Armenian police detain seven opposition figures on suspicion of terrorism

(Reuters) -Police in Armenia arrested seven people associated with a pro-Russian opposition party on suspicion of terrorism following a slew of raids on their homes on Thursday amid a wider government crackdown ahead of parliamentary elections.

The people are affiliated with the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), also known as Dashnaktsutyun, a group part of the pro-Russian parliamentary coalition headed by Robert Kocharyan, a former president of the South Caucasus country.

Armenia's Investigative Committee said police had arrested seven individuals and charged one of them with preparing a terrorist act. Reuters was not able to determine the identities of all seven of the people.

ARF said in a statement that raids were ongoing at several MPs' homes as of early Thursday morning and that at least one politician and the son of another had been arrested.

Thursday's arrests follow criminal indictments levied earlier this week against three politicians of the Armenia Alliance, the larger umbrella coalition of which the Armenian Revolutionary Federation is a part.

Opposition groups have decried the investigations as politically motivated.

The arrests come on the same day as a meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Abu Dhabi, where the two are working to finalise a peace agreement to end nearly four decades of conflict.

Pashinyan, who swept to power during street protests in 2018, has brought Armenia closer to the West and distanced the country from traditional ally Russia.

But recent weeks have seen a widespread clampdown on Pashinyan's political rivals and critics, including opposition figures, a leading Christian cleric and a former president.

Several prominent figures in Armenia, including the cleric, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, are accused of orchestrating a coup to usurp power, something they deny.

(Reporting by Lucy Papachristou; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)