Marco Rubio to visit Armenia amid election campaign

(Horizon Media / YEREVAN) – U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will arrive in Armenia on May 26 for meetings with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, Armenia’s Foreign Ministry announced. The visit, which comes in the middle of Armenia’s parliamentary election campaign, is already being widely viewed as politically inappropriate and as a clear signal of support for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his government at a highly sensitive moment in the country’s domestic political process.

According to the Foreign Ministry, Rubio and Mirzoyan will hold talks before making statements to the press. Several bilateral documents are also expected to be signed, although Armenian officials have not disclosed the nature of the agreements.

Speaking to reporters, Mirzoyan stated that Armenia had “worked extensively” toward organizing the visit and confirmed that “several very important documents” would be signed during Rubio’s stay.

The visit comes after Pashinyan announced that Armenia and the United States are preparing to sign the final implementation agreement for the TRIPP project, which he said would help transform Armenia into a practical “Crossroads of Peace.”

The Armenian National Committee of America strongly criticized the timing of the visit, warning against American involvement in Armenia’s electoral process.

“America should not interfere in Armenian elections – aggressively playing favourites, it’s thumb hard on the scale – for exactly the same reasons that Americans don’t want other countries to interfere in American elections,” the organization stated.