Under Pashinyan’s leadership in recent years, Armenia has sought to pivot away from Moscow, building closer ties with the West. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was recently in Yerevan to sign a mineral rights deal with the Armenian government, and Pashinyan’s re-election bid was endorsed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The Kremlin therefore is exploring ways to ensure the PM’s defeat, hoping it would arrest the country’s drift away from the old Russian imperial orbit.
“Russian officials have in recent months discussed sending Russia-based Armenians to vote for Pashinyan's opponents, five of the sources said,” Reuters writes.
“Armenians make up a large global diaspora, including a population in Russia that some estimates put at over 2 million. Armenians are not allowed to vote in elections from abroad.”
U.S. intelligence has concluded that Russia could succeed in coercing thousands of Armenian citizens to travel home and vote against Pashinyan.
“Russian authorities calculated a cost of about $50
“By mid-May, the Kremlin had issued quotas of Armenians each region should send and requested administrators report back on preparations, those officials added.”
At the same time, Reuters noted, it’s unclear if even a
large-scale influence operation like this could change the outcome of the election:
a recent survey suggested that Pashinyan's Civil Contract party will get most
seats with 30% of the vote.