Candidate from Tsarukyan’s Prosperous Armenia party investigated for treason
Armenian authorities are seeking a treason investigation against opposition politician Andranik Tevanyan, a candidate on tycoon Gagik Tsarukyan’s electoral list, as political tensions escalate ahead of the 2026 parliamentary elections.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced while campaigning in Armenia’s third-largest city Vanadzor on Wednesday that Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) would submit a report to the Investigative Committee, ‘expecting that a criminal case will be initiated against Andranik Tevanyan under the article of treason’.
Tevanyan is the second candidate on the list of Tsarukyan’s Prosperous Armenia party, one of the main challengers to Pashinyan’s ruling Civil Contract ahead of the vote.
‘And this spy network, we will ultimately and completely eradicate from the Republic of Armenia’, Pashinyan said.
The statement follows earlier comments by Pashinyan in April claiming that the authorities had compiled a ‘thick file’ of individuals allegedly acting in line with foreign agendas. At the time, he said some political figures were ‘walking along the edge’ of espionage.
‘Once they cross it, there will be a response’, Pashinyan said back then.
After dubbing Civil Contract’s main political opponents, the alliances and parties led by Russian–Armenian tycoon Samvel Karapetyan, ex-President Robert Kocharyan, and Tsarukyan a ‘three-headed war party’, Pashinyan suggested on Wednesday they could instead be ‘rebranded’ a ‘three-headed party of espionage’.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
Tevanyan, who was elected to parliament in 2021 as part of the Armenia Alliance faction, stepped down in 2023 to run for Yerevan mayor with the Mother Armenia bloc backed by Kocharyan. His alliance won 15% of the vote and eight seats in Yerevan’s city council.
Although Kocharyan is again running with the Armenia Alliance in 2026, Tevanyan has instead allied himself with Tsarukyan.
Responding to Pashinyan’s remarks, Tevanyan accused the prime minister of treason, claiming he had served the interests of Azerbaijan and Turkey and ‘surrendered [Nagorno-Karabakh] through treason’.
Amid Russia's criticism over Armenia’s deepening ties with the EU, Tevanyan compared Pashinyan with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi.
‘As an Armenian Zelenskyi, you will not be able to carry out the plan imposed on you from abroad, a plan to which you agreed’, Tevanyan claimed, adding that Pashinyan would end up ‘envying even the fate of [Georgian ex-President Mikheil] Saakashvili’.
Nationalisation of Tsarukyan’s cement factory
Separately, Pashinyan announced plans on Wednesday to nationalise Tsarukyan’s Ararat Cement plant, describing it as the ‘backbone’ of his business empire and alleging irregularities in its privatisation in the early 2000s.
Shortly afterwards, Armenia’s Prosecutor General’s Office announced that it had submitted a report to the Anti-Corruption Committee earlier in May, leading to the opening of a criminal case on 7 May over alleged abuse of office and large-scale money laundering.
In response, Tsarukyan described Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev as Armenia’s remaining ‘threats’. He also referred to the investigation into the cement plant, claiming that by acting so, Pashinyan was paving the way for the import of Azerbaijani cement. No such agreement has been reported.
‘I have said that I cannot exchange my homeland for my possessions’, Tsarukyan said, arguing that the case was launched because Pashinyan feared losing power.
Aside from these cases, Pashinyan had vowed earlier in May to ‘drag [Tsarukyan’s] son [Nver Tsarukyan] back from Belarus by the scruff of his neck and bring him to justice’.
Nver Tsarukyan is wanted in Armenia over a 2024 shooting incident. After the criminal proceedings were announced, he departed for Belarus and Russia on a ‘business trip’, and he has reportedly stayed there since.
Nate Ostiller
Separately, again in May, Armenian authorities also announced the confiscation of assets belonging to Tsarukyan’s daughter, Rosa Tsarukyan, and her husband, former Kotayk Governor Karapet Guloyan, including a mansion, plot of land, and company shares deemed to be of illicit origin.
These cases come amid growing scrutiny over alleged Russian influence in Armenian politics.
Earlier this week, investigations by the independent Russian outlet The Insider described Tsarukyan and Karapetyan as ‘Russia’s candidates’ in the upcoming elections.
Aside from signing a cooperation agreement with Russia’s ruling United Russia party in 2019, leaked documents suggested that Russian officials received copies of Tsarukyan’s passport as well as financial estimates related to his 2017 election campaign.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
