the existing secular government which had protected the rights of all Christians in Syria. The victims begged Ambassador Riccardone to please not leave them in captivity in Turkey, which had massacred 1.6 million Armenians in the 1916 Armenian Genocide, but to transport them to Latakia, Syria where all the residents of Kessab were sheltering at the Armenian Church.
The dozens of elderly, infirm, and immobile Armenians of Kessab were forced by Ambassador Riccardone to remain captives in a foreign country historical known for its genocidal hatred of Armenians, for three months, until they were transported by the Turkish government, allied with Obama, to Beirut, Lebanon and from there they were bused to Latakia, Syria.
Kessab has never recovered, and is a partial ghost-town because of the Obama-Biden administration.
The Armenians of Syria could teach the Armenian government a hard lesson learned from bitter experience: don’t expect help from the U.S., because they do not have friends, they only have interests.
Biden wanted to win the Ukraine war, and secure a ceasefire in Gaza to ensure reelection. Instead he has failed at both, and has lost the election.
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Murdering Babies is “Permissible” When They’re Palestinian
What the Media Missed on Itamar
By ALISON WEIR | CounterPunch | March 17, 2011
US media have been widely and repeatedly reporting on the awful March 11 murder of three small Israeli children and their parents. While no one yet knows who committed this act, reports presume that the murderers were Palestinian, and for this reason the incident is receiving major attention. Various heads of state, including President Obama, have condemned it.
If it turns out that the murderer or murderers were Israeli, as some previously presumed “terrorists” have turned out to be, or a foreign worker who had previously threatened the family over unpaid wages, as some reports from the area suggest, it is likely that coverage of the incident will quickly vanish from U.S. headlines.
For now, however, American news reports continue to provide excruciating details about the atrocity. Given the amount of reportage, it is surprising how much significant information is omitted.
For example, none of these reports mention that the location of the murders, Itamar (near Nablus), is an illegal Jewish-only settlement on stolen Palestinian land in the midst of refugees whom Israel pushed off their ancestral land through massacres and ruthless military actions.
Nor do reports mention the frequency with which Israeli settlers beat, occasionally torture, and sometimes murder Palestinians of all ages, burn their crops, and hack down their groves of olive trees, the livelihood of many Palestinian villagers; hundreds, at least, of these trees, have been destroyed by rampaging Israeli settlers. … continue
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- Not just the US: How 51 countries armed Israel during Gaza war
- No Tricks Zone
- A Grand Solar Minimum Has Arrived…Global Cooling Of At Least 1°C Is Expected By The 2030s, 2040s
- European “Expert Commission” Urges COVID-19-Like Global Climate State Of Energency!
- Real-World Observations Do Not Support The Position That Climate Change Is Human-Caused
- Germany’s AfD Party Calls Debunked Climate Scenarios “Greatest Fraud In Human History”
- Researchers Find Rapid Global Warming Phase At End Of Last Ice Age (Ca.18,000 Years Ago)
- Even The DNA Of Single-Celled Plankton Can Upend Alarmist Arctic Sea Ice Melt Claims
- Scandal: Although Climate Panic Is Canceled By IPCC, Europe’s Policymakers Continue With Their Crushing Policies
- How Once Hardcore Climate Alarmist Lucy Biggers Realized It Was All A Scam, Brainwashing
- German Expert: “No Climate Crisis” …”Warming Generally Better For Humanity”
- New Paleo Research: Modern ‘Climate Change’ Has Had No Apparent Impact On Precipitation Patterns
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