In Armenia, a bitter dispute escalates between PM Pashinyan and the Church

Pashinyan has accused church officials of a coup plot in a dispute that has seen both sides trade extraordinary accusations [File: Benoit Tessier/Reuters]

A confrontation between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Armenia’s top Christian clerics seems to be deepening, polarising the deeply religious South Caucasus nation of 3 million.

St Echmiadzin, the Armenian Apostolic Church’s headquarters, has been “taken over by the anti-Christian, immoral, antinational and antistate group and has to be liberated”, Pashinyan wrote on Facebook on Tuesday, adding: “I will lead this liberation.”