Past daily of Armenia writes as follows, in particular: According to our information, American circles dealing with Armenia’s issues have in recent times been following, with greater attention, the political arrests taking place in Armenia.
Information received through internal channels in Washington about the groundlessness of the arrests and their political motivations have made the expediency of the approach to providing unconditional support to [Armenian PM] Nikol Pashinyan a subject of discussion.
In particular, according to the information we have received, reference-mention is also made in these discussions to the period of [Armenia’s First President] Levon Ter-Petrosyan's presidency. There are viewpoints that until 1996 Ter-Petrosyan enjoyed the exclusive support of the [then US President Bill] Clinton administration, but after the controversial elections of 1996, this trust was significantly undermined, because it became clear to American circles dealing with Armenia that Ter-Petrosyan’s administration recorded a clear regression in the context of democracy and human rights. According to the same assessment, the decline in foreign policy—in particular, American support—was one of the decisive factors that later contributed to the weakening of his positions and his resignation in 1998.
In such parallels of discussions, Washington is beginning to tend to believe that the unconditional American support for the authorities of Nikol Pashinyan, which have gone to mass political arrests, is starting to create problems for Caucasus policy of the US, and the day is not far off when the support of the Pashinyan administration may turn into an image challenge for the White House.