Armenia’s Investigative Committee has launched criminal proceedings over allegations that Narek Karapetyan, a parliamentary candidate from the Strong Armenia alliance, concealed information about holding or previously holding citizenship of another country.
“According to a report on an apparent crime received from Armenia’s Interior Ministry police, N.K., nominated as the lead candidate of the Strong Armenia alliance in the National Assembly elections held on June 7, 2026, despite being warned about legal liability for submitting false information, deliberately concealed information about holding or previously having foreign citizenship,” the Investigative Committee said in a statement.
According to investigators, he submitted an application with allegedly false information to the Migration and Citizenship Service of the Interior Ministry, declaring that he was not a citizen of another state, thereby concealing a circumstance preventing him from obtaining the status of a public official — namely, the fact of foreign citizenship.
Based on the report, criminal proceedings were initiated under Part 1 of Article 449 of Armenia’s Criminal Code, which concerns concealing information that prevents obtaining or retaining the status of a public official.
A preliminary investigation is underway.
Narek Karapetyan, who heads the electoral list of the Strong Armenia party, earlier denied a publication by National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan and stated that he does not and has never held Russian citizenship. Armenia’s Central Electoral Commission had also verified documents confirming that Karapetyan held only Armenian citizenship during the candidate registration process, according to CEC spokesperson Seda Ghukasyan.
National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan earlier published a document on his Telegram channel allegedly indicating that Narek Karapetyan was a Russian citizen, writing: “Is Narek Karapetyan a Russian citizen?” The published document contained legal entity data listing “Russian citizen” next to Karapetyan’s name.
