Samvel Karapetyan, Russian billionaire and leader of the opposition party "Strong Armenia," who is currently under house arrest in Yerevan, has initiated the process of renouncing his Russian and Cypriot citizenships. The goal of this step is to qualify for the June 7 parliamentary elections, for which Armenian law requires only Armenian citizenship.

"Since I will participate in the elections and am confident of winning, I have begun the process of renouncing my other passports," Karapetyan stated.

However, as experts point out, hastily renouncing his Russian passport will prevent the Russian businessman of Armenian descent, whom Putin openly defended during Pashinyan's recent visit to Moscow, from participating in the upcoming elections. After all, the Armenian Constitution prohibits anyone who has held citizenship of another country for the past four years from becoming either a member of parliament or the head of government.

He was previously nominated for the post of prime minister, but the Armenian authorities barred him from running. He is also accused of calling for a coup d'état and money laundering. The politician denies all charges.

Karapetyan has recently become a vocal critic of the current government, warning of the threat of an economic war with Russia and the "collapse of the Armenian economy" if Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's party wins. He accuses the government of "unreasonable and shameful" behavior toward Russia and using Armenia as an "arena for geopolitical confrontation."

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, in turn, accused Karapetyan and other opposition figures of wanting to change the peace agreement with Azerbaijan and "open the door to war," and hinted at their pro-Russian leanings.