News in Brief: Election Expenses and Escalation of Nuclear Rhetoric

Recent news highlights summarized:

• The Central Election Commission has approved the registration forms for political forces participating in the parliamentary elections and set a preliminary budget of over 4.4 billion drams for the upcoming elections in 2026. A significant portion of these expenses is allocated for the salaries of precinct commission members.
• The parliamentary commission has discussed the Anti-Corruption Committee's report on activities for 2025. Throughout the year, thousands of criminal cases have been examined, and hundreds of officials have appeared in court, with some arrests made.
• The newly appointed Iranian ambassador has not ruled out the possibility of larger-scale joint Armenian-Iranian military exercises in the future, noting that defense cooperation is ongoing. He emphasized that the visit of the Minister of Defense had been planned in advance.
• Reports have emerged that the memorial complex dedicated to the victims of the Great Patriotic War and the Artsakh Liberation War has been completely destroyed in Martuni, Nagorno-Karabakh. According to sources, the destruction of cultural heritage cannot go unanswered.
• In Russia, it has been stated that the possible transfer of nuclear technologies to Ukraine could drastically change the situation. Moscow has warned that such a development would be considered a serious threat to the security environment.
• Opel has announced a global recall of around 900,000 vehicles due to potential airbag failures. The issue pertains to several models produced over different years.