“I have great respect for the political forces and figures who have waged a real struggle against the anti-national policies of Nikol Pashinian's government to this day,” he said in a statement issued from jail. “But we have our own vision of building a good future for Armenia. And we will go our own way, with our new team, not excluding domestic political cooperation with like-minded people.
“The formation of our political team has begun,” Karapetian added without giving any details.
The tycoon first indicated such plans on July 4 as thousands of his supporters rallied outside a Yerevan prison where he is held on charges of calling for a violent overthrow of the Armenian government. Armenia’s leading opposition groups hailed the development. They said it could redraw the country’s political landscape ahead of the next parliamentary elections due in June 2026.
Karapetian pressed ahead with his plans despite the toughening of a government crackdown on his extended family, associates and business assets in Armenia. On July 8, security services raided more companies belonging to him and arrested five of their executives.
The biggest of those companies is the Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA) national utility which Pashinian’s government is planning to nationalize after pushing a relevant bill through the Armenian parliament early this month. Narek Karapetian, the ENA chairman and the tycoon’s nephew acting as the family’s main spokesman, linked the raids to the July 4 rally.
The 59-year-old tycoon, who has lived in Russia since the 1990s and also has a dual Russian nationality, was arrested and charged with calling for a violent regime change on June 18 hours after condemning Pashinian’s attempts to depose the top clergy of the Armenian Church. He denies the charges. Opposition leaders have also described the criminal case as politically motivated and linked it to Pashinian’s campaign against the clergy.