Russia denies reporting on influence operations in Armenia

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has rejected reporting by the Russian independent media outlet The Insider that detailed the Kremlin’s efforts to influence the upcoming Armenian parliamentary elections. One of The Insider’s key claims — that Russian-Armenian tycoon and opposition figure Samvel Karapetyan had links to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) — was not directly addressed, OC Media reported.

The investigation published by The Insider on Tuesday had cited leaked offline databases allegedly showing that when Karapetyan was issued an international passport in Russia in 1999, his workplace was mentioned in the Information Centre of the FSB. It also detailed the various Russian operatives tasked with managing the Kremlin’s information war against Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry responded directly to The Insider on Thursday with a lengthy diatribe, saying the outlet had ‘long ago turned into a tool for media manipulation and false anti-Russian propaganda, and continues to generate fakes, fulfilling the corresponding orders of its foreign masters’.

‘The arguments presented in the “investigation” are nothing more than blatant lies and an organised provocation aimed at exerting psychological pressure on Russian diplomats and intimidating the Armenian public before the elections’.

The Russian Foreign Ministry criticised the ‘professionalism’ of the investigation, claiming that it contained ‘numerous factual errors and inaccuracies’.

Links between unnamed individuals in Armenia, likely referring to Karapetyan and fellow tycoon and opposition figure Gagik Tsarukyan, were also downplayed.

‘Any contacts of such figures with the Russian side, participation in international platforms and expert events are automatically declared as “work under the supervision of Russian intelligence”, and the opposition activities themselves are considered part of a “Kremlin operation”. In other words, Armenian society is being forced into a primitive scheme of "government criticism equals a Moscow agent” ’.

The Foreign Ministry further claimed that The Insider’s investigation was linked to an EU mission to Armenia to combat Russian 'influence operations'.