Caucasus in June 2026: the most important developments in politics
In the Caucasus in June 2026, the dominant political event was Armenia's parliamentary election on 7 June. Six candidates of an opposition party were arrested the day before the vote. High turnout was reported, and the opposition Strong Armenia bloc claimed that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was losing. Early results from the election commission gave his ruling party nearly 50 percent, with the opposition parties far behind, and he declared a "historic victory". Kazakhstan's President Tokayev congratulated him, and the EU chief praised Armenia's move toward Europe. The Kremlin spokesman said Moscow had taken note of numerous reports of irregularities. On 19 June an Armenian party asked a court to annul the results, and by 24 June seven parties had formally challenged them.
The vote took place amid tension between Armenia and Russia over Armenia's aim of joining the EU. The EU pledged 50 million euros to Pashinyan ahead of the election. Putin said the Eurasian Economic Union and the EU are incompatible, and Lavrov said Armenia's EU aspirations had brought trouble. Armenia skipped a defence ministers' meeting of the Russia-led CSTO alliance near Moscow on 3 June, and Pashinyan discussed a possible exit from the alliance. On 22 June Russia stated that Armenia remains a CSTO member, while Armenia's Foreign Ministry described its approach to Russia as pragmatic. Turkey and Armenia continued talks on normalising relations, and Erdogan and Pashinyan discussed the process.
On 28 June, Israel's government unanimously approved the official recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Turkey condemned the decision as a political act. On 29 June Azerbaijan appealed to Israel over the recognition, and Armenia said it opposes what it called the "weaponisation" of the 1915 events. Former Greek Prime Minister Samaras urged Athens to make use of the recognition.
On 18 June the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Azerbaijan violated the European Convention on Human Rights, finding that Azerbaijani forces subjected Armenian detainees to systematic torture and inhuman treatment during and after the 2020 war. Azerbaijan also hosted the Iranian parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, for an Islamic parliamentary summit in Baku.
by WorldBrief & Maksim Micheliov | AI-generated summary
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