Russian interference
Throughout Armenia’s pre-election period, Russia has engaged in numerous tactics to sway the vote, including signalling its support for opposition candidates to implementing excessive sanctions on Armenian products.
At the same time, numerous investigations have revealed how Russia has more concretely attempted to influence the elections through information campaigns and even plans to bus ‘tens of thousands of Russian–Armenians’ into Armenia to influence the election outcome.
Gocha Gogsadze
The most recent report — a joint investigation between DFRLab and CivilNet titled: ‘From Chisinau to Yerevan: How Russia’s Evrazia brought its Moldova playbook to Armenia’ — was published on Friday.
According to their findings, Evrazia, a Russian NGO sanctioned by the US, EU, and UK, launched an online petition platform together with a representative of a pro-Russian political party in Armenia in order to mobilise voters around a religious cause that also included electoral and political demands.
‘Using its platform, Evrazia organises rallies at churches in Armenia and abroad. Evrazia has openly offered to buy plane tickets for Armenians living in Russia to travel home and vote, replicating the diaspora transportation tactic the organisation used in Moldova ahead of the 2024 elections’, the report reads.
In addition, the NGO used humanitarian aid as a tool to influence votes, which was recognised by the Armenian government when they banned a planned aid delivery in March citing Armenian law that restricts charitable donations during the pre-election period.
Having opened a branch in Armenia in June 2024, Evrazia now supports 11 Russian-language centres in Yerevan, runs a media school affiliated with Russian propagandists, and organises ‘cultural trips’ to Crimea.
