A rise in disinformation is targeting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his government in the run-up to the Armenian parliamentary election next June, say experts. The sheer volume of messages suggests Russia-linked activity is part of a coordinated campaign rather than isolated cases. 

While Kremlin-linked propaganda is not new in Armenia, both the scale and sophistication of recent efforts have been described as intensifying as the election approaches.

"The dissemination of narratives has become more organized, circulates more quickly and is significantly more targeted," Hasmik Hambardzumyan, editor-in-chief of the independent Armenian fact-checking media outlet Fact Investigation Platform, told DW.

She added that AI-generated photos, audio and deepfakes are appearing in Armenia's information space for the first time. 

"The goal seems to be undermining trust in Armenian institutions, discrediting Armenia's Western engagement and opening political space for more Kremlin-friendly actors," said researchers Sopo Gelava and Givi Gigitashvili of the Digital Forensics Research Lab (DFRLab), which conducts open-source research. 

Gelava and Gigitashvili highlighted the emergence of "hostile narratives" circulating across Russian and pro-Russian media ecosystems, depicting the Armenian government as corrupt, morally compromised or secretly aligned with Western intelligence. These messages target Armenian institutions domestically and seek to undermine Armenia's reputation in the West. 

Growing rift between Armenia, Russia

Hambardzumyan added that another key theme of pro-Russian messages was portraying the West as a threat to Armenia, and Moscow as the country's only reliable protector. Based on her research, she said Azerbaijani and Turkish actors remain active players next to pro-Russia and Kremlin-linked actors. 

Armenia, a small post-Soviet state in the South Caucasus, has long been under strong Russian influence since regaining independence in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union. 

While previous governments kept close ties with Moscow, a rift between the nations emerged after Pashinyan was swept into office in 2018 by a nationwide movement known as the Velvet Revolution. Relations further deteriorated when Armenia accused Russia and the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization — an intergovernmental military alliance of several post-Soviet states akin to NATO — of failing to keep up with its security obligations during Azerbaijani attacks in Armenia in 2021 and 2022.

Despite the political distance between the nations, the South Caucasus remains strategically important to Moscow. 

Russia refutes allegations of interference 

Armenian high-ranking officials have repeatedly accused Moscow of waging a "hybrid war."

"That hybrid war periodically intensifies, for example, when various commentators on Russian TV channels, often unfortunately people bearing remotely Armenian-sounding surnames, try to change the government in Armenia, announce rallies, and so on," Armenian Parliamentary Speaker Alen Simonyan said during a press briefing earlier this year. 

At the time, Simonyan predicted that such meddling would "become even more active" ahead of the 2026 parliamentary election.

Russia has refuted accusations it is interfering in national affairs. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in November that Russia has "always respected and will continue to respect the sovereign decisions of any nation."

Rise of AI-generated videos and posts

Russia is deploying a range of tactics to influence Armenia’s information space, combining pro-Kremlin bot networks, Telegram groups, all of which home in on the same narratives.

One network is Matryoshka, previously involved in influence operations in the US, Germany and Moldova. According to the investigative outlet The Insider, Matryoshka has started targeting Armenia and Pashinyan since June. This, according to the publication, marks "a record lead time" for the bot network's pre-election activity.

Launched in 2023, Matryoshka spreads disinformation through AI-generated videos and posts that mimic trusted Western media. The bots have circulated clips on social media networks like X and Bluesky accusing Pashinyan of "destroying Armenia's cultural code" and promoting "non-traditional values of tolerance."

Beyond bot activity, Russian actors are also using "doppelganger" techniques, creating websites that imitate established media outlets to distribute fabricated content. 

"The DFRLab has documented fabricated scandals and false corruption stories circulating through newly created, impersonating websites and social channels, many of which appeared within a short time frame and amplified each other in a coordinated way," said the DFRLab researchers, adding that the available technical evidence shows that "these campaigns are linked with Russia."

In July, the two researchers uncovered a campaign targeting Armenian audiences and pushing a false claim that US-backed labs were conducting secret military experiments on Armenian civilians with the consent of Armenian leadership.

The narrative was published by londontimes.live, a site designed to resemble a Western publication and according to DFRLab was disseminated by Russian and non-Russian pro-Kremlin actors. The source of the story was found to be the Russian Foundation to Battle Injustice, a group founded in 2021 with the support of Yevgeny Prigozhin and widely viewed as a Kremlin-aligned disinformation front. 

Prigozhin, the former leader of the Wagner Group, a private Russian mercenary organization formerly active in Ukraine and elsewhere, was presumed dead after a suspicious plane crash in 2023.

What will happen as election nears? 

Ahead of Armenia's 2026 parliamentary election, Moscow is applying tactics tested across post-Soviet states. Researchers at DFRLab noted that Russia's "strategic playbook is very similar" in neighbors Georgia and Armenia.

"In Georgia, Russian narratives were amplified by government figures and government-aligned media, making them part of the government's own communication strategy," said Gelava and Gigitashvili. "In Armenia, these narratives are pushed instead by a mix of local pro-Russian voices and Kremlin-linked external actors who target Armenian audiences from outside the country."

This approach makes Armenia resemble Moldova, where the same Kremlin-originating actors, including ANO Evrazia, have been active. ANO Evrazia is linked to Ilan Shor, a pro-Russian fugitive tycoon accused of attempting to derail Moldova's EU accession process.

DFRLab has warned that some of the tactics documented in Moldova "are being repeated and may intensify" as Armenia moves closer to the 2026 election.

Edited by: Maren Sass, Jess Smee