Russia’s Foreign Ministry has rejected reporting by the Russian independent media outlet The Insider that detailed the Kremlin’s efforts to influence the upcoming Armenian parliamentary elections. One of The Insider’s key claims — that Russian-Armenian tycoon and opposition figure Samvel Karapetyan had links to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) — was not directly addressed. Meanwhile, Russia has continued to escalate its economic pressure campaign on Armenia, this time by restricting the import of Armenian flowers.

The investigation published by The Insider on Tuesday had cited leaked offline databases allegedly showing that when Karapetyan was issued an international passport in Russia in 1999, his workplace was mentioned in the Information Centre of the FSB. It also detailed the various Russian operatives tasked with managing the Kremlin’s information war against Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry responded directly to The Insider on Thursday with a lengthy diatribe, saying the outlet had ‘long ago turned into a tool for media manipulation and false anti-Russian propaganda, and continues to generate fakes, fulfilling the corresponding orders of its foreign masters’.

‘The arguments presented in the “investigation” are nothing more than blatant lies and an organised provocation aimed at exerting psychological pressure on Russian diplomats and intimidating the Armenian public before the elections’.

The Russian Foreign Ministry, which published a photo mashup of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi with Adolf Hitler on Thursday, criticised the ‘professionalism’ of the investigation, claiming, without citing evidence, that it contained ‘numerous factual errors and inaccuracies’.

Links between unnamed individuals in Armenia, likely referring to Karapetyan and fellow tycoon and opposition figure Gagik Tsarukyan, were also downplayed.

‘Any contacts of such figures with the Russian side, participation in international platforms and expert events are automatically declared as “work under the supervision of Russian intelligence”, and the opposition activities themselves are considered part of a “Kremlin operation”. In other words, Armenian society is being forced into a primitive scheme of “government criticism equals a Moscow agent” ’.

The Foreign Ministry further claimed, again without evidence, that The Insider’s investigation was linked to an EU mission to Armenia to combat Russian influence operations.

Separately, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin rejected a different accusation that Karapetyan’s nephew, Narek Karapetyan, holds Russian citizenship. The previous day, Armenian authorities announced they were looking into the charges, while Karapetyan himself stated he was solely an Armenian citizen.

On Thursday, the Armenian media outlet Factor reported that the citizenship data for Narek Karapetyan in the Russian state registry had been edited to show that he only held Armenian citizenship.

Economic and rhetorical pressure

In its latest effort to put economic pressure on Armenia in response to the country’s reorientation westward, Russia announced ‘temporary restrictions’ on the export of Armenian flowers on Wednesday. The Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance said the move was made to ‘protect Russia’s export potential and phytosanitary safety’.

Russia has repeatedly been accused of imposing such export restrictions as a form of economic coercion on countries, including Armenia.

Earlier in May, Russia suspended the sale of Armenian Jermuk water over alleged regulatory violations.

Separately, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council, Sergei Shoigu, made thinly veiled threats of further economic measures against Armenia as part of wider criticisms of the country on Wednesday.

‘Cooperation with Russia is the main driver of the Armenian economy. It’s difficult to dispute this fact’, Shoigu said.

‘I wonder in what quantities and under what conditions Armenian apricots, trout, and mineral water will be supplied to the European Union’.

Shoigu further accused Armenia of taking a number of ‘unfriendly’ steps recently, including the invitation of Zelenskyi to Yerevan for the European Political Community summit earlier in May.

‘It is no secret that the leadership of that country has taken a number of steps of late that do not correspond to the spirit of allied relations with the Russian Federation’, Shoigu said.