Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will support the candidacy of Aram Asatryan, head of the Ovanavank monastery, in the elections for the post of Catholicos of All Armenians.
Modern.az reports that, according to Armenian media, this decision was made at a time of increasing tension between the government and the Armenian Apostolic Church.
It should be recalled that Pashinyan had previously sharply criticized the church leadership on social media and proposed changing the procedure for electing the Catholicos, giving the state a key role in the process.
On June 25, during a large-scale operation conducted by the Prosecutor General's Office, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan and several of his supporters were detained, and the Armenian Investigative Committee stated that their attempt to seize power by armed means had been prevented.
