Armenian authorities have declared that Karapetyan, a Russian citizen, is not allowed to run in the elections

The news that the new "Strong Armenia" party has nominated Russian businessman Samvel Karapetyan for prime minister has raised questions among government officials.

Commenting on the situation, Armenian Interior Minister Arpine Sargsyan expressed confusion about the possibility of a citizen of several countries running for prime minister. She emphasized that citizenship is not just a document, and it is difficult to imagine whose interests a person with multiple passports would prioritize.

Vahagn Aleksanyan, a member of parliament from the ruling "Civil Contract" party, in turn, stated that Karapetyan's nomination has no chance of success. According to him, the Armenian Constitution prohibits anyone from holding the post of prime minister unless they are exclusively Armenian citizens and have not resided in the country for the past four years.

As a reminder, Samvel Karapetyan, in addition to his Armenian citizenship, holds Russian and Cypriot citizenship. The Armenian Constitution requires that a candidate for prime minister be an Armenian citizen, have permanently resided in the country for the past four years, and have held only Armenian citizenship during that period.

Samvel Karapetyan was placed in pretrial detention in June 2025 and then transferred to house arrest. The reason for his arrest was his speech in defense of the Armenian Apostolic Church, which followed Prime Minister Pashinyan's criticism of the church. The businessman, who advocates for Armenia's close integration with Russia, is accused of calling for a coup d'état. His defense considers the charges baseless.

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