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(NEW YORK) -- International rescuers have indefinitely suspended the search for two gold miners believed trapped in a cave in Laos, nearly three weeks after they were reported missing with five others who were rescued, officials said.

International dive teams that converged on the country's Xaisomboun province, where monsoon flood waters trapped the miners last month, were heading back home on Sunday, a search coordinator told ABC News.

The cave system, according to the coordinator, has become too unstable to safely carry on with the search. The rescue coordinator said the hope of finding the two remaining miners is now very low.

While water in the flooded subterranean labyrinth has been pumped out and lowered to a manageable level, the coordinator said the entrance to the cave has become too unstable for rescuers to safely proceed with the operation.

A local rescue team will keep pumping water from the cave in hopes of a miracle, the coordinator said.

The operation was halted after rescuers explored a newly discovered 196-foot-deep shaft they had hoped would lead them to a chamber where they suspected the two miners might be. But no sign of the miners was reported.

A group of seven illegal gold miners entered the cave on May 19 and became trapped when monsoon rains flooded the cave's entrance, rescuers said.

The rescue team was able to pump enough water out of the system for four miners to crawl out of the muddy abyss on May 30, authorities said. A day earlier, a fifth miner was able to crawl and swim out of the cave after he was taught how to scuba dive, rescuers said.

In an interview with ABC News last week, Josh Richards, an Australian diver who was part of the rescue operation, said the two remaining missing miners could be in a sixth chamber, past the one where the five other miners were located.

But Richards said some of the rescued miners told officials that there were only six of them trapped in the cave, including one who managed to extract himself at the outset of the emergency and alert authorities.

Richards said that one possible theory is that eight miners entered the cave and three got out on their own and went into hiding because their mining activities are illegal in Laos and subject to prosecution.

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YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Armenians are voting Sunday in parliamentary elections as the incumbent government, under mounting Russian pressure, seeks to loosen ties with Moscow and deepen cooperation with the West.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his ruling Civil Contract party are looking for a strong mandate for a new geopolitical course. The opposition they face includes some parties that are vocally pro-Russian.

Casting his vote on Sunday, Pashinyan said that Armenia would continue strengthening its independence, statehood, democracy and rule of law. “The European Union is our main partner in democratic reform implementation and we will continue that path,” he said.

He also stressed that there were no tensions between Armenia and Moscow, saying, “our relations with Russia are institutional and based on mutual respect,” the Armenpress news agency reported.

Russian officials have hit Armenian exports with a barrage of restrictions in recent weeks, while high-ranking officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have made thinly veiled threats comparing Armenia’s path to that already taken by Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Armenian investigators said they issued six arrest warrants for members of the opposition Strong Armenia party the day before the election, accusing them of buying votes. The nation’s Central Election Committee confirmed Saturday that the party could run after a member of another opposition party, Republic, appealed for Strong Armenia to be barred over corruption allegations.

Commenting on the arrests Sunday, the head of the Strong Armenia party, Russian Armenian businessman Samvel Karapetyan, said that they “would not change the minds of Armenian voters.”

Karapetyan is under house arrest for allegedly advocating for the government’s overthrow, a charge that the billionaire has rejected as politically motivated. He was escorted to a polling station where he spoke briefly to the media before returning home.

“The Armenian people will make the right choice and Armenia will finally have a legitimate government,” he said.
Trump offers support as Putin urges caution

Armenia’s National Assembly must consist of at least 101 members who are elected for five-year terms. Parties must win at least 4% of the vote to take a seat, while blocs made up of three or more parties must hit 8%.

Two political blocs and 17 parties are taking part in Sunday’s election. Most pollsters and experts have predicted Pashinyan, who came to power in 2018 following sweeping street protests, will come out ahead.

“I think Armenians expect, first of all, a peaceful, independent and prosperous Armenia from this election, as we have today,” said Hripsime Grigoryan, a Civil Contract member of the outgoing Parliament.

Pashinyan has spoken on several occasions about the need for a balanced foreign policy ensuring Armenia maintains good relations with the United States, Europe and Russia, as well as regional powers such as Turkey and Iran.

Despite this, Pashinyan has attracted far more enthusiasm in the West than in Moscow. He has been endorsed by several European leaders, as well as U.S. President Donald Trump.

“Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, of Armenia, a great friend and Leader, is making his Country strong, wealthy, and very secure,” Trump wrote on social media, urging Armenians to “Make (Armenia) Great Again.”

This has displeased the Kremlin. Speaking to journalists after Russia’s Victory Day parade on May 9, Putin said if the Armenian people saw benefits in joining the European Union then “we will certainly have nothing to say against it.”

Yet he also reminded reporters, “We are currently living through everything that is happening in respect of Ukraine. And how did it start? It started with Ukraine’s joining or attempting to join the EU.”

Opposition wants closer ties with Russia

Unlike the Civil Contract party, most of Armenia’s opposition supports building stronger relations with Moscow.

The Strong Armenia party seeks to develop business ties with Russia and has accused Pashinyan of attempting to start a war with Moscow.

Other potential contenders include former President Robert Kocharyan, who leads the Hayastan bloc and also has accused Pashinyan of undermining relations with Russia, and the Prosperous Armenia Party, led by pro-Russian business owner Gagik Tsarukyan.

These parties also have strongly criticized Pashinyan for attempting to normalize relations with neighboring Azerbaijan. The Armenian leader and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev initialed a document on moving toward a peace deal at the White House alongside Trump in August.

The two countries were locked in a decades-long conflict over the fate of Karabakh, a breakaway region that had been controlled for decades by ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia. Azerbaijan took control of the entire Karabakh region during a rapid offensive in 2023.

“I want this government to change because the condition of our country is getting worse,” Sahakyan Elina, a supporter of the Prosperous Armenia Party, told The Associated Press at a rally Thursday. “I don’t want to live with my enemies in unity.”

EU criticizes Moscow’s pressure

Russian officials have slapped new restrictions on Armenian produce in the run-up to the parliamentary vote, banning the import of Armenian flowers, certain types of cognac and wine, eggplants, potatoes, dried fruits, fish and more.

Russia says the bans are related to violations of agricultural import rules.

The European Commission on Thursday described the move as “nothing short of economic coercion.”

“By extending export restrictions on Armenian products, Moscow is weaponizing economic relations for political pressure. We know this playbook all too well,” the commission said in a statement.

Moscow also controls a significant portion of Armenia’s energy and infrastructure and supplies it with cheap gas, which is a point that Putin has been quick to drive home in his meetings with Pashinyan.

Putin also has stressed that Armenia cannot join the EU and remain within the Eurasian Economic Union, a Russian-led customs bloc.

“Being in a customs union with the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union is impossible,” Putin said. “It’s simply impossible by definition.”

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Associated Press writers Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, and Sam McNeil in Brussels contributed to this report.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Sunday to discuss ongoing support for Ukraine.

The U.K., France and Germany, the so-called E3 group of European nations, have been prominent backers of Ukraine following Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. The U.K. and France lead the “coalition of the willing” initiative to provide security guarantees for Ukraine as part of a peace process.

The meeting on Sunday evening comes in the wake of a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack that targeted Saint Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, underscoring Kyiv’s growing ability to hit deep inside Russia. Gov. Alexander Beglov said three people sustained minor injuries in Saturday’s attack, during which residents were advised to stay indoors.

With the front line barely moving as swarms of drones hinder advances, both sides have sought an edge by launching long-range strikes. The war that followed Russia’s invasion of its neighbor is more than four years old, with no end in sight.

The St. Petersburg attack, which came less than 24 hours after the end of the city’s flagship economic forum, was an embarrassing blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to cast the conflict as a distant event that doesn’t affect Russian daily life.

Putin on Friday rejected Zelenskyy’s offer for a meeting, saying he sees “no point” in it.

Meanwhile, a Russian attack Sunday killed three people and wounded one as they were waiting for a bus in Balabyne in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region, the head of the regional military administration, Ivan Fedorov, wrote on his Telegram channel.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine