Armenian PM's office: “Pashinyan never requested the deployment of CSTO forces” 

The report circulating on social media stating that Armenian authorities had urged the Kremlin to send Russian-led CSTO soldiers to Armenia (to crush opposition rallies) was denounced as absurd by the Armenian Prime Minister's Office.

In a statement, Armenian Prime Minister's Deputy Chief of Staff Taron Chakhoyan labelled such reports "wrong and irrational." "This is irrational and impossible. It would have been made public if Armenia had made an official request to the CSTO," he noted.

Earlier, the Baza Telegram channel cited unnamed sources as saying that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had sent an official request to the CSTO, asking the Kremlin to deploy CSTO troops to Armenia to quell daily mass protests in Yerevan and other cities, ahead of a CSTO summit in Moscow earlier this month. The Russian Presidential Administration, however, "turned down Pashinyan's request," according to these sources.

The Prime Minister's Office disputes that Pashinyan would quit and that early elections will be held

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's Deputy Chief of Staff, Taron Chakhoyan, refuted that Pashinyan will resign, as reported by the opposition media.

Earlier, opposition Hayastan alliance deputy speaker Ishkhan Saghatelyan told a May 9th rally of supporters that the country needs to form an interim government of national consent that will have to organise free, fair, and competitive elections to form a government after solving several urgent problems within 1-1.5 years.

"I'm sorry to disappoint Ishkhan Saghatelyan, who talks about conducting early elections with a serious face. There will be no early elections, and the Prime Minister will not quit," Chakhoyan said on his Facebook page. "Those who disseminate false reports about Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's resignation and early elections will see the back of their heads rather than Pashinyan's resignation," he added.

Armenian opposition leader criticises police for using disproportionate force against demonstrators

Artur Vanetsyan, the chairman of the opposition Homeland Party and the parliamentary fraction With Honour, uploaded a video of police violence against opposition protestors in Yerevan. "Since early Wednesday (18 May) morning, dignified Armenian residents have conducted peaceful protests around Yerevan," he said on Facebook.

"Police have once again used excessive force. Over 300 individuals have been apprehended, according to early figures. They won't get away with it. We're not going to give up. The battle continues, and triumph is on the horizon," Vanetsyan added.

Threats by Armenian authorities to remove opposition MPs from their seats dismissed

Hayk Mamijanyan, an opposition MP, dismissed Armenian authorities' threats to deprive opposition lawmakers of their seats if they continue to skip parliament sessions. Last month, lawmakers from the opposition Hayastan and With Honour blocs announced a boycott ahead of daily mass rallies calling for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's resignation.

Speaker Alen Simonyan said the Armenian parliament majority from the ruling Civil Contract party will propose depriving opposition MPs of their mandates next month. In the event of a protracted absence from parliament sessions for non-legitimate reasons, Armenian legislation provides for the termination of a deputy's powers. "The authorities did not give us the mandates to discuss whether or not to strip us of them now," Mamijanyan, who represents the With Honour coalition, told reporters at opposition rallies in Yerevan's Avan neighbourhood. "We obtained the mandates from the people and are putting them to good use: removing the capitulant and restoring our country's dignity," he said. According to Mamijanyan, the legislative leadership is shut off from current political processes. "We stand with our voters, our countrymen, and genuine political processes are taking place on the streets," the MP stated.

Extra-parliamentary forces met with Pashinyan

According to the government's press office, Nikol Pashinyan met with participants of the Consultative Assembly on Cooperation with Extra-Parliamentary Political Forces on 19 May. According to the agreement, such sessions will be held on a regular basis in addition to the Consultative Assembly's monthly meetings.

Republican Party Chairman Aram Sargsyan, Armenia's European Party Chairman Tigran Khzmalyan, Christian-Democratic Party Chairman Levon Shirinyan, United Motherland Party Chairman Mher Terteryan, Sovereign Armenia Party Chairman Davit Sanasaryan, and Head of the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party's Armenia Office Sedrak Achemian were all present at the meeting.

Armenian police denied the paralysis of Yerevan

Deputy Chief of Police of Armenia Colonel Ara Fidanyan denied statements by representatives of the parliamentary opposition of the republic, which has been holding civil disobedience since the end of last month with the aim of removing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan from office, that Yerevan has been paralyzed as a result of protests. The representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs talked about this at a meeting of the parliamentary commission on defence and security issues.

“Naturally, neither Yerevan nor any state structure is paralysed. The police very clearly perform their functions, and to their credit I must say that so far the actions of law enforcement officers have generally been within the framework of the law,” Fidanyan noted. According to him, the actions of civil disobedience by the members of the "resistance movement" have been going on for about 20 days, but so far, the police have refrained from using special equipment to disperse the activists. The deputy chief of police thereby responded to opposition statements that law enforcement officers use "disproportionate brute force."

The police used force against deputies from the opposition parliamentary faction "Armenia" Artsvik Minasyan and Vahe Hakobyan according to one of the leaders of the "resistance movement," vice speaker of the National Assembly from said faction Ishkhan Saghatelyan. According to him, since the morning of May 18th, several hundred people have been detained during decentralised protests on the streets of Yerevan. “The actions have been taking place since the morning and there are already a lot of detainees. This is a nervous reaction (of the authorities) to our actions, which testifies to their success,” Saghatelyan argued, complaining that “the police have crossed all boundaries.”

Son of Robert Kocharyan detained

Civil disobedience actions, organised by the parliamentary opposition, resumed in Yerevan on the morning of May 17th. Activists and citizens supporting them blocked multiple streets and avenues in the small centre of the capital. Protest events are also taking place in other parts of the city.

There was a scuffle between the participants of one of the actions and the police at the intersection of Mashtots Avenue and Pushkin Street. Law enforcement officers then proceeded to arrest mass numbers of protesters. 

The demonstrators were trying to stop traffic by blocking streets and key transport hubs. In some places, "barricades" of garbage cans were erected.

Some deputies from the "Armenia" opposition bloc, headed by the second president of the republic, Robert Kocharyan, also take part in the actions. His son, Levon Kocharyan, was among those detained. This is his second visit to the district police station in less than a month.