breaking news an r.t. armenia's prime minister sacks the head of the armed forces saying he was part of an attempted military coup of protesters by the supporters of nicole passion and flooded on to the streets of the capital of the armenian leader called that statement an attempted military coups we heard here publicly invited supporters to the central square and came out to meet them. also this hour central vaccines for political influence critics slam israel sending countries with jobs in exchange for diplomatic support and president biden reopens a facility for my children similar to those his fellow democrats stirred from its concentration camps.

good afternoon watching r.t. international just on 3 o'clock in moscow ok well let's start with that breaking news because military planes flying over the armenian capital police in large numbers and thousands of protesters on opposite sides all after the prime minister of armenia sacked the chief of the armed forces general staff saying he was part of an attempted military coup now we're getting these pictures from rallies in support of passion yann official crowd numbers yet. they are estimated to be in their thousands. in the day and took to facebook to tell supporters he needs to. give good looking i'm inviting all my supporters to come to republic square i consider the statement by the general staff as an attempted military coup. and his son their supporters you sure the situation is manageable. and that he is ready to

discuss any problems in the country he also insisted that the army truthfully dismissed remains quote his brother despite the rather than brotherly statement from the head of the general staff of the armed forces that sparked this whole conflict. the prime minister and the government of army are no longer able to make adequate decisions in this football and critical situation for the armenian people given the current situation the armed forces of armenia the resignation of the prime minister and the government at the same time we called to refrain from using force against people whose children died defending their homeland and care about well i mean is general staff so demand is the immediate resignation of the prime minister and his government the military accuses me of failing to make quote sound decisions at a critical time for the country the army is also angry to what it called numerous attempts to discredit army news armed forces stayman claims that passion and poor

leadership has brought armenia quote to the verge of demise. now in the meantime opponents of the prime minister have gathered in the city center saying that they support the general staff and want passion and that rally started around an hour ago and there are fears that the 2 opposing protests could lead to significant clashes. oh ok well i think now we can get an update on what's happening in armenia by crossing live to our correspondent there cut in a vet's this yan he's a correspondent for our sister news agency and he's at the scene now at the capital . where protesters have filled republic square there just quickly can you hear me there catherine and can you describe what is going on in the center of yet over. yes hello once again. here we are near freedom

square one of the main squares up for yet of on where we can see the gathering all crawled on protesters representing the opposition prime minister and we can see they. are representatives of all position also all former military leaders all former. former representatives national last some leo forming your argument before he actually demanding the resignation it's a joint so all were off 17. joined together with this calm on the monitors and right now we can hear. i mean you know without me cold. they called something like a long line of this revolution now they're avoiding. voiding the name of

revolution but. fixing. the definition as a game on to also press ignition and nothing more and that this is the monsoon must be done in both frames of democracy and in the frames of all states you share and i think any military or. shares and now the situation is. stable because of balshaw words. to be front to be fair and square it's and. meanwhile the same kind of their most ration and the same kind of meeting is you know not the square and the republic square with the head of. the main conclusion will be after he saw the speech. and we have steel or a client for that and you'll have time for.

all because after the bell this revolution of 2018. main criteria for all telling people far worse is the physical rise of. ok that was catherine thank you for the update that was caught on to c.n.n. he's our media correspondent for our sister news agencies but he was describing their situation and yet a van at the moment as stable despite the fact that thousands of people have come out in the streets many supporting passion and many not and as we heard the opposition is taking to the stage to calling for some democratic and constitutional solution to the political crisis that's gripping armenia at the moment now all stable as you mentioned their anger has spilled beyond the central square as of yet of.

cars have been honking their horns ascribes chanted anti passion and slogans some have been driving the photos of the prime minister covered in blood opponents of the cold have also been filmed standing on their balconies giving the thumbs down sign. ok let's get more on this now because you dan of our correspondent and you go we were talking last hour about the tension that's been in armenia and this hasn't really just erupted now i mean it's been a spark of what the military has done and also. reaction to it but just talk a story of how these tensions have built up over the last few months absolutely absolutely because to view this latest escalation as an isolated event would be well it would be a severe mistake and not showing not understanding what's been going on in meaning for the past several months because basically all of this all of this stems from from the defeat from

a meaningless defeat in the war over nagorno-karabakh loss last year last september october and so on and so forth i spent a whole whole month there. in the heat of the war and basically the problem was during that whole month and even beyond that because the war lasted for food see something close to 50 days i think during that whole time everything that as journalists everything that ordinary armenian people who for whom this issue control even want to care about is a matter of honor for them all of that all that we've been hearing from the armenian side is that everything everything is jolly yes we are falling back here and there but we will regain our control we will capture more seize more territories don't worry we're going to care about is ours it's our domain after a while it was predominantly populated by in. ethnically armenian population so this is what the people there and our journalists have been have been

getting from the authorities from the military from washington and so on and so forth so and then there's the do the peace deal then the truce deal how been brokered by russia and it came as an absolute shock for everybody and i mean for everybody in the going to counteract. because it was nothing it was nothing even it was not even close to i mean you know winning the war it was a concession i mean i had to concede 2 thirds of all of nagorno-karabakh to azerbaijan and to you all to me it may sound like well it's a tough it's tough year sounds like a lot but after all it's just a lot of. emotion and just the patches of mountainous land so it can't be that important and that's where both you and me would be wrong because for me and it's a matter of national pride it's a matter of honor and this is something rooted deeply in their national identity that world they control and are going to count it's very important for them and so

to loot to them a lot of people there as well as just just concession that passion and didn't want to fight even further and so that's where it all began that's where i started to that's where i saw crowds on the streets of europe on the capital of armenia a lot of people thousands of people calling on passion to resign to step down because they blamed the defeat in the war on him and from the very outset passion and refused to take this blame the world basically was has been saying that. a certain point almost blamed try to blame the military for it and i again i was there the soldiers they did everything they could everything in their power but they were just plainly overpowered militarily because they had no answer to the drone problem they had no answer they had no cover basically that the defense systems they couldn't really they weren't they weren't designed to hit smaller targets well the drones they just obliterated the armenian i mean in forces in the

going to care about forces and so so they lost fair and square but a lot of people refused to understand that a lot of people wanted the fight to go on well mostly those who know never been to nagorno-karabakh who stayed in europe. and but still a lot of people the pin the blame of defeat of this world humiliating defeat for them because it was literally wasn't wasn't even close to equal especially at the end so they put the blame on passion and they wanted him to see a girl but again every single taxi driver that i would talk to they would go and i don't know russian and is not to blame here like it's been going on for years they blame the previous administration for the military's inability to withstand 2 to fight back. in that particular war so that's where it all began and so there's it's been gradually getting worse and worse and worse and it's obvious now judging by

what's happening on the streets of iran but in the course of the past few months didn't do enough at all it didn't do enough at all to soothe this these tensions. despite all that though he made a call for his supporters to match the day they didn't in significant numbers absolutely because he still enjoys a lot of public support after all remember passion and his sort of lead so to speak a man of the streets he came to power in the course of the protests and basically it was the street it was the protesters the you know the public that gave him legitimacy and made him who he is right now but he's not in the super experienced politician he's not a veteran politician in that sense he hasn't been in the government all that long he hasn't had time to build the. you know of powerful people of his people here and there in the key places which you know to you know string the tethers between and

the so that he doesn't have any strong much strength he doesn't have too many strings to pull when it comes to you know to power play to a political power play what he does have is the street and this is what he's trying to do right now this is he's trying to bolster as much support as possible to show that look i'm still there are still be. very few who are rallying under my banners and the same thing is doing the opposition the opposition is doing the same thing because if they manage because right now they've already announced that they they've called on the on their supporters the opposition to spend the night in the main square in the year of basically a very big flip over to speak to you again why they are doing this to show that look you called passion on mr prime minister you're on or you don't have the support you used to enjoy a few years ago that the tables have turned now it's time to go obviously the opposition is trying to capitalize on this statement by the by the military he's

looking for a diplomatic way out it seems isn't it i mean is due to give a speech i think shortly for that but in terms of you know he is head of. head of the army that he that he dismissed he then went on to call him a brother exactly exactly it looks like it looks like he's trying to strike a balance to find a balance between being who are but not too hard core and it seems that he's doing it on the fly because we have seen i have seen some reports citing sources close to nicole passion and that this statement came to him as a surprise meaning he did not prepare for this he didn't have time to prepare for this meeting that some of the top military brass they managed to keep it under wraps long enough you know just getting ready getting ready you putting together the wording and figuring out how it should be set so it came to him as a surprise so he is reacting it's not that he planned for it he did not have a contingency plan at least that's that's what i'm looking at right now that's

that's what i'm seeing his knee jerk reaction was to call on his supporters in the streets some people and said that he fired this guy but he fired the general chief of staff but again he doesn't want to he doesn't want to doesn't want to burn all the bridges. so he's calling him a brother it's a beard the signals are a bit mixed here so it looks like he's trying to strike a balance chord chord of god but this whole situation which he really in my personal opinion shouldn't be he shouldn't be so surprised that this is happening because again it's not something that's just like a volcano that has been brewing for months it's called it in the in the tempted military although so far we haven't seen the military on the streets and i think this is very important because yes you did call it that but again the army have so far they like the general chief of staff and some 40 other top officers that it was

military's top brass top top generals who have the capacity of you know taking their personnel and bringing in the streets and just seizing the power like we've seen this we've seen this in malaysia happening just a few good a month ago a few weeks ago and we we know how it's done we've seen it done and this is not the case here so the military it seems to me like it's a final warning to next to nickel passion and from the military like that look this is it but this is it you should go but it's not clear basically and now the ball if passion and doesn't go the ball will be back in the military's court so we'll start arresting the dissenting generals what will he do i don't know how will he respond to that will the generals be fast or will they be him and before he has a chance to detain them or involve deal with them in some other way will they bring that will they step up and take their personnel and bring the military in the

streets so this and it seems that the ball is going back into the military school because passion has shown no signs that he's going to go in or that he's going to hold elections at the same time despite evidence just said there are no that over the last few speaking to our correspondents. unit correspondent in yet event that 17 political parties are to come together with a joint statement they took to the stage to saying that they wanted a democratic and constitutional resolution to this crisis which makes you think that the next step forward would be another election but yes indeed but here's a catch because passion on that would make perfect sense right passion on going a holding a a preliminary election showing that he still is he still has public support that would be the strongest argument he would make but i think he realizes that he will not enjoy the same support the same figures he enjoyed during the previous of the previous election simply because when i was in armenia and they talked to

a lot of protestors and there were a lot of people there are a lot of people who have been disillusioned who are who no longer who used to support passion and but this this is the outcome of this war really world again they were disillusioned in his government disillusioned. when it comes to his ability to lead the country and passion and knows this he knows that after that this this this this come complete defeat in the war and it weighs over him it weighs over him so he can he knows he won't he won't get the same figures he won't get the same support he knows that so he that's why i think he doesn't want these elections to to happen that's why you're just saying no i'm a legitimate prime minister of the treatment leader i'm going to stay i'm not going anywhere look that's why he calls on his supporters again to join him in the streets because that's how the shows use the jitteriness so here's the thing and that's why he doesn't and that's why i think of you elections still aren't even on

the table. and in terms of the atmosphere on the streets i know there's an awful lot of tension and we have seen scuffles break out this afternoon too but overall things that looks relatively peaceful and certainly over the last few months from demonstrations have taken place to another died. and during the winter when they were taking place again it was relatively peaceful it was because the people who are the 2 sides yes the pro passion and side and the opposition they have one problem they have passion and this is this is the bone of contention basically one side saying that we support our prime minister we think he is fit and he's the best option we have the best candidate we have to leave the country and the opposition is saying no he has discredited and self because of the war and we want him we want him gone but they are still united because basically when it goes down to the root if you if you dig deep and get to the roots of the problem they are united because

the it is it all boils down to nagorno-karabakh the all want the same they want satisfaction for this humiliating loss in the war they want that fix they would some people want to go on a kind of back back of course they want armenia to go back they want more influence as to what's going on there they did not want to concede all those territories to azerbaijan and it fits both. basically. it doesn't matter if you are against or for nicole nicole passion or for the prime minister it doesn't matter because you're still united you still want this issue of nagorno-karabakh vexed the difference here is only who is going to lead you who's going to lead the country and who's going to be calling the shots as to and finding you know solutions as to how to fix this because some are saying that it's should be passion and others are saying that it shouldn't be it should be somebody else but at the end of the day the all want the same thing. is jewishly to give a speech. what you anticipate from that well i would say i

would say and i'm just checking if that's what talking actually we can go straight to is it oh i do apologize i was told we were going straight we're not but i think he shortly going to speak you're voting now than when everything's getting ready i think i. i think he's going i think he's going to sure move more of his basically to be more reassuring. showing giving reassurance to his supporters that he's still in charge because he has made a few statements today already saying that the situation is under control that they are dealing with what he's calling the attempt to with an attempted military coup. so i think it's going to be more of that and all to to his supporters to be more active in the streets i think it's going to be a long along those lines and of course of course condemnation of condemnation. towards all the all the military people with all the military offices all the all

the officers who signed this letter because it's time to pick sides it seems like for a means it's time to pick sides ok well let's hope it doesn't escalate into. as we say we will keep across what. will say this afternoon just looking at live pictures there left your screen of the stage where he is due to speak and as we say we will go to that as soon as that happens ok thanks eagle that was r.t.g. go. now we can. talk further i believe with international affairs commentator jonathan steele i think we've got a connection we have got jonathan jonathan good afternoon i hope you can hear me good afternoon i can hear you very lovely ok what are your thoughts on this we talked at length there with our correspondent about what could happen next but do you think passion young can conceive vive this what would be his next his next step the thing that i think is most sensible thing would be to call in for new elections

because that has a little bit of time exams democratic and as you said opposition saying they want to democratic constitution solution so to. have new elections it will take a few ribs to organize them so who by the time you can try and catch up is relations with the army. the mean time and is as is always a slight chance that he would really elections it would be an uphill struggle as your correspondent legal pointed out that she's lost a lot of support since he 1st came to power but he has at least a chance whereas if he tries to brazen it out with streatham in situations i suggest he's finished do you think he actually realizes that ana is frazey to sort of step back isn't it and analyze everything very logically but there bonnie you know putting yourself in his sheen is a lot of people still support him he's going to come out on that stage in front of thousands of people he supports and he might think that you know. democratically elected i have to serve these people. well i think what's happening is that what was the normal thing you go to when a country suffers

a defeat in war there's always a people looking for scary good people looking to blame people who can't really sickly accept a new reality which is to have lost a lot of territory a lot of tens of thousands of people have been made homeless and refugees huge human cost as a whole war but it didn't start the war if it started the war and then lost it then they rob slee have to resign he couldn't expect to have support he didn't start the war it was it has areas he did try to 1st initiative and have the huge support of turkey and as you pointed out in the news stories the drone factor was crucial. no answer to the drones from turkish reside and as i said question i wasn't to blame for that it's the it's the military and the build up for many years of not ongoing the military properly and not seeing mortars areas where. he did say didn't he that he thought it was an attempted military as we were discussing it we

haven't seen the military on the streets do you think that they still hold the cards here. well if they try to physically remove him or lock him up to take over power and in a normal sort of military coup they would lose a lot of legitimacy and sometimes they were. so i think your lurching solution is the best for everybody including for the army it just means the cooling passions for a few weeks while they. run the election campaign and the opposition has a very good chance of winning so if they have sensed it will drop because we don't want clashes and street with these 2 should demonstrations perhaps need to know each other and fighting it out for the army coming in and then finding some resistance from other forces so elections are undoubtedly the best solution for everybody. to get a sense that the country and certainly the people who live there don't want an internal conflict over this. well i think people have been. issues of the economy

and pandemic of course they're not immune from. nobody wants to restart the war and try and win back the territory that has been lost in the last few months so i see people willing if there is a political and democratic and peaceful solution to this and more clashes. and just just lastly you mentioned about the chances of. another election i mean realistically how long would that take and certainly in the run up to that there would be a lot of tension with. well. actually if you read 345. that does give some time. coming. if you are thinking about the future and it is of course the democrats.

really. not looking very good. ok christabel a good to talk to this afternoon leave it there was a career jonathan steele i do apologize international affairs commentator thanks for coming on. to our ask about remained in the studio. just discussing now the chances of. another election and it seems logical doesn't it but i mean whether that's what we'll hear this afternoon in the next hour or so from passion and absolutely passion and has started his speech he is addressing his supporters right now in central europe and so far he hasn't well the elections have staying off the table let me tell you that and if i was to make a bet i would have my money on that he would he's not announcing an election because you just don't go announcing something like that like an early vote. by giving an order to the army and to all the generals to do their juices and i quote

he issued an order to all officers in generals good do your job and defend the borders of the country this is my order and nobody has the right to just ignore it this is this is a this is close to. direct quote as to what passion and has just said literally minutes ago is also he again he reiterated he repeated his statement that he believes that this statement of the joint statement of the military's top brass of the general chief of staff and some 40 of other top ranking officers that it is in his. and attempted military coup but he added on top of. that the public the people will not allow it to happen and basically again as we've talked to you i talked to you just minutes ago again and you asked me as to what do i think he's going to he's going to say and i said i called it i called it that he's

going to he's going to be a rallying his supporters a rally in the market and he will be riding this wave and this will be his key talking point this will be the key message in the key out there is still a legitimate leader because the pop of the public because the people support him another statement of nickel passion is that the army should shoot the people and the government and the government that was elected by the people so the army should not take part in political process is this is this is what we have but you can see him speak these are live pictures you're just looking at the body language it's defiance isn't it i mean it is any thought he was going to come on stage and try and deescalate things you know. sort of diplomatic reads from all of this it looks to the contrary but again he this situation this position that he's in right now and i mean talking to a bunch of his supporters in the streets this is what he's good at this is what he

lives off because he is a came into power as the man of the streets he managed to back a few years ago during the during the unrest in armenia he managed to ride this wave and basically he turned it into a whole tsunami that eventually you know brought him and just just well put him into the program into the government put him into the position of the country's leader the prime minister this is what he's good at he's good at rallying people he knows that he also i think knows that the world with the defeat in the war will in the going to care about he's not going to still be in the elections you won't enjoy the same figures he enjoyed pretty. obviously you know those and because even i haven't spent not too much time having spent like a month in the going to karabakh and a week maybe in armenia now covering the protests even i noticed even i talking to the people to the protesters they had been saying that world yeah i used to support needle passion and i was in his camp but now after the war i've changed my mind

completely i don't think is the right person to lead the.