Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and First Lady Anna Hakobyan have separated after nearly 30 years of an unregistered marriage. Hakobyan shared the news in a video posted on Facebook on Friday, urging the public to respect their privacy and show sensitivity.

The prime minister also confirmed the news Friday, implying that it was Hakobyan who initiated the breakup, The Caspian Post reports, citing Armenian media.

“I respect Anna’s decision. She has always been by my side through all of my rough days over the past 30 years. I’m not sure I was that way for her. I suppose I have caused more bitterness to her than she did to me, for which I apologize,” he wrote on Facebook.

Hakobyan published an ambiguous post on Facebook last week that could be interpreted as meaning she had either formally registered her marriage with Pashinyan or broken up with him.

“Our unregistered marriage with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has ended,” she wrote. The wording of the post led to confusion on social media, with some users offering congratulations while others interpreted the statement as an announcement of divorce.

Despite being together for roughly three decades, Hakobyan and Pashinyan had never formally registered their marriage, either through a church ceremony or civil registration. Pashinyan himself confirmed this in 2024.

“Our bonds are confirmed by us having children,” he said at the time.

He explained that when he and Hakobyan began their relationship, he was an opposition figure and government critic who believed he could face imprisonment. In that context, he said, they avoided registering their marriage in order to reduce the risk of potential confiscation of jointly held property, presenting themselves as not being together.

Hakobyan works as editor-in-chief of the Armenian Times newspaper. The couple has four children, the eldest of which was born in 1998.