Armenia Rejects Russian Aid for Karabakh Refugees ahead of Elections

Swiftly after Zakharova’s statement, the Armenian fact-checking platform FIP reported that Eurasia, founded in Russia in April 2024, was involved in meddling in election processes in Moldova.

“In this backdrop, the organization’s ‘humanitarian’ initiatives in various countries, including Armenia, are often viewed as a tool of political influence,” FIP noted.

Eurasia positions itself implementing ‘humanitarian projects’ and enjoys close ties to and receives direct support from Russian state institutions and agencies.

The members of the organization’s board of trustees included high-ranking Russian officials and Kremlin propagandists, including Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT, FIP also reported.

Members of the organization’s executive bodies also include Russian-based blogger of Armenian descent Mika Badalyan, who, as FIP reports, was ‘actively involved in various opposition actions’ in Armenia since the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020.

The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) revealed in 2024 that the organization interfered in Moldova’s EU referendum by ‘paying Moldovans to vote against the EU’. One of the applied schemes was ‘humanitarian assistance’, with ‘tens of thousands of Moldovan pensioners and state workers in three regions receiving monthly payments’ from Eurasia.

Prior to the news of Armenia’s rejection, Armenia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (FIS) reported that Armenians living abroad have reportedly been pressured to back certain political parties ahead of the elections, without specifying the country behind the alleged interference.

Shortly after, a prominent election observation group in Armenia, Independent Observer, warned that an unnamed political opposition party had reportedly booked a large number of buses to transport voters, primarily from Russia, for the parliamentary elections.

Critics Accuse Pashinyan’s Government of Pre-election Ploy

While Armenia has been confronting possible Russian interference in its elections, it also adopted decisions to increase salaries and provide bonuses to state servants ahead of the vote, which critics say is tied to winning their support ahead of the elections.

On Thursday, March 19, the Armenian government approved the allocation of  4.6 billion drams ($12 million) for additional remuneration of state officials for their performance in the second half of 2025. Previously, 3.6 billion drams ($9.5 million) had been allocated for bonus payments their performance in the first half of 2025.

The allocation, which reportedly includes ֏12 million ($32,000) in additional payment for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and ֏6–7 million ($16,000–$19,000) for his cabinet members, has sparked widespread criticism. The government, however, says the payments were part of an evaluation program aimed at continuously improving the efficiency of the public administration system.

The fund will be allocated from the state reserve fund, and state employees will receive the bonuses before the elections, RFE/RL reported.

Varuzhan Hokhtanyan, from the anti‑corruption organization Transparency International, warned of ‘political corruption’ through such acts.

“This all happens on the eve of elections […] naturally, having received that much money, they are expected to be grateful for it,” he told RFE/RL.

Separately, again on the same day, the Yerevan Municipality adopted a decision to increase the salaries of employees of kindergartens under its jurisdiction by 15–20 percent starting in May.

Opposition city council members have also criticized the raises as a pre-election ploy.

“Elections are ahead, and in order to please these people, you were directed to raise [their salaries], and it was raised in May. This means they will receive the high salary of May on 3, 4, or 5 June and will go to the polls on 7 June,” Armenak Danielyan from the opposition Mother Armenia faction stated, according to RFE/RL.