
ArmInfo. If Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan wins the upcoming parliamentary elections, Russia should not officially recognize their results, Konstantin Zatulin, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, told NSN.
"Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has never hidden his anti-Russian views, and the trend toward a complete break between the republic and Russia will continue if he is re-elected," said Konstantin Zatulin, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs. Speaking to NSN, he emphasized that in such a case, Russia simply should not officially accept the election results.
Zatulin is confident that Pashinyan has never hidden his anti-Russian views and is consistent in his policies, so there's no point in expecting him to choose Russia.
"He is an absolute enemy of Russia, who, for a time, having found himself in power, was forced to camouflage his intentions, his goals. We allowed ourselves to be lulled into hopes that he would get used to it, that he would not go anywhere. And he used us. He did not hide his points of view at all before he became prime minister. He wrote about the need to get rid of the entire past, of Russia, to leave the CSTO, to leave the Eurasian Union, to remove our base in Gyumri. It is simply a cloud of intellect that we thought that, having come to power, he would suddenly go over to our side completely or forget his convictions. In this sense, he is a completely consistent person. He is cunning, of course. Therefore, he does not necessarily say all this out loud, especially when he meets in the Kremlin with Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. But now he has dropped these masks too. They were dropped in 22, because we entered into a confrontation with The West, which is where he's aiming. And he's begun to implement this policy with increasing brazenness, volume, and scale. And his cronies aren't shy at all," the NSN source is confident.
The parliamentarian emphasized that if Pashinyan is re-elected, the situation will only worsen. "Undoubtedly, the tendency if Pashinyan is re-elected will be precisely to effect a final break between Armenia as a state and its obligations within the unions. He will adopt outright anti-Russian positions, further repressing anyone who does not adhere to this point of view, and that is certainly at least half of Armenia's population. Consequently, this will create problems for the Armenian diaspora in Russia and around the world. The Russian Federation should not officially recognize the results of the June 7, 2026, elections in Armenia if Pashinyan, by hook or by crook, manages to secure another victory. Pashinyan has already done enough to cast doubt on the honesty, fairness, objectivity, and legality of these elections," Zatulin stated. He also expressed concern that Pashinyan's team's actions were pitting the peoples of Russia and Armenia against each other, which would damage relations beyond the political level.
Earlier, Pashinyan hosted Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders in Yerevan. Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov emphasized that the Armenian authorities were trying to straddle the line, which, however, was negatively impacting bilateral relations with Russia.