“The projection of the ‘Moldovan scenario’ onto Armenia is plain to see”: the Russian MFA on The Insider’s publication

The Insider, a foreign-agent outlet that has long since become a tool of media manipulation and mendacious anti-Russian propaganda, continues to generate disinformation in fulfillment of commissions from its foreign handlers. That is the statement issued by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A recent publication dated May 19, 2026, serves as a prime example of such subversive work by Western-curated media mouthpieces. Under the sensational headline “Grabbing the ‘Beard’: Which FSB, GRU, and SVR agents have been deployed to Armenia to counter Pashinyan,” the piece recycles the same tired spy fiction about the omnipresent “agents of the Kremlin.”

The arguments presented in the so-called investigation are nothing but brazen lies and an orchestrated provocation, aimed at exerting psychological pressure on Russian diplomats and intimidating Armenian society ahead of the elections. The authors of this fabrication, who apparently studied the biographical details of embassy staff with such close attention, could not even be bothered to fact-check their material, committing numerous factual errors and inaccuracies, which only confirms the level of “professionalism” and basic competence of those involved.

In support of their claims, the publication offers barely credible screenshots and excerpts from unspecified documents, haphazardly interspersed with anecdotal episodes from diplomats’ professional lives, cited with references to (!) anonymous sources and foreign media outlets that have long since tainted themselves with outright disinformation and anti-Russian bias.

Not a single convincing fact capable of substantiating the accusations is offered anywhere in The Insider’s piece.

In the spirit of spy mania and neo-McCarthyism, the authors also chose to “expose” the Russian House in Yerevan, which stands accused of… promoting soft power and conducting humanitarian work in Armenia, organizing educational and awareness seminars, and hosting cultural events, in other words, precisely what a Russian House abroad is supposed to do.

Once again, we are seeing the same familiar playbook: the effective work of Russian institutions to develop and strengthen the allied relationship between Russia and Armenia, and the bonds between our fraternal peoples, is declared an “intelligence operation.” Entirely routine diplomatic activity, maintaining contacts, holding cultural events, conducting analytical work, advancing humanitarian projects, is all framed in the spirit of “the long arm of the Kremlin.”

No less concerning is the effort to discredit the Armenian opposition and public figures who criticize the republic’s leadership. Any contact such figures have with the Russian side, or their participation in international forums and expert events, is automatically declared “work under the supervision of Russian intelligence services,” while opposition activity itself is cast as part of a “Kremlin operation.” In other words, Armenian society is being pushed to accept a primitive equation: criticism of the government equals being an agent of Moscow.

In essence, what constitutes direct interference in Armenia’s pre-election discourse is not Russia’s diplomatic activity, conducted in full compliance with the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, but rather the hysteria that yet another piece of disinformation from The Insider is stoking across the Armenian and international information space.

It would appear that this fabricated plant, circulating in the Armenian media landscape, is the product of the sustained anti-Russian subversive work of Brussels-based propagandists from the so-called rapid response group, which landed in the Republic shortly beforehand with the goal of discrediting our country and damaging Russian-Armenian relations under the pretext of combating alleged “hybrid threats from the Kremlin.” The projection of the “Moldovan scenario” onto Armenia is plain to see, the creation of a hostile, toxic atmosphere around Russia and the cleansing of the local information space of everything connected with our country. We regard this latest “sensation” about “Russian agents in Yerevan” as yet another episode in a campaign to push Russia out of the South Caucasus and to impose external orientations on Armenia against its own national interests, the Russian MFA’s statement reads.