Kandaz’s arrest shows the authorities fear losing the election: Tigran Kocharyan

The arrest of legendary intelligence officer Colonel Artur Avanesyan, known as Kandaz, signals that Armenia’s authorities fear they will not be reelected and that fear is manifesting in arrests. Tigran Kocharyan, editor-in-chief of the news agency, made the statement in a live broadcast on Alpha News.

“The authorities are arresting the most influential figures, preventing them from taking part in the election campaign and trying to block the victory of the force led by Samvel Karapetyan. But the fact is that both polls and public sentiment monitoring show that this government’s days are numbered and it no longer enjoys popular support. That is why they resort to harsher measures every day in an attempt to hold on to power,” Kocharyan said.

Addressing the ongoing crisis in Armenian-Russian relations, he noted that the relationship is in a state of decline.

“It is clear to everyone that the authorities’ policies are making things worse by the day. There are many issues, for example, restrictions on the import of liquefied gas into the country. But I would not want to claim that this was done deliberately. Russia simply wants to show that it is no longer willing to subsidize Armenia’s drift toward Europe, as Pashinyan desires. In other words, they are saying: you either do one thing or the other,” Kocharyan concluded.