Armenian prime minister self-isolates, skips Christmas service

YEREVAN: Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan -- who faced backlash over a peace deal that ended recent fighting in the breakaway enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh -- did not attend a Christmas service on Wednesday and is currently self-isolating, his press secretary said.

The Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates Christmas on January 6 and on Wednesday a national church service was led by the country's religious leader Catholicos Garegin.

The service held in the largest cathedral of the capital Yerevan is usually attended by the country's leadership and Pashinyan's presence was expected.

"Due to the epidemiological situation the prime minister is in self-isolation," press secretary Mane Gevorgyan said.

Gevorgyan did not specify whether the prime minister, who already had the coronavirus last June, had tested positive again.

Early Wednesday morning, several dozen opposition activists gathered outside the cathedral saying they would not allow "traitor Pashinyan to enter a holy place".

Pashinyan has been under fire at home over the controversial peace deal with Azerbaijan that ended weeks of clashes over the ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Under the Moscow-brokered accord that was signed in November, Armenia agreed to cede swathes of territory to Baku that had been controlled by Armenian separatists since the 1990s.

For weeks, protesters staged rallies against the ceasefire agreement and demanded Pashinyan's resignation.

During Wednesday's service, Catholicos Garegin spoke about the "martyrdom" of those who died in Karabakh and the "pain and sorrow" of the Armenians who were forced to flee their homes in the region.

He said the events of the Karabakh war had turned the life of Armenians at home and abroad into an "impenetrable, dark night".

The influential leader of the Armenian church had earlier spoken in favour of Pashinyan's resignation.

Armenia's President Armen Sarkisian was also absent from Wednesday's service as he tested positive for the coronavirus earlier in January and is self-isolating in London where he was spending the holidays with his family.

The small Caucasus country, home to around three million people, has struggled to contain the effects of the pandemic, which was further aggravated by the six weeks of fighting over Karabakh.

On Wednesday official figures showed the country has so far registered over 160,000 cases, 2,890 of them fatal.