Joined by their loyalists, both men campaigned in Yerevan’s southern Shengavit district, urging local residents to vote for their respective parties on June 7.
“Gagik Tsarukian, you’ve started talking more boldly, we’re going to catch your bastard,” Pashinian shouted through loudspeakers.
“We will catch you, we will put you in prison, you will not escape anywhere, not even your father will save you,” he said, referring to Tsarukian’s son Nver.
The latter fled Armenia in late 2024 following a shooting incident at a casino involving himself and his bodyguards. One of the men reportedly fired gunshots that did not injure anyone. Nver Tsarukian left for Belarus before being charged with “hooliganism.” He denied the accusation through his lawyer but has still not returned to the country.
Armenian prosecutors demanded his extradition from Belarus more than a year ago. Law-enforcement authorities there claim to have not managed to track down Tsarukian Jr. The young man’s father has long had a warm rapport with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Gagik Tsarukian gave a reserved answer to Pashinian as he marched through Shengavit together with his supporters.
“All over the world, there is a rule that in politics you must never talk about [a rival’s] family, children, parents, mothers,” he told journalists. “If they have a problem, let them talk about me. I will never downgrade my class.”
But one of Tsarukian’s top allies, Andranik Tevanian, did not mince his words to attack Pashinian, who has been accused of ordering politically motivated arrests throughout his eight-year rule.
“Today Nikol Pashinian has again opened his filthy mouth and wildly barked at Tsarukian,” Tevanian told the crowd. “He has nothing to say. His only message in his campaign is to please [Azerbaijani President Ilham] Aliyev and lick Aliyev’s shoes.”
“We don’t need a leader who grovels before our enemies but insults Armenia’s citizens,” said Tevanian. “We must send to hell this regime guided by the Turkish-Azerbaijani agenda.”
Tsarukian’s Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) as well as two opposition alliances led by billionaire Samvel Karapetian and former President Robert Kocharian are widely regarded as the ruling Civil Contract party’s main election challengers. Pashinian has repeatedly declared that they must not win any parliament seats.