American burger chain Wendy’s opened its first restaurant in Armenia on Friday. Although the opening ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, the restaurant on Abovyan Street in central Yerevan has already begun serving customers.

On December 4, a regional forum on disinformation and media resilience was held in Yerevan. 📅The event was organized by CivilNet’s fact-checking team and the Georgian fact-checking organization Myth Detector․

Hrazdan will host Armenia’s first data center, the industrial city’s mayor has confirmed. In a statement on social media, Sevak Mikaelyan named his city as the home for a $500 million data center planned for next year.

Armenia’s Justice Minister Srbouhi Galyan said on Thursday she wants to see fewer people held in pre-trial detention, insisting that courts are not acting on political orders when approving such measures.

Today CivilNet hosted India’s Ambassador to Armenia, Nilakshi Saha Sinha. Stay tuned, the interview will be up soon.

Armenia’s ambassador to the United States held a series of meetings with senior representatives of major U.S. technology companies, just days after Washington approved the export of advanced chips to Yerevan.

Yerevan continues to experience dangerous levels of air pollution that threaten residents’ health, with minors, the elderly, and people with respiratory illnesses particularly at risk.

Several regional leaders of the Armenian Apostolic Church, including bishops and archbishops, issued a joint statement on Saturday calling for the resignation of Catholicos Karekin II. The appeal came two days after their meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Thursday.

In this episode of the CivilNet podcast, commentator Eric Hacopian surveys the political field ahead of the 2025 Armenian parliamentary elections, which are shaping up to be crowded, uncertain, and highly consequential.

The Pickleball World Cup in Miami, which took place just weeks ago, marked a historic moment for Armenia. For the first time ever, the country fielded a national team.

📍 The U.S. government granted the artificial intelligence startup Firebird permission to export advanced chips for a new $500 million data center in Armenia. 📍 Meet the visionaries behind Armenia’s AI supercomputer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j_x...

By Karen Harutyunyan, editor-in-chief Armenian news outlet Civic.am recently sent CivilNet a questionnaire seeking clarification about what it described as the “political” background of former foreign minister Vartan Oskanian and his alleged “indirect influence” on our work.

In this episode of #Insights, Eric Hacopian breaks down this week’s developments, from hostages and show trials in Baku to revealing speeches by Nikol Pashinyan and Ilham Aliyev.

The Armenian Armed Forces and the Armenian Apostolic Church enjoy the highest public confidence in the country, with approval ratings of 66.4% and 62.5% respectively, according to a new sociological survey by the ARAR Center for Civilizational Studies published on Tuesday.

The European Union on Wednesday presented Armenia with a visa liberalization action plan, a detailed roadmap outlining the reforms the country must undertake to secure visa-free travel for its citizens to EU member states.

Armenia’s Investigative Committee on Tuesday announced completing the pretrial investigation into a criminal case involving Arshak Karapetyan, the country’s former defence minister.

Armenia’s Public Services Regulatory Commission plans to revoke the electricity distribution license of the Electricity Networks of Armenia (ENA), owned by Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan.

#Arménie : poursuivi par le maire d’Erevan pour une enquête avec l'@occrp.org sur sa famille et les fonds publics, CivilNet a été partiellement condamné. RSF dénonce une décision qui fragilise le journalisme d’intérêt public & appelle à la protection des journalistes face aux pressions politiques.

📍 About $6.5 million is unaccounted for at Armenia’s state-run power distribution company, according to a new CivilNet investigation into the finances at High-Voltage Electric Networks (HVEN). Read more: www.civilnet.am/en/news/9827... #CivilNet #ՍիվիլՆեթ #civilnetbusiness

Hrair Balian, former director of the Carter Center’s Conflict Resolution Program, has spent much of his career analyzing and working on some of the world’s most intractable conflicts—from Bosnia to Syria, and for decades, Nagorno-Karabakh.

On May 30, at the very beginning of the current phase of confrontation between the Armenian Apostolic Church and the country’s ruling party, Prime Minister Pashinyan made his infamous Facebook post: “Reverend, go on and keep banging your uncle’s wife – what do you want from me?” #democracywatch

Armenia to complete Yerevan’s iconic Cascade after decades of delay

Election observers have reported violations of financial transparency rules ahead of the November 16 municipal elections in Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin).

A group of Azerbaijani experts visiting Armenia this week included Dilara Efendiyeva, one of the so-called “eco-activists” who took part in the December 2022 blockade of the Lachin corridor — the only road linking Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.

Georgia has begun cracking down on a key passenger link with Armenia, small private vans that transport groups of travelers between Yerevan and Tbilisi.

#DemocracyWatch – On October 15, the Investigative Committee of Armenia detained ten clergymen from the Aragatsotn Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church and conducted a search at the diocesan headquarters. @tigartsakh.bsky.social

A tense situation has developed between police forces and citizens gathered near Gyumri City Hall. There is a decision to arrest Gyumri Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan, who is currently inside the city hall building.

Gyumri Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan was arrested during a raid on the city hall, Armenia’s Anti-Corruption Committee reported on Monday. Seven other individuals were also taken into custody.

“EU testing drugs on Armenians,” “viruses developed in Armenian biolabs,” “a new miracle pill discovered to cure ulcers.” These are among the recurring false claims spread about Armenia’s healthcare system.

Proposing unprecedented sanctions on Azerbaijan’s ruling elite and energy institutions, the Peace Act aims to deter further aggression and reinforce Armenia’s sovereignty.

CivilNet’s Eric Hacopian spoke with Anna Grigoryan, opposition MP from the Armenian Alliance, about her political journey from supporting the 2018 revolution to becoming one of the government’s sharpest critics.

Few people outside the orbit of practitioners and scholars of international human rights law have heard of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, or WGAD.

This week on Insights, Eric Hacopian unpacks Armenia’s planned military budget cut, the ruling party’s strategy heading into 2026, and National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan’s controversial comments. #CivilNet #ՍիվիլՆեթ #insightswitherichacopian

CivilNet sits down with Berj Apkarian, Honorary Consul of the Republic of Armenia in Fresno, to talk about his 15th medical mission to Armenia.

In a rare diplomatic exchange, the foreign ministers of Armenia and Ukraine met in Poland on the sidelines of the Warsaw Security Forum. #dailyarmenia

On September 27, the fifth anniversary of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, no senior Armenian officials were publicly reported visiting Yerablur Military Pantheon in Yerevan, where thousands of fallen soldiers are buried.

On the second anniversary of Ruben Vardanyan’s detention in Baku, CivilNet’s Eric Hacopian speaks with his son David, who calls for urgent global action, U.S. involvement, and a united campaign to free the hostages.

📍 In the approved draft law on the 2026 state budget, Armenia foresees a 15% decrease in defense spending, following last year’s 25% surge. #dailyarmenia

Armenia plans to allocate 560 billion drams ($1.44 billion) for defence in 2026, down 100 billion drams ($258 million), or about 15%, from 2025, according to the draft state budget approved by the government on Wednesday.

CivilNet speaks with Dr. Alveda King, the niece of Martin Luther King Jr., a renowned civil rights leader, author and faith leader, during her visit to Armenia.

CivilNet spends a day with Finnish border officer Mika Kouri and German police officer Swantje Meinke on Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan. They are part of the EU Monitoring Mission conducting daily patrols to record ceasefire violations and refute disinformation in a tense area.

Joining CivilNet today for an exclusive interview is Varsen Aghabekian, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the Palestinian National Authority.

In September, Armenians celebrate Independence Day and also mourn the anniversary of the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh. CivilNet’s Eric Hacopian and historical sociologist Georgi Derluguian reflect on the loss of Artsakh on September 19, 2023.

Al-Monitor’s Amberin Zaman spoke with CivilNet’s Eric Hakobyan about Trump’s surprise mediation between Pashinyan and Aliyev. They touch on the Washington deal for the “Trump Road” through Syunik, how Trump’s pressure stopped a new Azerbaijani attack, and why a real peace treaty is unlikely.

In the past few years—particularly after the deployment of the EU monitoring mission to Armenia’s borders—the spread of disinformation about the European Union has intensified.

On September 8, Armenia’s political discourse sank to a new low when Artur Hovhannisyan, secretary of the ruling Civil Contract faction, launched a personal and sexist attack against opposition MP Taguhi Tovmasyan. #democracywatch @tigartsakh.bsky.social

Since Armenia’s loss in the 2020 Karabakh War, the issue of a road through Armenia’s southern Syunik region has been а subject of heated debate. Credits: Ruptly

Within the process of normalization of Armenia-Türkiye relations, a meeting of special representatives Ruben Rubinyan and Serdar Kılıç is planned in Armenia in the coming days.

Armenia’s Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, has dismissed Liparit Drmeyan, the head of the Office of the Representative for International Legal Affairs. #DemocracyWatch

By Karen Harutyunyan Neither the Armenian nor the U.S. government has disclosed the full text of the three memoranda signed on August 8 in Washington D.C..