Secret Agreements Reached? – 'Hraparak'
'Hraparak' newspaper reports that after his visit to Brussels, Nikol Pashinyan did not meet with members of the ruling party and did not share his impressions or any non-public agreements with them, as he preferred to spend the weekend with his family. However, it is likely that news has been conveyed to the team through intermediaries that the total assistance of about 330 million USD to Armenia over four years is just the visible part of the iceberg. Behind the scenes, processes are underway, and agreements have been reached, especially regarding investments and support in the defense sector, which will not come without conditions.
The fact is that there is also a latent discontent within the ruling party; for months, Pashinyan has been feeding them news about going to Europe, asserting that the EU is eagerly awaiting them. This has influenced their tough political stance against Russia. However, the Brussels meeting showed otherwise, which has left members of the ruling party angry. Nevertheless, there are discussions within the ruling party that there may be a condition from the West for the government, and primarily the army, to 'cleanse' Russian influence from its figures and military personnel, which Pashinyan may begin to implement in the coming weeks.
In any case, it became known yesterday that the Minister of Defense has initiated pro-Western 'powerful' reforms, one of which is a change in the army's new charter that replaces the exclamation of 'ura' with 'viva', as the greeting 'ura' is a remnant from the Soviet army and is associated with the Russian military.