New Armenian Foreign Minister Appointed

Explaining the reason for the delay in the appointment of the new foreign minister, Ruben Rubinian, a deputy speaker of the new Armenian parliament and senior figure in the Pashinyan-led Civil Contract party, in an interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service earlier this month dismissed media reports that the prime minister was having second thoughts about Grigoryan’s appointment because it is opposed by Russia. “There are and there can be no differences [with Moscow,]” he said.

Grigoryan for years worked for a Western-funded Armenian civic group and criticized Russia prior to joining Pashinyan’s political team in 2018.

Like Grigoryan, the new foreign minister, Mirzoyan, was also one of the leaders of Armenia’s 2018 street protests that brought Pashinyan to power.

The 41-year-old politician has no experience in diplomatic service. He served as speaker of the parliament of the previous convocation that was dissolved in May paving the way for snap parliamentary elections amid a political crisis triggered by Armenia’s defeat in last year’s war against Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.

In the early hours on November 10, 2020, shortly after the announcement of a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement with Azerbaijan requiring significant concessions from Armenia, Mirzoyan was attacked by an angry mob as protesters opposing the deal seized the parliament building. Mirzoyan then was hospitalized with serious injuries.