Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan Shakes During Parliamentary Speech

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan started shaking and rolling his eyes during a speech in parliament.

“This is like a scene from a sci-fi movie: an opposition representative takes the floor in turn and says, ‘People, they’re filling the budget. So what should we do with them? Put them in our pockets? It’s insane!’” the prime minister exclaimed from the podium, gesturing vigorously.

The shaking was reportedly triggered by criticism from the parliamentary opposition over the government's budget policy.

During the same speech, Pashinyan also expressed his readiness to sign a peace agreement with Azerbaijan. Additionally, he proposed dissolving the Minsk Group, which was established during the first Nagorno-Karabakh war to mediate the conflict between Yerevan and Baku.

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Nikol Vovayi Pashinyan (born 1 June 1975) is an Armenian politician serving as the prime minister of Armenia since 8 May 2018. A journalist by profession, Pashinyan founded his own newspaper in 1998, which was shut down a year later for libel. He was sentenced for one year for defamation against then Minister of National Security Serzh Sargsyan. He edited the newspaper Haykakan Zhamanak ("Armenian Times") from 1999 to 2012. A supporter of Armenia's first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan, he was highly critical of second president Robert Kocharyan, Defense Minister Serzh Sargsyan, and their allies. Pashinyan was also critical of Armenia's close relations with Russia, and promoted establishing closer relations with Turkey instead. He led a minor opposition party in the 2007 parliamentary election, garnering 1.3% of the vote.