country, which was defeated by azerbaijan last year in renewed conflict over the territory of nagorno—karabakhnister and a former strong man president. high on the agenda is national security, and the return of dozens of prisoners of war held captive by azerbaijan. the bbc�*s rayhan demytrie reports. does armenia have a future, the country's leader, nikol pashinyan, asks his supporters at a recent rally. sunday's snap election will decide whether he still has a role to play in that future. translation: this is . a symbol of construction. we must build armenia in a new way, not only in terms of physical infrastructure, but also in terms of content. we must establish a dictatorship of law in armenia. nikol pashinyan no longer enjoys the mass support he had when he came to power in a revolution in 2018. that's because last year, armenia lost territories and as many as 4000 soldiers in a war with azerbaijan over the region of nagorno—karabakh. the opposition's frontrunner is ex—president robert kocharyan. he blames nikol pashinyan for the country's defeat. translation: the uniqueness of this elect

accord with azerbaijan — after armenia was defeated in last year's war over the territory of nagorno—karabakh swathes of territory. it's estimated 200 people are still being held captive by azerbaijan. let's get more on this. i'm joined by our correspondent rayhan demytrie — who is in tblisi in neighbouring georgia. tell neighbouring georgia. us more about this election that tell us more about this election thatis tell us more about this election that is being billed as wanting to decide armenia's future. what are the choices he has? this decide armenia's future. what are the choices he has?— the choices he has? this is an extremely _ the choices he has? this is an extremely important - the choices he has? this is an| extremely important election, the choices he has? this is an i extremely important election, it the choices he has? this is an - extremely important election, it is really a tent for prime minister nikol pashinyan on whether the armenian public is ready to give him a second chance. this is the prime minister who came to powerjust three years ago off the back of mass street prote

nagorno-karabakh -- william: for the reasons stated by adam, there is not that much pressure on him. prime minister was expected to face major electoral tests in his own region. the major opposition party has boycotted the election. the prime minister's prosperity party will likely win by default. there are outstanding questions. it will be interesting to see what share of the votes and the seats the prosperity party wins in order to gauge its popularity. it will be interesting to see the outcome of the election results, whether a number of opposition parties are still challenging the ruling party. but overall, this election is a real test of the prime minister and his agenda. -- as a real test of the prime minister is not as it should be because of the lack of participation in areas where he faces the most challenge. mohammed: i want to pick up a point. he mentioned the conflict going on in tigray. how much of a shadow is that casting on the election? adem: i am not trying to discount what is happening in tigray. it is really sad. but the fact is it is not just in tigray, it is all

peace accord with azerbaijan after armenia was defeated in last year's war over the territory of nagorno—karabakhd swathes of territory. it's estimated 200 people are still being held captive by azerbaijan. earlier, bbc russian�*s grigor atanesian, who's in the armenian capital yerevan, gave us the latest. the prime minister was forced to call the election after not only the opposition but also military leaders and diplomats have challenged his government and called on him to resign. this comes from the military defeat armenia suffered last year and the country has been in crisis since. there are bigger issues that a lot of people do not expect to be solved in this election. the economy is in a bad situation. people struggle to find jobs. the huge tourist sector was badly hit by the pandemic. there are other issues, and civil society, many of them will not be solved by one government immediately. it will be a close race. the prime minister and the former president, two different men with a different agenda. one confirms on corruption. the other national security and borders and a better relations

accord with azerbaijan — after armenia was defeated in last year's war over the territory of nagorno—karabakheople are still being held captive by azerbaijan. the bbc�*s grigor atanasian has more from the armenian capital of yerevan. this election has been triggered by issues lecture for the issues come from that defeat, issues like the return of our many apartment prisoners of war still held in the national security defence and intelligence. the people here also care about the economy, about free and fair elections, health care and aboutjobs, about their future. all of these issues come into this race which is dominated by two very different leaders, the incoming prime minister pashinyan and former president. the choice between them also means a choice of foreign policy. the former president is a personal friend of president putin and he wants a closer relationship with the russians. pashinyan wanted to keep a good relationship with russia but also look towards the west and more with the european union on armenia democratic reform. with a wing—span of almost three metres, the dalmatian pelic

broad and expansive agenda -- issues in the region, of course, the mediterranean, syria, iran, nagorno-karabakh, but also the role that turkey will play in a forward basis with respect to diplomacy in afghanistan, and how the u.s. and turkey itself deal with some of our significant differences in on values and human rights and other issues. president biden knows erdogan very well. that you have spent quite a good amount of time together and they are both i think looking forward to the opportunity to have a businesslike opportunity to review the full breadth of their relationship. reporter: mr. zaleski has asked to join nato, what message will president biden said? mr. sullivan: they went through every significant aspect of their relationship including with respect to the u.s.'s support for ukraine's security. in terms of the specifics of what they discussed, i will let the two of them speak -- speak for themselves. sec. psaki: ok. all right. what a good way to start off a full briefing room, our first full briefing room day since the president took office. a couple of updates at the top. over t

that the administration green lighted the 907 waiver renewal despite azerbaijan's attack on nagorno-karabakh. now, after they got the 907 waiver interfering with the actual territorial sovereignty of armenia, and the border issue, not releasing the political prisoners -- i mean, not the political prisoners, the actual prisoners of the conflict, in violation of international law. i mean, i don't think that -- i think that they can act with impunity. and i think when we waived it, we gave them that green light. >> look, we'll have to continue taking a look at this. i was and have been working actively on this particularly getting the return of the prisoners, getting engaged in an actual process discussion, negotiation over an actual resolution, and working on those things. and it was my hope we would be able to get a little bit of traction there. but i think we'll have to continue to look at this and re-look at this in the future. >> i hope you will. with the thanks of the committee for your service and for your tremendous appearance here today, i mean, you've gone through several hours here,