Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergei Kopyrkin has strongly condemned controversial remarks by Artsrun Hovhannisyan, a senior official at Armenia’s main military academy and a vocal supporter of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. In a May 9 interview on public television, Hovhannisyan claimed that Nazi Germany planned to establish a “united and historical Armenia” had it won World War II.

The interview, broadcast in connection with the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory in the war, challenged the widely accepted view shared by Armenian and Russian historians—that Turkey would have invaded Soviet Armenia if Nazi Germany had succeeded in the 1942–43 Battle of Stalingrad. Hovhannisyan asserted instead that Hitler’s army aimed to occupy the South Caucasus and parts of eastern Turkey to create a unified Armenian state. He further suggested that Armenian Nazi collaborators supported this plan, though he provided no evidence.

His comments provoked backlash from Armenian opposition figures and historians, and drew a formal response from the Russian ambassador. In an open letter to Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikian, Kopyrkin called the remarks “historically false and blasphemous,” accusing Hovhannisyan of trying to “desecrate the memory of our heroic ancestors.”

“It was especially painful to hear such statements from someone heading the Command and Staff Institute of the Military Academy of the Armenian Ministry of Defense, which bears the name of Marshal [Ivan] Bagramyan,” Kopyrkin added, referencing the famed Armenian commander and Hero of the Soviet Union.

Armenian Politician Tells Russian Ambassador: “Do Not Interfere”

Arman Babajanyan, leader of the pro-Western “For the Republic” party, issued a strong rebuttal to Russian Ambassador Sergei Kopyrkin’s recent condemnation of Artsrun Hovhannisyan, a senior official at Armenia’s Military Academy. Kopyrkin had accused Hovhannisyan of justifying fascism after the latter claimed Nazi Germany had planned to restore a “united Armenia” had it won World War II.

Writing on Facebook, Babajanyan accused the ambassador of overstepping diplomatic boundaries and interfering in Armenia’s internal affairs. He questioned Russia’s moral standing to lecture Armenia, citing its perceived failure to prevent Azerbaijan’s 2023 military assault on Nagorno-Karabakh and its silence during the destruction of Soviet war memorials in the region.

“You are the representative of the state that has played a direct role in the depopulation of Artsakh since 2020,” Babajanyan wrote. He claimed Russian peacekeepers failed to protect the Armenian population during Azerbaijan’s September 2023 offensive, calling it “mass ethnic cleansing with your direct consent.”

He also criticized Russia’s lack of response to the desecration of war memorials and Azerbaijani border incursions into Armenia since 2021. “After staying silent during violence, displacement, and the destruction of history, you now speak in a public letter about the values and beliefs of our society?” he asked.

“You have neither the moral, political, nor historical right to evaluate us,” Babajanyan concluded. “The right to truth is ours. And you—do not interfere.”