Armenian Parliamentary Speaker Simonyan suggests possible ban of Russian TV broadcasts
Armenian Parliamentary Speaker Alen Simonyan has told reporters that the government should ‘seriously discuss’ banning the broadcast of Russian TV channels in Armenia.
Simonyan made his statements on Tuesday in response to recent commentary featured on Russian state broadcasters regarding the ongoing dispute between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and the Armenian Apostolic Church.
On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the dispute an internal affair of Armenia, but added that the ‘attacks on the canonical thousand-year-old Armenian Apostolic Church are a matter of grave concern’.
In response, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan urged Lavrov ‘to refrain from interfering in Armenia’s domestic affairs and internal politics’.
Separately, on Tuesday, Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of Russian state-run media outlet RT and one of the country’s most well-known propagandists, called Pashinyan the ‘antichrist’s anus’.
‘If there are channels that allow themselves to interfere in Armenia’s domestic affairs, perhaps we ought to respond likewise, by at least banning their entry into the homes of our society’, Alen Simonyan said in his response on Tuesday.
During the briefing, Simonyan also implied that ‘some people’ could be trying to interfere in Armenian domestic affairs using funding provided by Armenian–Russian businessperson Samvel Karapetyan.
In mid-June, Karapetyan was placed in pre-trial detention on charges of calling for the usurpation of power in Armenia. This follows remarks he had made in support of the church amidst ongoing tensions between the government and the church.
At the time, Kremlin propagandist Vladimir Solovyov called the Armenian government ‘corrupt, vile, worthless’ and accused it of betraying ‘the history of Armenia’. He also called Pashinyan ‘Turkol’ — a portmanteau of his first name, Nikol, and Turk — as an insult. The statements were made on his TV programme, aired on Russia 1.
In response, Alen Simonyan criticised the commentary, stating that ‘such outbursts on a state TV channel cause serious damage to the relations between our countries, and only elicit deep disgust among the population of Armenia’.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
In a follow-up post on X Tuesday evening, Simonyan, writing in Russian, addressed the Russian reactions to his statement, criticising their focus on ‘Western influence’ and ‘human rights violations’.
‘There is no need to invent culprits: it is enough to simply turn on the TV. Because the ones who cope best with the ‘task of ruining Russian–Armenian relations’ are not Western special services, not mythical agents, and not NGOs, but some Russian state TV channels, journalists, and editors’, Simonyan wrote.
He continued by listing how Russian TV channels insult Armenian authorities, including sometimes with ‘outright obscenities’, question the ‘sovereignty, independence and even the very existence of the Republic of Armenia’, ‘openly condemn the actions of Armenian law enforcement officers who are enforcing the law of their country’, and interfere in ‘all aspects’ of Armenia’s internal affairs, questioning whether Moscow would allow the same.
‘This is what is really destroying Russian–Armenian relations — not the West and certainly not the Armenian people or politicians. So instead of routine cliches and witch hunts, try to finally ask yourself one single, but honest question: Why?’, Simonyan questioned.
‘This must stop. Either you stop it — or we will’, he concluded.
This is not the first time Armenia has taken umbrage with Russian broadcasting.
In March 2024, Yerevan banned the retransmission of Solovyov’s daily talk show due to his repeated criticism of Pashinyan.
Two months later, in May 2024, Pashinyan threatened to ban all Russian broadcasters if they did not respect ‘state order’ and national interests.
Nate Ostiller
