Anti-Russian propaganda in Armenia with Russian money 

On January 24, US President Donald Trump signed an order freezing almost all US foreign aid for 90 days due to the inconsistency of these programs with foreign policy. The USAID central office in Washington is closed. A number of USAID programs, including in Armenia, have also been suspended for 90 days.

A remarkable article was published in one of the Armenian newspapers on February 6 in connection with this situation. According to media reports, the Armenian authorities have found a way to continue the activities of NGOs that have lost USAID grants. It was decided that their financing would be carried out at the expense of money from oligarchs close to the government. According to the newspaper, about a dozen oligarchs have already declared their readiness to finance Western NGOs so that they do not lack resources and continue their activities.

To begin with, Armenian oligarchs are no stranger to silently sponsoring everything that the Armenian authorities tell them. And if it were a “shadow sponsorship of military expenditures,” then businessmen could have been presented with state awards. However, the “requests” are mostly of a different nature. For example, from Anna Hakobyan’s recent post, it became clear that more than 100 enterprises in Armenia “were offered to transfer millions of drams to the My Step political force foundation.” Moreover, just recently, “53 successful entrepreneurs” had dinner with Anna Hakobyan and were paid 1 million drams each. Businessmen are used to it, so they will silently finance USAID grant programs as well. A slightly different component is what makes this situation interesting.

No matter how Pashinyan “diversified” Armenia’s foreign policy, Armenia’s foreign trade relations with Russia ensure the republic’s food, energy, and economic security. According to official data, imports from Russia account for 98% of wheat, wheat flour, sunflower oil and other cereals, almost 35% of imports of all agricultural products; 39% of poultry meat; and about 40% of fertilizers for agriculture. More than 50% of exports of bakery and pasta products, 96.7% of all fruit and vegetable products, and agricultural products (dairy products and cheeses) are sent to Russia. Russia also remains a leading investor in the Armenian economy. Russian investments in Armenia for October 2024 are $4 billion.
All this and a number of other economic indicators allow us to make reasonable assumptions that a number of businessmen who, according to the Armenian media, will finance the Russophobic activities of NGOs that were using grants from USAID, sell their products to Russia, and conduct business in the Russian market. This, in turn, means that the Armenian authorities can implement a truly ingenious scheme, i.e., to invest the funds earned in Russia to incite Russophobia in Armenia and to serve the agenda for integrating Armenia into the Turkic world. But both in Armenia and Russia, there will be actors who will report on the growth of economic cooperation between the countries at every opportunity. Another thing is that the details of this “cooperation” will be hushed up. However, the devil, as you know, is in the details…

Think about it…