“Recent differences in our visions on a number of fundamental foreign policy issues make my further involvement in the foreign policy front impossible,” he wrote on Facebook late on Thursday.
Marukian did not reveal those differences and could not be reached for comment on Friday. Senior members of his Bright Armenia party also declined to comment, saying that he will soon shed more light on the reasons for his resignation.
The Armenian government did not react to the announcement. A spokeswoman for Pashinian did not answer phone calls from RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Bright Armenia used to be one of the country main opposition groups. Like other opposition leaders, Marukian blamed Pashinian for Armenia’s defeat in the 2020 war with Azerbaijan and demanded his resignation in the wake of it. He endorsed former President Levon Ter-Petrosian’s characterization of Pashinian as a “nation-destroying scourge.”
Nevertheless, Marukian accepted the premier’s offer to become ambassador-at-large in March 2022 nine months after his party fared poorly in snap general elections, failing to win any seats in the Armenian parliament. Little is known about his activities in that capacity.
Marukian has occasionally posted statements on social media mainly relating to developments in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. In the most recent such post, he wrote on February 2 that Azerbaijan is not serious about making peace with Armenia.
Marukian has not yet publicly commented on the intensifying pro-Western tilt in Pashinian’s foreign policy and Armenia’s mounting tensions with Russia.