Kremlin propaganda outlets spread false information about the selection of members of the EU-Armenian Civil Society Platform

The Kremlin propagandists who are now commonly called Z-propagandists (in the war against Ukraine, Russian troops used insignia with the letter Z on their vehicles), have recently been regularly touching upon the Armenia-EU relations, presenting information that is untrue.

This time, some Telegram channels being a Kremlin propaganda tool, touched upon the dubious statements made almost a month ago by Movses Aristakesyan, the President of the Center of Economic Right NGO, spreading hatred towards the representatives of the civil society of Armenia.

In particular, the “System Pesticide” (Системный пестицид) Telegram channel wrote on August 17 that allegedly Armenian non-governmental organizations are fighting for Western funding and that a “staged scandal” is brewing among these NGOs. Moreover, the Russian propaganda channel concluded, without factual grounds, that the selection of members of the civil society platform of the EU-Armenia “Comprehensive and Extended Partnership Agreement” is “a result of corruption.” Another Kremlin propaganda outlet, the “Rybar” Telegram channel, also circulated this information with numerous groundless claims.

These Telegram channels recalled the statement of Movses Aristakesyan, President of the Center of Economic Right NGO, on July 31, which referred to the results of the competition for the selection of members of the civil society platform of the EU-Armenia “Comprehensive and Extended Partnership Agreement” held on June 5.

“According to the results of the observation, a number of omissions and errors occurred during the organization and holding of the competition, which can also be considered deliberate, corrupt cooperation directed by a separate group of individuals,” Aristakesyan stated. The organization led by the latter participated in the competition as a voter and observed the organization and holding of the competition.

Then Aristakesyan elaborated in the statement: “In the organization and holding of the competition, both the Secretariat of the EaP CSF ANP and the competition committee of the members of the CEPA CSP have failed. Thus, they did not properly fulfill their powers defined by the procedure for the formation of the composition of Armenian non-governmental organizations and foundations of the civil society platform provided for in Article 366 of the EU-Armenia “Comprehensive and Extended Partnership Agreement.“

Pointing out the procedural and technical obstacles related to the selection, Aristakesyan concluded that “there is an atmosphere of electoral fraud and organized corruption in the system of the Armenian National Platform (ANP)”.

Hovsep Khurshudyan, the President of the Free Citizen NGO, who is also a main member of the civil society platform of the “Comprehensive and Extended Partnership Agreement” of the EU-Armenia, in a conversation with Aravot.am, considered the statement of Movses Aristakesyan to be a complete defamation.

“I understand why the statement that Movses Aristakesyan circulated was suddenly done so now that we initiated a petition for Eurovote. The statement is a pure defamation, in connection with which also the selection committee dealing with the selection of the Platform of the EU-Armenia civil society chosen by the ANP conference had better give clarifications, which is the main addressee of these absurd and groundless accusations. But for some reason, what is emphasized are the names of myself and Lusine Hakobyan, although at least at this stage we had nothing to do with the organization of the selection process. In any case, I hope that the selection committee will also make the appropriate records and present the explanations, and then it will be clear for the public what these people are doing,” Khurshudyan said.

It should be noted that the selection of the competition to be part of the civil society platform of the EU-Armenia “Comprehensive and Extended Partnership Agreement” took place on June 5, 2024.

According to Article 366 of the “Comprehensive and Extended Partnership Agreement” (CEPA) of the EU-Armenia, in accordance with Article 36 of the procedure for the formation of the composition of Armenian non-governmental organizations and foundations of the civil society platform, among the representatives of the 8 organizations that received the highest total points according to the results of the voting, the 4 organizations that received the most points are included in the civil society platform of the CEPA (main members), while the other 4 are considered substitute members.

Thus, the main members who received the most points according to the results of the voting were selected:

Suzanna Soghomonyan, “Armenian Lawyers’ Association” NGO, 446 points
Lusine Hakobyan, “Europe in Law Association” NGO, 376 points
Hovsep Khurshudyan, “Free Citizen Civic Initiatives Center” NGO, 356 points
Hasmik Harutyunyan, “Protection of Rights without Borders” NGO, 315 points

According to the results of the voting, the substitute members who received the most points were selected:

Daniel Ioannisyan, “Union of Informed Citizens” consulting NGO, 263 points
Naira Sultanyan, “Democracy Development Fund” Foundation, 249 points
Vardine Grigoryan, “Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor ” NGO, 226 points
Grigor Yeritsyan, “Armenian Progressive Youth” NGO, 225 points

Z-propaganda outlet also writes that the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Extended Partnership Agreement was signed in 2021. However, the truth is that the Agreement was signed on November 24, 2017 in Brussels between Armenia and the European Union.

On April 18, 2018, the Armenian Parliament unanimously ratified the Agreement on “Comprehensive and Extended Partnership” between Armenia and the European Union. The agreement entered into force on March 1, 2021.

The same source also claims that there is no data on the results of the competition on the official website of the EU, representatives of the Armenian platform are not represented, implying that the EU does not recognize the members of the civil society platform of the EU-Armenia CEPA. Meanwhile, on July 1, the EU mission in Armenia issued an official message informing: “On June 28, EU Ambassador Vassilis Maragos met with the newly elected members of the EU-Armenia CEPA Civil Society Platform (CSP) to discuss the platform’s vision for CEPA-related reforms and deepening EU-Armenia relations. Engaging with civil society is key to ensuring the inclusiveness of the process.”

Thus, the Kremlin’s propaganda media presents false, untrue information, calling into question the process and results of the selection of members of the EU-Armenia CEPA civil society platform.

Syuzanna Hambardzumyan

The publication was prepared within the framework of the Professional Media, Practitioners and Grassroots Joining Forces for Dialogue project, which is implemented by the Public Journalism Club with the financial support of the European Commission. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Union.