Baku’s hybrid “strike” did not bypass Pashinyan, is Aliyev “a malicious actor”?

After the government meeting on March 19, Nikol Pashinyan spoke again about the hybrid war in a briefing with journalists: noting.

“Hybrid war is when with paid tools, including the use of artificial intelligence, it is written that I have a house in Dubai, I have a house in France, that my family members have apartments, businesses in different countries, they have businesses in Armenia, they have millions in Swiss banks, that we sell organs, that we use tools for the sexual exploitation of minors. It’s all hybrid warfare.”

In this regard, the RA authorities cooperate with all those partners who have the tools to fight against hybrid warfare and, in particular, disinformation.

At the same time, European Union Enlargement Commissioner Martha Kos in Yerevan stated that they will support Armenia in the fight against hybrid threats.

“We see how ‘malicious actors’ are trying to disrupt democratic processes through cyber attacks, disinformation and other interventions. Europe is here to support, we will support Armenia in the fight against hybrid threats and misinformation, so that RA citizens can vote in free and fair conditions and independently decide the future of their country”.

It should be noted that last December first from Brussels had reported that are being prepared Provide 12 million euros of support to Yerevan to help “counter Russian disinformation before the elections”.

Later, the Foreign Minister of the European Union Kalas announced that it was Yerevan that requested support.

The opposition political forces in Armenia considered the European Union’s intention to deploy a hybrid rapid response group as interference in the internal political life of Armenia, which, of course, the government does not agree with, arguing that it is support to fight against threats.

RA government There is no interference in the internal affairs of Armenia consider even similar direct and indirect statements from Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Moreover, the relevant bodies of RA, in particular, the Foreign Intelligence Service, do not notice or see any danger in the dangerous games and hybrid plans of Baku before the NA elections, as recently we have touched on.

And the fact that Pashinyan, possibly seeing hints against his opponents, remained silent, which is also dangerous, the other day Azerbaijan took a hybrid step against Nikol Pashinyan and his government.

In particular, on March 17, the Azerbaijani “Hakkinaz” was translated in detail and presented under the name vtforeignpolicy.com website:The “investigation” against Armenia and the RA authorities, where serious accusations are made against a number of current and former government officials of the Republic of Armenia, allegedly related to the organization of trafficking and the sale of organs: Nikol Pashinyan, Anahit Avanesyan, Edward Asryan and others.

Later, the RA Ministry of Health reacted to the publication of vtforeignpolicy.com, which we would not have known about if the Azerbaijani media had not presented it thoroughly.

“This time, the disinformation platform attributed to the authorities of Armenia lies about being a participant in the sale of human organs.

Considering the trajectory of foreign disinformation attacks against Armenia, we consider it necessary to announce that “Pashinyan’s black market for organs․ How the Prime Minister of Armenia “sells” his citizens to France for transplants” is completely misinformation.

The field of organ transplantation in the Republic of Armenia is regulated by law and is under appropriate state control.

Such baseless claims have nothing to do with reality and should be considered solely as another attempt to spread misinformation.” it is mentioned in the message of the RA Ministry of Health.

This was followed by the denial of Pashinyan’s spokesperson, which states:

“The website called VT Foreign Policy and Lucas Leiroz, who is presented as the author, have published another fake material, where serious and obviously groundless accusations are made against the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia and a number of government officials, allegedly regarding the organization of trafficking and the sale of organs.

It is clear that the publication exploits extremely sensitive and emotional topics for the public, such as human health, organ transplantation and alleged trafficking, in an attempt to create a shocking and discrediting information background. Such a methodology is one of the common tools of information manipulation, when topics with high public sensitivity are used to create distrust towards state institutions and officials.

The dynamics of material diffusion is also remarkable. It was first shared on social media, including on Platform X by the author himself, and then quickly spread through botnets. reproduced in several Azerbaijani media, and today it has already been taken over by some political circles and interested actors in the internal political information field of Armenia. This sequence is typical of the disinformation dissemination mechanisms that are often encountered in the regional information environment.

It is important to note that the claims presented in this publication have no factual basis. S:yes publication misinformation is and: need is d:be considered as another manifestation of informational-hybrid influence actions”.

There was no response from the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia, although the name of the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia was also mentioned.

However, it should be noted that the Ministry of Health did not even mention Azerbaijan, and Pashinyan’s spokesperson, even if he did mention it, by and large, it practically does not change anything. On the other hand, it confirms our concerns that the target of the fight against hybrid threats should not be the political opponents, but Azerbaijan, which promised peace.

And the fact that Azerbaijani propaganda media cannot publish hybrid materials against Armenia without Aliyev’s consent is obvious.

Moreover, 2 days after the above-mentioned publication, Azerbaijani media published the following the information. «President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev approved the Council of Europe Convention on Combating Trafficking in Human Organs.

Wasn’t there an element of hybrid or information warfare here? It should be noted that according to the circulating information, Armenia in January 2018 signed The Convention on Combating Trafficking in Human Organs is another question: has it ratified it?

But the fact that on different occasions the Azerbaijani propaganda machine goes on “hybrid attacks” against the same Nikol Pashinyan and his family is indisputable, and against RA all the time, it is another question how seriously it is taken in practice.

Let’s remind that back in 2020, Nikol Pashinyan himself announced that he possesses confidential information, the disclosure of which could seriously destabilize the internal political situation of Azerbaijan.

Why Pashinyan did not use this in the case of political and negotiation blackmail in Baku is a separate topic for discussion. Perhaps, at this moment, Aliyev is not a “malicious actor” because he is ready to help Pashinyan win the upcoming elections.

—