Trump voices support for Armenian PM ahead of tense vote
U.S. President Donald Trump voiced support on May 27 for Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the upcoming elections, which polls show as an exceedingly tight race.
The June 7 parliamentary vote is seen as a litmus test for Pashinyan’s moves to loosen Armenian dependence on Moscow while forging closer ties with the West.
The South Caucasus nation is also still reeling from Azerbaijan’s 2023 military takeover of the Karabakh region and the mass exodus of its 100,000 ethnic Armenians.
Armenia agreed as part of a U.S.-brokered peace deal to establish a transit corridor through its territory that would connect Azerbaijan with its Nakhichevan exclave, dubbed the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP).
