00:03Welcome to Euronews fact-checking show The Cube.
00:06As Armenia heads towards parliamentary elections in early June,
00:09disinformation campaigns linked to pro-Kremlin actors have dedicated substantial effort to sway the vote.
00:16One of the claims suggested that there could be a possible war between Armenia and Russia
00:20should candidate and current Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan win the vote.
00:24The campaign began in early March and among the fabricated clips,
00:2712 falsely claimed that Pashinyan and French President Emmanuel Macron had agreed a secret deal,
00:33French support in the elections in exchange for Armenia launching a war against Russia after a victory.
00:39On the 11th of May, a video falsely claimed that Pashinyan's press secretary had confirmed the presence of NATO instructors
00:45in Armenia
00:46and that following the parliamentary elections, he would provoke a military conflict with Russia.
00:51But why is Armenia being targeted by pro-Kremlin bots?
00:54The campaign has arisen against a backdrop of deepening EU-Armenia relations.
00:59In early May, the country hosted the first EU-Armenia summit where European Council President Antonio Costa
01:05reaffirmed the EU's commitment to strengthening ties with Yervan.
01:10In 2025, Armenia's parliament also adopted a law launching the EU accession process.
01:15Two months after the campaign began and just days after the summit,
01:20Russian President Vladimir Putin drew a comparison between Armenia and Ukraine,
01:24stating that Armenia may experience similar consequences as Ukraine did following its attempt to join the EU.
01:30In total, 343 fake videos related to Armenia and Pashinyan were identified as circulating in early May.
01:38The pro-Kremlin Matryoshka network, which researchers say organized this campaign,
01:44has been active in other elections such as in Poland, Germany and the US.
01:48But according to experts, the scale of this campaign is second only to that scene during Moldova's 2025 election.
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