Armenia ended up in the “pocket” of one specific country through a tool — the Karabakh issue. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this in his concluding remarks during Thursday’s National Assembly session debates on the 2026 state budget draft of Armenia. 

“There is no other reason and explanation. An opposition MP talks about agents of influence from another country in the [Armenian] army. But if the matter has reached there, let’s try to make a list between those who were agents of influence of that country as of 2018 and those who were not,” Pashinyan added, in particular.

He stated that Armenia has been pulled out of the trap. “Today these people say, ‘Well, you gave whatever they [i.e. Azerbaijan] wanted. On the contrary, the sole reason for the events of recent years is that we did not give anything they wanted. Today people come, cry ‘Karabakh.’ No one has done as much for Karabakh as we [i.e. Armenia’s incumbent authorities] have — starting with financial [support], as seen in budget figures, continuing with the rest, which is not visible and will never be visible.

Why did we not make concessions in 2018? By the end of the year, we will also close that topic, publicize those negotiation packages, because what was wanted from us was Armenia’s sovereignty and independence. It was not worded that way. From the very next day of independence [in 1991], Armenia gradually nestled in that ‘pocket.’ Why? Was it declared that way? No, it was declared in a completely different way and with other titles,” the prime minister said.