YEREVAN. – Major breakthroughs have begun within the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) Faction at the National Assembly (NA), according to Zhamanak (Time) newspaper.

“Part of the faction deputies tends to support candidate for prime minister [opposition Civil Contract Party Political Council member and NA “Way Out” (Yelk) Faction head] Nikol Pashinyan, since they consider that in the case of [acting PM] Karen Karapetyan’s becoming prime minister, Armenia will lose its autonomy once and for all, and turn into a Russian province.

“They consider that the matter is not so much Nikol Pashinyan’s triumph, but the matter of Armenia’s existence as a sovereign state,” wrote Zhamanak.