What We Know
CONFIRMED Anna Hakobyan separated from Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in February 2026 -- three months before scheduled elections. She enrolled at Beijing Normal University in September 2025, entering a two-year master's program in Chinese philosophy. Her My Step Foundation, registered in the United States, holds over $4 million in assets. The foundation's funding sources have been classified as a state secret by the Armenian government.
Before the 2018 revolution, Hakobyan served as editor-in-chief of Haykakan Zhamanak (Armenian Times), the newspaper that launched Pashinyan's political career. The paper is 70% owned by her mother, Kima Mkrtchyan. A former Armenian ambassador publicly claimed he was blackmailed into financing the newspaper -- an allegation that was never investigated.
In 2020, as the war in Karabakh unfolded, Hakobyan posed with an AK-47 and formed a women's volunteer squad called "Erato." She donated $1 million to the Servicemen's Insurance Foundation. The squad saw no combat. The photo made international headlines. The war ended in catastrophe.
Her public statements have included calling Armenian clergy "paedophiles" and "chief maniacal perverts," and referring to critics as "donkeys," "idiots," "lice," and "hedgehogs." She was fined 3.6 million AMD for defaming the son of former President Robert Kocharyan.
What the Documents Show
FOUNDATION RECORDS My Step Foundation launched in July 2018 -- less than two months after the revolution put Pashinyan in power. Its first international event was held in Moscow, at the Tretyakov Gallery. The foundation's donor list reads like a map of influence: $1 million from Kristin Simon, $600,000 from George Baghumyan, $300,000 from Ara Abrahamyan -- a known Putin associate -- and $180,000 from the "Vitali Grigoryants" Foundation, which has Russian government links. Over $900,000 came from anonymous donors whose identities are unknown.
Electric Networks of Armenia, a Russian-owned utility company, also donated to the foundation. Her daughter Mariam works at Digitain, a gaming company that likewise donated to My Step. The foundation's website, mystep.foundation, blocks all web crawlers with an aggressive robots.txt file -- an unusual choice for a charitable organization that claims transparency.
DIGITAL FOOTPRINT Hakobyan's personal email anna.hakobyan@gmail.com was compromised in April 2018 -- the same month as the revolution. She also held the address a.hakobyan@amr.ru, registered with the Association of Managers of Russia, Moscow's most connected business lobby. Her password across multiple accounts: "carpediem." A computer named "kingc" in Athens, Greece was associated with her credentials in April 2018, just 28 days before Pashinyan became Prime Minister. Eighty-five credentials were stolen from that device.
RUSSIAN INFRASTRUCTURE Both mystep.foundation and annahakobyan.am route their email through beget.com -- a Russian hosting provider. This is the digital infrastructure of the wife of a prime minister who publicly positions Armenia toward the European Union and the West.
Her Italy trip included a stay at the Hotel de Russie, a five-star property in Rome, with a personal hairdresser in tow. The government claimed the entire trip cost only 787,790 AMD (approximately $2,000) -- a figure that would not cover a single night at the hotel.
Serj Tankian of System of a Down directed song revenue to My Step Foundation. The lyrics were written by Pashinyan himself. Celebrity, charity, and political power -- merged into one financial pipeline.
The Network
The Hakobyan network is a family enterprise wrapped in charitable branding. Her mother Kima Mkrtchyan owns 70% of Haykakan Zhamanak, the newspaper that built Pashinyan's public profile. Her daughter Mariam works at Digitain, which donated to Hakobyan's foundation. The foundation receives money from Russian oligarchs, anonymous donors, and Russian-owned utilities operating in Armenia -- while its funding details are classified as state secrets.
What This Means
The timeline tells the story. Revolution in April 2018. Foundation launched July 2018 -- two months later. Millions flow in from Russian oligarchs and anonymous sources. Funding is classified as a state secret. The foundation blocks web crawlers. The wife of the prime minister maintains email accounts on Russian infrastructure while her husband tells the world Armenia is pivoting West.
Then the exit sequence begins. September 2025: enrollment at Beijing Normal University -- a two-year program that conveniently extends past any political transition. February 2026: formal separation from Pashinyan -- three months before elections. The separation is not emotional. It is structural. When assets need to be divided before accountability arrives, a divorce is not a personal matter. It is a financial maneuver.
My Step Foundation sits in the United States with $4 million in assets, beyond the reach of Armenian prosecutors. The Beijing enrollment provides a physical exit to a country with no extradition treaty with Armenia. The separation creates legal distance from whatever falls on Pashinyan.
This is not a woman caught off guard by political change. This is a woman who planned for it. The AK-47 photo, the "Erato" squad, the clergy insults, the war donations -- all of it was performance. The real work was always the foundation, the assets, and the exit routes.
To Anna Hakobyan
Nikol has his exit plan. You clearly have yours too -- Beijing, the foundation assets in America, the strategic divorce. You were always the more organized of the two.
But 120,000 Artsakh refugees have no Beijing Normal University waiting for them. The women you recruited for your "Erato" squad don't have $4 million foundations in the United States. The soldiers whose insurance fund you donated to -- many of them are dead, and their families can't leave Armenia. They can't afford a night at the Hotel de Russie, let alone a two-year degree in China.
You called clergy pedophiles. You called critics lice, donkeys, hedgehogs. You posed with an AK-47 while your husband's government was losing a war. And through all of it, you were building escape routes -- enrollment forms, foundation accounts, Russian-hosted email servers -- while smiling for the cameras.
Your property declaration shows two apartments, three old vehicles, and 5 million AMD in the bank. Your foundation holds $4 million in the US. Somebody is not telling the truth.
When accountability comes -- and it will -- will you be in Yerevan or in Beijing?