U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday threw his “complete and total support” behind Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the upcoming elections, which polls indicate will be 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 grappling with the aftermath of Azerbaijan’s 2023 operation in the Karabakh region, which led to the departure of around 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 Nakhchivan exclave, dubbed the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP).
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said "soon, the United States and Armenia will break ground together" on the TRIPP, "which will transform the South Caucasus, and help our wonderful American Energy Companies gain access from Central Asia all the way to the United States."
