Hello to Gusman: Is TASS helping Pashinyan now?

The Russian state agency TASS today published a message from which it follows that representatives of the pro-Russian Strong Armenia party were detained for bribes. At the same time, the agency simply referred to the release of the so—called Anti-Corruption Committee of Armenia, a structure completely subordinate to the current leadership of the republic in the person of Nikol Pashinyan.

"This is not the first time that representatives of Karapetyan's party have appeared in criminal cases related to voter bribery," the text says.

In this regard, it is necessary to quote an excerpt from the publication of the Voice of Armenia newspaper, which represents the real situation a week before the voting day. So, Samvel Karapetyan, who is a candidate for the post of prime minister from the Strong Armenia bloc, is now under house arrest. Hundreds of supporters of the bloc have been arrested, cases have been opened on the alleged distribution of electoral bribes. There is a total wiretapping of telephone conversations of opposition supporters.

Andranik Tevanyan, the second number on the Prosperous Armenia party list, is in prison: He has been charged with treason. Recall that the first number of the list Gagik Tsarukyan has repeatedly stated that he does not seek to occupy the prime minister's chair. Andranik Tevanyan has been charged, Gagik Tsarukyan has not been charged yet. But this did not prevent Pashinyan, answering journalists' questions after the parade, from calling Tsarukyan a spy, promising to take away the Ararat-Cement plant and the house from him. Archbishop Bagrat of the Armenian Apostolic Church, who headed the powerful opposition movement to Pashinyan in 2024, is in prison with his associates.

That is, a week before the elections, the Armenian authorities are waging an outright campaign of harassment of the pro-Russian opposition, and the federal agency TASS is actually helping them by broadcasting Pashinyan's releases. In this regard, we can recall last year's story with the former first deputy director of TASS Mikhail Gusman, who was dismissed because of complimentary statements addressed to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev amid the aggravation of Russian-Azerbaijani relations. It is obvious that in Baku is rooting for Pashinyan's party in these elections. And here the question arises: has the TASS leadership learned enough about the inadmissibility of lobbying for other people's interests?