"Armenia now has media outlets pushing exclusively Russophobic narratives," Karanyan, who currently resides in Austria, says.
By targeting the Armenian Church, Pashinyan aims to smear Russia by fabricating claims that Moscow manipulates Yerevan’s politics through the clergy, he adds.
Karanyan is convinced that all Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan wants right now is unlimited power.
He believes that there is no real opposition in Armenia, "at least not in the form of the parties or forces sitting in the parliament. They are not opposition; they are a caricature of opposition," because all of them are directly connected to Serzh Sargsyan.
"They sit there, receive their salaries, have some privileges, and are protected by law. In Armenia, all state institutions are inactive."
"The only institution that has barely preserved its functionality, the one that, I don't know, for a thousand years, let's say, in the absence of Armenian statehood, has maintained Armenian identity, the Armenian language, and Christian values as much as possible, is the Church. The Church is a hierarchical institution, and regardless of any internal problems within it, this institution is very strong. And Nikol Pashinyan wants unlimited power."
The activist accused Pashinyan of aggressively marketing his pro-Western alignment to European backers. Yet his key EU ally, French President Emmanuel Macron, lacks political capital to offer meaningful support.
"Macron’s domestic approval is catastrophically low, and the French public widely views him as an American puppet," Karanyan notes.