Russia has intensified a covert campaign to prevent Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's re-election in Armenia's 7 June parliamentary election, a Reuters investigation drawing on Western intelligence officials, government sources, and documents finds. Its plans include disinformation, backing for a billionaire opposition candidate, and a scheme to transport tens of thousands of Russian Armenians home to vote.
The campaign targets Armenia's geopolitical turn to the West since Pashinyan came to power in 2018.
"What Pashinyan is trying to do is a threat to Russia,” said Thomas de Waal, senior fellow with Carnegie Europe.
Disinformation, imported voters, and billionaire candidate
The journalists detailed a disinformation operation backing pro-Russian candidates, the logistical scheme to move tens of thousands of Russian Armenians to vote in the election, and Moscow's support for billionaire candidate Samvel Karapetyan.
Karapetyan, who holds dual Armenian-Russian citizenship, is on trial for alleged calls to overthrow the government — accusations he denies. His lawyer, Robert Amsterdam, said that his client knows nothing of any Russian support.
Moldova playbook, replayed in Yerevan
EU High Representative Kaja Kallas observed in December 2025 that "Russia and its proxies are already ramping up disinformation campaigns in Armenia ahead of next year's parliamentary election" and that "the same networks that we saw deployed in Moldova... the playbook is identical," according to remarks released by the EU's external service.
In April 2026, Putin warned Pashinyan at the Kremlin that membership in a customs union with both the EU and the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union was "impossible," Euronews noted in coverage of the rare and tense exchange.
Armenia's pivot since 2018
Armenia spent decades as one of Russia's closest post-Soviet allies, but Pashinyan has gradually distanced Yerevan from the Kremlin and expanded contacts with the West.
The pivot accelerated after September 2023, when Russian peacekeepers stood passively as Azerbaijan ended Armenia's military presence in Nagorno-Karabakh, a betrayal that prompted Armenia to suspend participation in the Russia-led CSTO, secure an EU integration framework, and call for the withdrawal of Russian troops, Euromaidan Press observed.
Moscow has paired its electoral pressure with economic threats over cheap natural gas supplies and over Armenia's exports of fruit, vegetables, flowers, and brandy.
