Parliamentary elections are being held in Armenia, a country in Europe surrounded by Russia, Turkey, Iran and Azerbaijan, on June 7, 2026, at the end of the first week of next month. Regarding this parliamentary election, Western intelligence officials say that this election has now become a proxy contest between Washington and Moscow i.e. Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.

In fact, Armenia’s current PM Nikol Pashinyan, who is currently leading in public opinion, has been engaged in ending Armenia’s policy of being dependent on Russia for the last six years. According to a special investigative report by Reuters published this week, Russia’s Putin regime is running an intelligence campaign to defeat Pashinyan in the elections. On the other hand, US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (May 27, 2026) publicly supported Pashinyan’s re-election.

Kremlin created a new department for monitoring in Armenia

Russia created a new department called the ‘Directorate for Strategic Cooperation and Partnership’ in October, which is overseeing this influence operation in Armenia, Reuters reported, citing five Western intelligence officials. This operation is being run by the Social Design Agency (SDA), which is a Kremlin-funded organization. The group’s writers, translators and video producers have been involved in promotional campaigns across Europe.

Plan to bring voters by air

The biggest part of this alleged intelligence operation is not just online campaigning but directly involving people in the elections. According to Reuters, Russian officials have discussed bringing thousands of Armenians living in Russia to Armenia to vote against Pashinyan. Actually, Armenian citizens cannot vote from abroad, it is mandatory for them to be present in their country to vote.

The number of Armenian immigrants in Russia is believed to be more than 2 million and dozens of flights operate daily between the two countries. According to three intelligence officials, Russian officials estimated the cost of bringing 100,000 voters to Armenia at about $50 million.

What is Moscow afraid of losing?

In fact, Russia has also put pressure through official channels and threatened that if Armenia moves away from Russia, it may lose the supply of cheap natural gas. Along with this, a ban may also be imposed on the import of Armenian fruits, vegetables, flowers and brandy. Thomas de Waal told Reuters that what Pashinyan is trying to do is a threat to Russia. He said that diversifying sources of supply ends the virtual monopoly that Russia had maintained over Armenia.

According to Reuters, parts of the US government, including the CIA, have secretly helped protect Pashinyan in recent years. The CIA refused to comment on this, but the Russian Foreign Ministry has termed all these interference allegations as spying frenzy.

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