Armenia, Russia engage in another political row as both countries’ envoys are summoned
- 28 October, 14:20
Armenian and Russian ambassadors have been summoned over critical media reports in both countries.
Armenia summoned the Russian ambassador on Tuesday over a Russian state TV channel criticizing the Armenian government.
The move comes after Russia’s state-owned Channel One broadcasted a programme claiming that Armenia’s velvet revolution of 2018 was sponsored by the West. The hour-long programme titled “Nikol Pashinyan: a harbinger of trouble” was aired on Monday and described the prime minister and number of senior officials as “agents” of Soros, a US-Hungarian billionaire and philanthropist.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry summoned Russian Ambassador Sergey Kopyrkin the following day over what it described as an “offensive and absolutely unacceptable statement addressed to high-ranking officials” of Armenia.
The Russian Foreign Ministry responded by summoning the Armenian charge d’affaires in Moscow the following day. According to Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova, Moscow drew to the Armenian diplomat’s attention the most “odious” publications in Armenian media about the Russian leadership, diplomats and the Russian peacekeepers stationed in Nagorno-Karabakh since 2020.
The controversial report on Russia’s Channel One comes after Nikol Pashinyan’s speech in the European Parliament on October 17, during which he criticized Russian peacekeepers’ “inactivity” in Nagorno-Karabakh as well as Russia’s failure to provide for the security of its historic ally. Pashinyan also accused the Kremlin of using war and humanitarian emergency as a tool to “subvert Armenia’s democracy and sovereignty.”
According to the Channel One report, prior to the cross border clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan in September last year, Yerevan brought NATO troops to Armenia, a claim that was refuted by the Armenian media.
