Armenian MFA summons Russian Ambassador over “hostile propaganda” against it

ArmInfo. The Armenian MFA summoned the Russian Ambassador and handed him a note of protest against the “openly unfriendly, often hostile propaganda” against the Armenian government in the Russian media.

“A strong protest has been expressed in connection with the clearly unfriendly, often hostile propaganda against the government of the Republic of Armenia in the Russian media, which is actively fueled by statements by some officials, members of the Russian State Duma, media representatives and the expert community,” the Armenian MFA said.

The ministry added that “offensive expressions aired live on Russian state television channels,” as well as discussions of the actions of the Armenian authorities, are “absolutely unacceptable.” According to the Armenian side, this approach “leads to the neutralization of the positive results” of the interaction between Moscow and Yerevan.

"The note noted that the comments and statements of individual deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation regarding the legal actions of the law enforcement agencies of the Republic of Armenia to prevent the attempted coup d'etat cause not only surprise, but also indignation," the Foreign Ministry said. For example, the department clarified that the arrest of individuals whom official Yerevan suspects of preparing a coup d'etat was called "another unfriendly step by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan" by individual Russian parliamentarians.

Armenia considers such statements not only absurd, but also "gross interference in internal affairs."

Meanwhile, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, condemned Yerevan's reaction to the Foreign Ministry's statements on freedom of religion.

The note that Armenia handed to Russia contains quotes from Russian government and public figures “in support of freedom of religion” and words about the “inadmissibility of forgetting the Armenian genocide,” which the government of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan did not like, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, told RBK.

“For example, this quote [was not liked]: ‘Can you imagine that just a few years ago, someone who is a citizen of Armenia, on the territory of Armenia, an ethnic Armenian, could say that there was no Armenian genocide? And suddenly now a person who is the head of state says that such a genocide did not actually happen,’” the diplomat said, mentioning her quote.

It should be noted that there is no information on the website of the RA MFA about the summons of the Russian Ambassador.