According to them, by mid-May the Kremlin had prepared a plan according to which each Russian region must send a certain number of Armenians, and demanded reports on its implementation progress.
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Armenian citizens are prohibited from voting from abroad
In addition, according to authorities, relocating 100,000 people will require about 50 million US dollars. Moscow made this decision because Armenian citizens are prohibited from voting from abroad.
The exact number of people Moscow could send to Armenia is a matter of discussion among Western intelligence communities, but Armenians regularly travel between the countries on dozens of flights, a senior US official told Reuters.
2 million Armenians live in Russia
In total, more than 2 million Armenians live in Russia. According to the agency, besides voter relocation, Russia has intensified an online campaign aimed at disinformation and discrediting N. Pashinyan’s government. The propaganda group “Storm-1516” is responsible for this, which spreads forgeries in the West and previously tried to influence US elections.
The Kremlin also involved the “Social Design Agency” in a disinformation campaign aimed at undermining support for Ukraine in the West. Reuters examined five documents from this organization, one of which proposed creating a media outlet “Yerevan 1” aimed at the Armenian diaspora in Russia to create a negative image of N. Pashinyan and promote ideas that “Armenia can only prosper in close union with Russia and under its patronage.”
The documents also state that Armenians living in Russia could play a decisive role in the elections if “high turnout among them is ensured.”
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Who Moscow wants to see as Armenia’s Prime Minister
Moscow wants to see Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan as prime minister, who is detained after calling for the government to be overthrown, Reuters sources said.
At the same time, US officials who spoke to the agency expressed concern about N. Pashinyan’s security. They said that US agencies, including the CIA, have helped the Armenian prime minister in recent years by providing information about possible threats.
When are the elections
Russian authorities have increased pressure on Armenia ahead of the parliamentary elections on June 7. Moscow expressed dissatisfaction with N. Pashinyan’s rapprochement with the EU and banned Yerevan from supplying about 10 categories of goods to the Russian market. The head of the Russian Ministry of Energy, Sergei Civilov, also threatened to terminate the agreement on the supply of gas, oil products, and rough diamonds to the country, writes The Moscow Times.
In turn, Vladimir Putin urged Yerevan not to forget Ukraine’s fate and demanded a referendum on joining the EU and leaving the Eurasian Economic Union to create conditions for “soft, smart, and mutually beneficial divorces.”
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