The man, Hovannes Sahakian, was interviewed by the Shant TV channel on his arrival at the Zvartnots airport on June 7. He said he and his wife will fly back to Moscow hours after casting ballots.
“The situation may get messy,” explained Sahakian. “We are here with the kids and don’t want to get into trouble.”
Sahakian was arrested at Zvartnots later that day as he was about board a return flight to the Russian capital. Armenia’s Investigative Committee charged him with failure to alert relevant authorities about a planned “usurpation of power” in the country.
Sahakian was released from custody but banned from leaving the country. He denied the accusations carrying fines and up to one month in prison. Sahakian’s lawyer, Karine Margarian, insisted that he simply expressed his concerns about possible post-election developments and did not speak of any coup plots.
Margarian said on Friday that the investigators have decided to close the criminal case after concluding that her client did not commit any crimes.
“After our five-month struggle, the criminal prosecution initiated against Hovhannes Sahakian was terminated,” she wrote on Facebook.
Sahakian’s arrest came amid allegations by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s aides and political allies that Armenians living in Russia are paid to travel to the country and vote for the main opposition Strong Armenia alliance led by Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetian. They did not offer any proof of the allegations brushed aside by opposition leaders.
Military police officers are deployed at Yerevan’s Zvartnots international airport, June 4, 2026.
On the eve of the disputed elections, Pashinian’s entourage openly warned the expats and especially men not to come to Armenia to cast ballots. A deputy chief of Pashinian’s staff and a news website controlled by the ruling Civil Contract party said that the men would be called up for short military service immediately after entering the country. Scores of them were reportedly drafted in the wake of the polls.
In March, the Armenian authorities claimed that a foreign, presumably Russian, intelligence service is pressuring wealthy Armenians doing business abroad to support Pashinian’s election challengers. The Investigative Committee opened a relevant criminal case at the time. Nobody is known to have been indicted in that probe.
Nevertheless, Pashinian’s party hastily pushed through the parliament on July 1 a law that effectively disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of Armenians living abroad and Russia in particular. The Armenian opposition says the law runs counter to Armenia’s constitution which guarantees “universal, equal, free and direct suffrage” for all citizens without setting any residency requirements.
Later in July, opposition lawmakers appealed to the Constitutional Court to declare the disenfranchisement unconstitutional. The court is scheduled to start formally considering the appeal on December 22.
