The Russian Dossier Center, funded by one of Russia’s once richest businessmen, Kremlin critic and now émigré Mikhail Khodorkovsky published an article about Russian agents “settled in almost all state structures in Armenia,” reported jamnews. 

The article mentioned the names of famous people such as the former President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan and the leader of the Prosperous Armenia opposition party, prominent businessman Gagik Tsarukyan. Moreover, the investigation said that “allies of Russia” do not need to be afraid of the spy revelations, since the National Security Service of Armenia has long been known as “a branch of the Lubyanka.” 

The article published by the Dossier Center notes that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan every step is closely monitored by the Russian president’s administration. It also mentioned that Pashinyan has been given a nickname, ‘Boroda [Beard].’

The authors of the investigation claim that these “allies of Russia” are in almost all state structures – the government, parliament, special services and the MFA. And after the Velvet Revolution of 2018, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, whom they represent as “the henchman of the Soros Foundation,” was under special monitoring by General Valdimir Chernov’s subordinates. The Gender Chernov has been heading the Russian president’s department for interregional and cultural relations with foreign countries since 2012.

Among the papers of General Chernov, there was a copy of the passport of the founder of the Prosperous Armenia (BHK) party and President of the National Olympic Committee of Armenia Gagik Tsarukyan. “The leader of Prosperous Armenia is a frequent visitor to Moscow, and in February 2019 his party signed a protocol on cooperation with the United Russia ruling party,” the Dossier wrote.

The head of Armenia’s National Security Service Argishti Kyaramyan (NSS) stated that the article’s claims are already being inspected. According to Argishti Kyaramyan, the NSS “ will naturally give a criminal-legal assessment to any fact described in it.”

When asked by journalists about the possibility of lustration [a purge of government officials] in the structure, the director of the NSS said: “There are many ambitious officers in the National Security Service who do their job for the benefit of Armenia, and, naturally, as in all other structures, there are persons who, in the course of a normal process, must leave the ranks of the NSS. This process has begun, and I would like my words to be perceived correctly. This is a normal process – people come; people leave.”

Tsarukyan’s spokesperson Iveta Tonoyan responded to the claims published in the Dossier article. She insisted that she does not know how the Kremlin could have obtained a copy of Tsarukyan’s passport. “Armenia’s NSS should find that out instead of ‘looking for enemies inside the country,’” she said, referring to controversial criminal proceedings launched against the BHK leader in June (Caucasus Watch reported).  Her fellow party member Arman Abovyan recalled that the Dossier is financed by the Russian oppositionist Mikhail Khodorkovsky. In his opinion, “the information reported by the Dossier raises more questions than it provides answers.”

Meanwhile, the BHK together with Dashnaktsutyun and the Hayrenik (Fatherland) party announced that a rally will be held against the Armenian government on 8 October. The parties accused the government of having “failed everywhere” and endangering the country’s “development prospects.” They cited “the need for the formation of a new kind of national government.”