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Published on: 06/05/2026 - 6:10 p.m. Modified on: 06/05/2026 - 6:11 p.m.

Under the leadership of its Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, the former Soviet republic is pushing to emancipate itself from Russia and move closer to the European Union. A dynamic firmly rejected by Moscow, which has been operating pro-Russian disinformation campaigns against the government for a year, while legislative elections are being held this Sunday, June 7.

A few days before the legislative elections in June 2026, Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to send a message to Armenia: "The Ukrainian crisis began with Ukraine's attempts to join the EU. We were not opposed to them."

A barely veiled threat to this country, historically close to Russia and in full swing towards the European Union since the arrival of Nikol Pashinian to power in 2018. The Armenian Prime Minister has increased his gestures of openness towards Europe, which also seeks to counter Russian influence in the region.

Read alsoThe EU at a summit with Armenia, to distance it from Russia

Document leaks

As a result, the Armenian government is facing an increase in pro-Russian disinformation and interference campaigns, as described by several Armenian verification media. Ani Grygorian is a journalist for the Civilnet media:

"We have been observing for a year that Russia is trying to influence the Armenian information space. What is interesting is that the main target is not only Armenia and Pashinian, but also the EU and France. For months, they [for example] spread the idea that France was going to help Armenia and Pashinian to falsify the election results."

At the beginning of May, leaks of documents attributed to the disinformation company close to the Kremlin, the Social Design Agency (SDA), and analyzed by several media including France 24 revealed part of the Russian influence strategy in Armenia.

Between fake news videos and anti-Pachinian information sites aimed at the Russian-speaking diaspora, Russian disinformation operations rely on a modus operandi practiced for several years, which has already tried to interfere in other countries, such as in Moldova.

Also read: Moldova: elections under Russian influence

In addition to targeting Armenian society, Russia is trying to target the diaspora, which numbers nearly seven million people across the world. Nane Manasyan, journalist for the Armenian fact-finding media outlet Fact Investigation Platform:

“When we received these documents, we understood that the Armenian diaspora was directly targeted by the Russians. They want to develop a negative opinion against Armenian society and the government within the diaspora”

Nagorno-Karabakh, a national drama exploited

In recent weeks, Russian disinformation has also fueled national tensions by spreading false information about the imminent arrival of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis on Armenian soil.

This fear became one of the main topics of the campaign, after the loss of the Nagorno-Karabakh region in 2023, invaded by Azerbaijan. Since then, Nikol Pashinian, who negotiated peace with Azerbaijan, has been accused of having abandoned the region.

This national drama is being exploited by his main political adversary, Samvel Karapetian: the Armenian-Russian billionaire has been insisting for several weeks that the Prime Minister would have accepted the settlement of Azerbaijanis in Armenian territory. On Facebook, he is spreading this campaign argument with AI-generated videos, which show buses full of Azerbaijanis arriving in the capital Yerevan.

The assertion was firmly denied by Nikol Pashinian, who denounced a speech supported by Moscow and asserted that "this issue has never been on the agenda in our relations with Azerbaijan, and in general, in our international agenda and in the agenda of Armenia."

But in this informational war, Nikol Pashinian is also singled out for attempts at manipulation. In May, Civilnet revealed that a member of Nikol Pashinian's team was behind an influential, pro-government news site, Media News.

Nane Manasyan details:

"In recent months, all political parties have tried to use every information tool possible to influence the population. They seek to maximize their presence on each of the available communication channels. [Each candidate] tries to manipulate, disseminates false information and fake AI-generated videos."

Organizations also denounce the authoritarian practices of the current government in this electoral context. Human Rights Watch, for example, raised at the end of May "concerns related to the elections, including the abusive use of administrative resources, pressure exerted on civil servants, risks linked to the financing of electoral campaigns, allegations of vote buying, polarized discourse" and the weakness of control and transparency mechanisms.

A future accession of Armenia?

Last year, Armenia passed a law officially declaring its intention to apply for membership in the EU, continuing a partnership established in 2017.

But Yerevan has not yet taken the plunge for the moment, while Moscow has warned that it would be "impossible" for the country to join the EU, given its very close ties with the Russian economy.

A long-time ally of Russia, particularly for security reasons, Armenia is home to a Russian military base and remains a member of economic and security alliances with Moscow.

Relations between the two countries have, however, cooled, with Yerevan questioning the reliability of its traditional ally, which did not come to its aid during the war with Azerbaijan in 2023.

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