Armenian PM Set to Resign After Months of Civil Unrest, Economic Downturn

YEREVAN – Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan’s government is expected to resign later today following months of violent civil unrest and an increasingly faltering economy, Russian news agency Interfax and international outlet Reuters reported early Thursday.

Abrahamyan is set to meet with top officials from the ruling Republican Party on Thursday to discuss his resignation.

Armenia’s economy has faltered badly in the last year following the collapse of the dram, the national currency, and widespread unemployment. The ruling party’s expectations of an economic windfall following their ascension to the Russian-led Eurasian Customs Union has had little knock-on effect.

The tiny, landlocked South Caucasus nation’s deep reliance on aid and direct investment from Russia has stunted its economic growth and forced it to become a clingy dependent of Moscow.

Armenia relies heavily on remittances from its citizens working in Russia, which are a badly needed source of income and is a key contributor to the country’s Gross Domestic Product.

Russia’s economic slide following a sharp decrease in the price of oil and stiff international sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine cause the ruble to lose half its value from late 2014.

Abrahamyan’s embattled government - which has been in office since 2014 - has been sharply criticized for the handling of a short four-day conflict with Azerbaijan over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region and the seizure in July of a Yerevan police station by armed men demanding the release of a jailed opposition politician.

Local media has named Karen Karapetyan as a likely successor. Karapetyan is a technocrat and former mayor of Yerevan. Before entering government, he served as the head of a national gas distributing company.

By Nicholas Waller