Pashinyan denies receiving 2018 Cabinet position offer in exchange for halting demonstrations

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan denied having been offered a senior position in Serzh Sargsyan’s Cabinet in 2018 in exchange for stopping the mass protests that later became known as the Velvet Revolution.

Sargsyan, in a live podcast aired over the weekend, claimed to have obtained information that in 2018, Pashinyan allegedly told Piotr Świtalski, then-EU envoy to Armenia, that someone from Sargsyan’s administration offered him the position of Deputy Prime Minister in exchange for halting the protests.

In a press briefing on November 12, Pashinyan denied this claim.

He also shared details from conversations with a top ally of Sargsyan who was sent to speak with him while he was jailed amid growing protests against Sargsyan’s rule.

Pashinyan said that Karen Karapetyan, the Deputy Prime Minister under Sargsyan, came to his jail cell to discuss terms on behalf of Sargsyan, initially offering his release in exchange for stopping the revolution.

“There has been no mention or discussion about the position of Deputy Prime Minister with anyone — not just the Deputy Prime Minister, no position has been discussed at all. I don’t know whether they themselves discussed it or not, but I would not have allowed such a thing to happen,” Pashinyan said.

Karapetyan attempted to negotiate the timeframe for Sargsyan’s resignation, according to Pashinyan.

“The conversation was about the following. Karen Karapetyan hinted, in a veiled way, that they should release us and that the revolution should be taken off the agenda. He expressed his willingness, as a candidate acceptable to all, to take over power. I said that this was not acceptable to me, and that Serzh Sargsyan must step down. Karapetyan left, then returned and said that Sargsyan was willing to step down, but only after the Francophonie Summit. I rejected that. He left again, returned, and said that Sargsyan was ready to resign in June. I said that this was not an acceptable option; Sargsyan must resign today, tomorrow, or the day after,” Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan, who was an opposition MP and leader of the movement against Sargsyan in 2018, confirmed that he met with foreign ambassadors stationed in Armenia in 2018, who offered support, but he rejected it.

“They requested a meeting with me, and during that meeting, they asked whether they could help or provide support. I said that this was unacceptable for me — I do not need the mediation of foreign ambassadors within Armenia to advance our political agenda. In other words, any topic or proposal that is said to have been made through some ambassador is false from the start,” Pashinyan said.