Zakharova: parliamentary elections held amidst ‘unprecedented pressure’ by the West

Kremlin spokesperson Maria Zakharova has claimed that yesterday’s parliamentary elections were held ‘amidst unprecedented pressure on the opposition and interference from the West, primarily the EU’, while also highlighting what she alleged was interference from the Armenian authorities.

‘The entire election campaign and the voting process itself took place amidst harsh repression by the Armenian authorities against opposition parties and movements, their activists, and supporters. The Armenian Apostolic Church, traditionally deeply revered in the country, also came under attack’, Zakharova said on Monday afternoon, adding that these moves constituted ‘Yerevan’s flagrant violation of democratic principles and procedures for holding free elections’.

According to Zakharova, it was ‘also significant’ that the alleged persecution ‘focused exclusively on those political forces advocating for strengthening the republic’s vital union with Russia, Armenia’s continued participation in Eurasian integration, including membership in the EAEU and the CSTO, and abandoning the dead-end path of joining the European Union, which has pursued a hostile policy against our country’.