The video of “threats” by Artsakh people – a cheap staging from the ruling seats: Tigran Kocharyan

A masked video allegedly showing Artsakh people threatening Prime Minister Pashinyan is circulating online as a government-orchestrated disinformation operation designed to vilify the opposition, stoke ethnic division, and justify political crackdowns against activists. The analysis was posted on Facebook by Tigran Kocharyan, the media expert.

“Since this morning, I have been monitoring from a professional standpoint the video circulating online and the reactions to it, where masked individuals, pretending to be from Artsakh, are allegedly making threats of physical violence against Pashinyan.

And specifically with the flag and dialect of Artsakh, just so we don’t think anything else

People, this is a classic information staging. You don’t need to be a seasoned analyst to understand whose handiwork this is. It’s enough to look at just two simple facts:

a. Who spreads it first?
It would be logical for a video this radical to surface on opposition platforms, right? But no.
Since this morning, this has been exclusively spread in an organized and mass manner by pro-Pashinyan media outlets, I first saw it on Civic, and by pro-government fake accounts and bloggers supporting them.
This is an old and proven political-technological trick: create a false danger yourself, spread it yourself, so that afterward you can take on the role of a victim and have legitimate grounds to launch an attack (travlia) against the opposition. Pashinyan’s frantic outbursts this morning only proved that.

b. The phenomenon of masks.
Have you noticed that the people who genuinely don’t like Pashinyan and are frustrated with this government don’t wear masks. Every day we see citizens (Artsakh people included) speaking openly on the street, at public meetings, or in live broadcasts faces uncovered, names on record, telling Pashinyan exactly what they think of him, straight to his face. But in this video, behind the masks are hiding the very “actors” or security personnel working on their orders, because the moment their faces were revealed, they would be identified within seconds, and this cheap bluff would blow up .

And why does the government need this right now:
1. To incite hatred against Artsakh people: the video specifically emphasizes being “from Artsakh,” in order to once again foment internal division among the public.
2. To discredit the opposition: they want to portray the opposition field as populated exclusively by “terrorists” and “criminal” elements.
3. To free their hands: this is excellent preparatory ground for security forces to launch political persecutions, searches, and arrests against activists with renewed force under the pretext of “state security.”

Dear Armenians, don’t fall for cheap manipulations, maintain your media hygiene, and remember: a real opposition member never wears a mask.”