Macron combined the visit with his participation in a European Political Community summit held in Yerevan on Tuesday. He was full of praise for Pashinian during the forum, singling out the Armenian government’s efforts to pull away from the Russian orbit.

Macron continued to lavish praise on Pashinian the next day following their bilateral talks that resulted in the signing of a declaration on French-Armenian “strategic partnership.” Armenia has “consolidated its democracy” and is now “resolutely and courageously moving towards Europe,” he told a joint news conference. He essentially admitted endorsing Pashinian ahead of the June 7 elections but insisted that this does not amount to the kind of foreign election meddling which the European Union accuses Russia of resorting to.

“You should distinguish between an interference that manipulates information, disrupts the democratic life of a country in a covert way and openly taking a political position,” Macron said, answering a question from a French reporter. “So I commit to full support for a reliable partner of the last eight years as president of the French Republic just as I did, for example, with President Maia Sandu [of Moldova] when the issue came up and when she faced someone who had a non-European choice. The same thing is happening here.”

“I totally commit to defend Europe and also defend the interests of Europe and France by coming here,” he went on. “But this is not the same thing as the interference through information manipulation, media ownership, spread of false information and destabilization of the rule of law.”

Together with the leaders of Germany and Poland, Macron travelled to Moldova last August to show support for Sandu ahead of parliamentary elections that were won by her pro-Western party. Two Moldovan opposition parties deemed pro-Russian were barred from running in the polls. The EU, which sent a special pre-election mission to the former Soviet republic, defended those bans, alleging Russian interference in the Moldovan elections.

The bloc is now deploying similar missions in Armenia. Moscow, which strongly denied any interference in Moldova, claims year that the Europeans are gearing up for a repeat of “the Moldovan scenario” in Armenia.

“A mission that will claim to fight against interference in the affairs of a sovereign state is itself an instrument of such interference,” a Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman charged on April 24.

Armenia’s leading opposition groups have also voiced concerns over the EU missions. Some of them, notably a bloc led by Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetian, fear that they too could be disqualified from the upcoming elections. Dozens of the bloc’s members and supporters have been detained on election-related charges in recent weeks.

Opposition leaders have for years accused the West of turning a blind eye to what they call politically motivated arrests in Armenia for geopolitical considerations. They have also deplored a lack of Western criticism of Pashinian’s yearlong efforts to depose Catholicos Garegin II, which have been accompanied by arrests of several bishops.

The crackdown on the Armenian Apostolic Church was denounced in February by the influential Coordination Council of Armenian Organizations of France (CCAF). Its two co-chairmen, Ara Toranian and Mourad Papazian, were excluded by Yerevan from the official inauguration last week of the new building of Armenia’s embassy in Paris. By contrast, Macron included Toranian and Papazian in his delegation visiting Armenia.

—