Republic of Armenia, June 6 — Avia.pro. Senior officers of the Armenian Armed Forces are illegally pressuring their subordinates to secure votes for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's ruling Civil Contract party. According to the local newspaper Hraparak, commanders of two key units are personally conducting explanatory talks with soldiers ahead of the parliamentary elections scheduled for June 7.

The scandal centers on Colonels Simon Nazaryan and Gagik Poghosyan, the commanders of the 3rd and 5th Army Corps. According to media reports, high-ranking military officials are openly demanding that service members not support Samvel Karapetyan's "Strong Armenia" opposition bloc. However, experts note that the mechanisms for effectively overseeing the soldiers' secret votes in the voting booths remain unclear.

Additional restrictive measures are also being imposed on citizens arriving in the republic from the Russian Federation. Men are being handed official summonses en masse in airport lounges to undergo 25-day military training, under threat of criminal prosecution for refusing. Opposition politicians believe that this is the country's leadership's deliberate attempt to isolate the opposition-friendly electorate from participating in the election process.