Kremlin holds off congratulating Pashinyan over election concerns

The Kremlin said it would not rush to congratulate Nikol Pashinyan on his claimed victory in Armenia’s parliamentary elections, citing reports of irregularities during the vote.

Speaking at a briefing, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “There were many such unclear moments. We saw many reports of violations that took place.”

He added that Moscow would wait for official confirmation of the results before issuing any formal response.

“It is important here to wait for some final official results,” Peskov said. “We prefer to wait for some official conclusions.”

Parliamentary elections in Armenia were held on June 7. Preliminary data from the Central Election Commission indicate that Pashinyan’s party secured 49.8% of the vote.

The “Strong Armenia” bloc, led by businessman Samvel Karapetyan, received 23.3%, while the “Armenia” bloc of former president Robert Kocharyan gained 9.9%. Other parties failed to clear the threshold to enter parliament.

By Tamilla Hasanova