YEREVAN (Azatutyun) — On Monday, June 8, Russia and the European Union offered diametrically opposite statements regarding the parliamentary elections in Armenian on June 7, each reflecting on Armenia’s apparent pivot away from Russia and toward the West.
Underscoring its deepening rift with the Armenian government, Russia said on Monday, June 8, that the weekend parliamentary elections in Armenia were not democratic and exposed a “noticeable” decline in public support for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
Unlike European leaders, Russian President Vladimir Putin was in no rush to congratulate Pashinyan despite the release of preliminary official results giving victory to the country’s ruling Civil Contract party.
“We are waiting for the final results,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Peskov said that Moscow is also taking note of “numerous irregularities” reported during the ballot. The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, went further, deploring “unprecedented pressure on the opposition and interference from the West, primarily the European Union.”
“The entire election campaign and the voting process itself took place amid harsh repression by the Armenian authorities against opposition parties and movements, their activists and supporters,” Zakharova said in a statement. “The Armenian Apostolic Church, traditionally deeply revered in the country, also came under attack. All of this constitutes a flagrant violation by Yerevan of democratic principles and procedures for holding free elections.”
