Armenia’s armed forces demanded on Thursday the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his cabinet.
“The Prime Minister and the government are no longer able to make reasonable decisions in this critical and fatal situation for the Armenian people,” the statement, signed by the Chief of General Staff, his deputies, and more than 30 military commanders, said.
“Inefficient governance of the current authorities and serious mistakes in foreign policy have brought the country to the brink of collapse,” the General Staff added, demanding the resignation of Pashinyan and the government.
The statement comes after the PM dismissed a top Armenian military commander from his position.
Pashinyan faced mass protests and public outrage after the latest Nagorno-Karabakh conflict ended with a ceasefire in November.
The Russia-brokered agreement saw Azerbaijan, which has been in conflict with Armenia over territorial disputes since the 1990s, gain a significant portion of the territory it had claimed throughout the conflict that had erupted in September 2020.
Hundreds of Russian peacekeepers were deployed in the disputed region in accordance with the ceasefire agreement.
The Armenian PM denounced the armed forces’ statement on Thursday, warning of “an attempted military coup.” He also urged his supporters to protest in the Armenian capital, Yerevan.
