Armenia Votes as Pashinyan Tilts Toward Europe and Away From Moscow

Armenians voted in parliamentary elections on Sunday as Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, under pressure from Moscow, sought to loosen ties with Russia and deepen cooperation with the West, the South China Morning Post reported, which said the European Union and Russia have openly clashed over the country's direction. Polls closed with turnout near 59 percent, high by the standard of recent Armenian elections. Exit polls were contradictory, with Pashinyan's Civil Contract party claiming an outright majority while other surveys showed a far closer race against the pro-Russian Strong Armenia bloc led by businessman Samvel Karapetyan. Official results from the Central Election Commission were not yet available.

Pashinyan has tried to balance the pivot. He told reporters that Yerevan will continue moving toward European Union standards while preserving strategic relations with China and mutual respect with Russia, the Iranian state agency IRNA reported, a careful formulation aimed at avoiding a full rupture with Moscow.

Inside Armenia, the campaign has merged with a confrontation between Pashinyan's government and the Armenian Apostolic Church. Russian state broadcaster RT framed the dispute as a struggle over national identity and the country's future, while other Russian outlets reported tensions and incidents at opposition offices. Each side accuses the other of using state power against rivals.

For Russia, Armenia's drift is part of a broader erosion of influence along its periphery, from the South Caucasus to Central Asia. For the multipolar story, it shows that realignment runs in more than one direction. As some states move closer to Russia and China, others move toward Europe, and the result is a more fragmented order rather than a clean division into blocs.