On July 2, Politik.am published an article claiming that the “scandalous interview” of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalany on Public TV was prepared on the instructions of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
Referring to its sources, the website wrote: “By the way, they contacted Navalny from the Public Relations and Information Center SNCO of Staff of the RA Prime Minister and organized the interview at the state level.”
It should be noted that on July 1 the Public Television broadcast a report on the referendum on constitutional amendments in Russia. In the report entitled “The Last and Principal Day of the All-Russian Referendum: “Standpoints of the Opposition and the Government”, the author touches upon the main process of the referendum on constitutional amendments, presents the opinion of the voters, quotes the speech of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as the opinion of opposition figure Alexei Navalny on the amendments to the Constitutional Court.
However, Politik.am, claims that the Public Television conducted an interview with Navalny, which was organized by the Public Relations and Information Center SNCO.
Meanwhile, when taking a close look at the part of Alexei Navalny’s quote in the report, it becomes clear that it is not an “exclusive” interview with Public TV, but only a part of the video message made by the opposition figure earlier.
On June 15, Navalny posted a video message on his YouTube channel Navalny LIVE called “What to do with the referendum on constitutional amendments”, from which the journalist of Public TV quoted the “scandalous” part in the report.
Thus, the claim of Politik.am that Navalny’s “scandalous interview” was prepared on the instructions of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan does not correspond to reality, as there has been no interview at all.