Armenian President Goes to Vilnius, Paruyr Hayrikyan Stops Protest Outside Presidential Office

Union for National Self-Determination party leader Paruyr Hayrikyan stopped his protest outside the presidential palace that began at noon today and was supposed to last till Thursday because it turned out Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan will be going to the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius, Hayrikyan himself informed Epress.am earlier today.

Note, the former presidential candidate was urging Sargsyan to go to Vilnius and initial an Association Agreement with the EU, saying, "Armenia is a free state and has not [yet] signed document with Moscow."

"Our demand that the president must go [to the Vilnius summit] was realized. We were alarmed that he might not go, but now we’re calm and we’re gathering [our] posters," he said, adding that he's stopping his three-day protest and awaiting new developments.

Earlier, the party leader had said that Armenia's accession to the Customs Union was only a statement, that there haven't even been long negotiations on the matter, whereas the picture is altogether different regarding the development of cooperation and broadening of relations with the EU: there has been serious work to this end and there is a at least a document that should be initialled.  

"I am here today representing neither myself nor the Union for National Self-Determination.  I have come today to speak in the name of the more than 70% of people who are against the perhaps imposed wish of the Armenian authorities to form an alliance with tyrants," he said.