Lies and manipulation on the air of the Russian First Channel by Zatulin

On May 27, the guests of the “Big Game” program broadcast on the Russian First Channel, distorted factual data while talking about Armenia, seasoning them with insulting assessments about Armenia and the Armenian authorities.

Fact Investigation Platform collected the false, untrue information, and manipulations that were voiced during that program and presented the official statements of Yerevan on these topics on various occasions.

In particular, Konstantin Zatulin, the First Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, noted: “Pashinyan betrayed his compatriots in Karabakh, renounced them, in fact, betrayed them, as a result of which Armenians were displaced from Nagorno Karabakh.”

The official statements of Yerevan, however, contradict Zatulin’s conclusions. On April 10, 2024, in the National Assembly, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that there was an opportunity for dialogue between Artsakh and Azerbaijan on European platforms, but the representatives of Artsakh did not participate. “There was an opportunity to start a dialogue with Azerbaijan on European platforms, why did NK not go there? NK didn’t go there because they were banned from doing so, and I wasn’t the one who banned them. They were banned,” Pashinyan said.

Some time after this statement, on May 3, Civil Contract MP Artur Hovhannisyan clarified that the Artsakh authorities had the opportunity to go to Sofia and start negotiations with Azerbaijan, but “a call was made from Armenia and the Artsakh authorities were prevented from going to this meeting.”

Public speaker, political commentator Tatul Hakobyan presented the situation more clearly, writing on his Facebook page on October 29, 2023: “Can you imagine, Sofia’s meeting is overturned by Stepanakert on the advice of the Russians? Yerevan urges going there, and talking, but no, you have to believe in your permanent friend, beloved Putin, and despise traitor Nikol. The authorities of Artsakh believed the Russians, Putin, till the end, even until the moment when they kidnapped the two former presidents of Artsakh from Karen Sargsyan’s private house in Stepanakert and moved them to Baku.”

On September 19, 2023, during the Azerbaijani attack and subsequent displacement of the population of Artsakh, Russian peacekeepers were on the ground and did not provide any support to the population. Moreover, Artsakh President Samvel Shahramanyan admitted in an interview to Artsakh TV on October 28, 2023 that the Russian peacekeepers did not provide any help to the displaced Artsakh Armenians. “Hours after the attack on September 19, I realized that we are alone against Azerbaijani aggression. The Russian side, one can say, was in the status of an observer, and we had to solve our issues independently,” Shahramanyan noted.

On the air of the Russian TV channel, Zatulin, attributing it to the Prime Minister of Armenia, voiced a phrase that Pashinyan did not say.

“In his statement, he indicated that two CSTO member countries helped Azerbaijan in the war against Nagorno-Karabakh, and he said that the capital cities of those countries start with the letter “M”,” Zatulin noted while the other participants of the program added that these capital cities were Minsk and Moscow.

However, Nikol Pashinyan did not say such a thing. In response to the statement of the President of Belarus Lukashenko about supporting Azerbaijan in the war of 2020, the Prime Minister of Armenia stated in the National Assembly on May 22: “Since the President of Belarus spoke about it, I will use the opportunity and directly say what I have not been able to say for four years: our allies participated in the preparations for the 44-day war in 2020 not on our side, and I know at least two CSTO member countries that participated in the preparation of war against us.”

Zatulin also manipulates the information related to the border delimitation process in Armenia, declaring: “The government of Armenia is betraying the interests of Armenia proper, surrendering territories that Armenians consider theirs.”

Official Yerevan has repeatedly stated that the border delimitation process is carried out upon the maps of 1976 of the General Staff of the USSR. On May 22, the Armenian Prime Minister, showing that map from the tribune of the National Assembly, announced: “The delimitation is carried out based on the 1976 map used by the General Staff. These are the maps verified by the competent body of the Soviet Union in the field of cartography and topography, based on the outcomes of the delimitation in 1969. These maps play a crucial and essential role in the development of the independence and sovereignty of our state.”

Thus, the Russian official spreads blatant false information on the air of the Russian TV channel at least three times:

1. On September 19, 2023, the Russian peacekeeping mission abandoned the Armenian population against the Azerbaijani aggression and did not provide the necessary protection.
2. Pashinyan did not speak about the capitals starting with the letter “M” therefore neither Moscow and nor even Minsk were not mentioned.
3. Delimitation in Armenia is being carried out based on the 1976 maps of the General Staff of the USSR.

 

Hasmik Hambardzumyan