Mass Arrests of Russians Ahead of Armenia's Parliamentary Elections

TEHRAN (Defapress) - Tigran Baghramyan, expert and analyst of international affairs: On the eve of the June 17 elections, the electoral competition in Armenia is becoming more intense day by day and hour by hour. It seems that the government of Nikol Pashinyan and the team of political advisors of the Civil Contract party are doing everything to compensate for their sharply reduced popularity. The competition is especially fierce in large opposition cities and in some symbolic areas such as Syunik (where Pashinyan’s supporters began their election marathon).

Armenian citizens remember well that when Nikol Pashinyan was the editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Haykakan Zhamanak”, he did not hesitate to use any means to draw attention to himself. The events of 2018 and 2021 are also remembered. It seems that the propaganda team of the ruling party and its leader are doing exactly the same thing now: inciting emotions, dividing society, and trying to stay in power by any means. However, this approach does not seem to be very successful. According to some sources, Pashinyan’s approval rating has fallen below 20%, and economic problems are growing; these problems will only worsen if he moves further away from the Eurasian Economic Union.

Recently, Grigory Lukyantsev, Head of the Department of Multilateral Cooperation on Human Rights at the Russian Foreign Ministry, advised Russian citizens to refrain from traveling to Armenia, as they may be detained and extradited to the United States or other unfriendly countries. Such a situation was unimaginable until recently, but the diplomat’s statements have a real basis.

For example, there is little information that six Russian citizens have been in Armenian prisons for two years, awaiting trial, on charges of espionage in favor of Azerbaijan (with which the current Armenian authorities are engaged in constructive dialogue).

According to the investigation, in June 2024, a Russian citizen named Artem Makhmutov was detained in Armenia, and a little later, Daniil Semenyuk, who had traveled to Yerevan for the first time in his life and had not even had the opportunity to set foot on Armenian soil, was arrested directly at Zvartnots Airport.

The two, who had known each other since childhood and grew up in the same orphanage, were accused of spying for Baku, allegedly because they were planning to work on a documentary about the Turkic cultural heritage in the territory of Armenia. According to an official contract, these Russian filmmakers were going to film old Muslim cemeteries, ruins of ancient mosques, and museums. Makhmutov, who had been working for a little over a week, never visited restricted areas and did not photograph military installations and borders, but he was detained nonetheless.

After these two arrests, another of their friends, Viktor Tikhomirov, who had arrived in Yerevan to help them, was also arrested. In September 2024, two more Russian citizens from Dagestan, Emirkhan Emirkhanov and Said Aliyev, were arrested, and recently, a journalist, Vladislav Yeliseyev, was arrested. All of them were arrested on charges of spying for Baku.

According to RT’s investigation, the indictments do not provide any concrete evidence of information that would threaten the sovereignty or national security of the Republic of Armenia. These historical monuments have long been known, and their images are also available on the Internet. The claim by Armenian authorities that the “spies” received a fee of between 5 and several tens of thousands of rubles for their services seems very strange.

In addition, there is another obvious contradiction:

In 2023, a drone belonging to the Azerbaijani television company CBC calmly flew over Yerevan, filming historical sites and neighborhoods where Azerbaijanis used to live, including Ferdowsi Street in the city center, and documenting the targeted destruction of Azerbaijan’s architectural heritage. It was clearly impossible to carry out such an act without close interaction with the current Armenian authorities.

The strengthening relations between Baku and Yerevan reinforce the assumption that the detained Russian citizens are the victims of a not-so-clean show that helps to undermine Russian-Armenian relations. Surely, the detention of a tourist for photographing the Mausoleum of the Turkmen Emirs of Argavand will hit the growth of tourism in Armenia.

The reality of Moscow-Yerevan relations remains; The Russians remain behind bars, and if Nikol Pashinyan were sincere in his expression of respect for Russia, the Armenian authorities would have put an end to this absurd situation long ago.