Opinion: Why Putin hasn't rushed to congratulate Pashinyan on his election victory

Why Moscow remains silent

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has received congratulations on his election victory from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the leaders of more than twenty European countries. However, Russia, which formally remains Armenia’s strategic ally, has not sent a congratulatory message.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow is waiting for the final election results:

“You know there were many unclear issues. We saw numerous reports of violations during the election. Therefore, we prefer to wait for the official conclusions.”

Pro-Russian forces that took part in the election share Moscow’s assessment. They include the Armenia Alliance led by former president Robert Kocharyan, Samvel Karapetyan’s Strong Armenia bloc and Gagik Tsarukyan’s Prosperous Armenia party.

Meanwhile, Armenia’s Anti-Corruption Committee identified cases of alleged vote-buying involving these groups almost every day throughout the election campaign, including on election day itself.

In addition, domestic and international observer missions did not identify violations that could have affected the election outcome.

“The most absurd thing is that Russia is currently the only country in the world questioning the legitimacy and legality of the election held in Armenia,” political analyst Areg Kochinyan said.

Some Telegram channels have also pointed out that Moscow did not delay its congratulations in the past. Despite obvious irregularities and allegations of election fraud, Russia congratulated former Armenian presidents Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan immediately after preliminary election results were announced.

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‘Pressure on the opposition and EU interference’: what else troubled Moscow

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also commented on Armenia’s parliamentary election. She said the vote took place “amid unprecedented pressure on the opposition and interference from the West, primarily the European Union”.

“The preliminary results announced by the Central Electoral Commission show that the Civil Contract party, which has declared victory, did not secure a monopoly on power,” she said.

Zakharova also argued that the party’s support had “declined noticeably compared with the previous electoral cycle”. However, Pashinyan’s party won more votes in this election (727,827) than it did in the snap election of 2021 (688,761).

“At the same time, the election clearly demonstrated that Armenian society remains deeply polarised. Under such conditions, making unilateral decisions about Armenia’s future without taking into account the views of all segments of society would lead the country towards further division and socio-economic upheaval,” she said.

Moscow accused Yerevan of a “gross violation of democratic principles and procedures for conducting free elections”.

According to the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, the Armenian authorities directed their “persecution” exclusively at political forces that support:

• “strengthening the alliance with Russia, which is vital for the republic;
• Armenia’s continued participation in Eurasian integration, including membership of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO);
• rejecting the misguided course towards joining the European Union.”

Fact-checkers expose alleged Russian FSB interference in Armenia’s parliamentary elections

A journalist from the Armenian fact-checking platform FIP.am called several leaders of the Union of Armenians of Russia, posed as an FSB officer and uncovered details of a voter recruitment campaign.

‘Not a single vote was falsified’: representative of the Independent Observer mission

Daniel Ioannisyan, a representative of the NGO Independent Observer, said no one falsified a single vote during the counting process.

“Neither authorised representatives, observers nor election commission members submitted a single specific complaint alleging vote-count falsification at any polling station. Such complaints do not exist. Nor is there any video evidence indicating such violations.”

He highlighted several factors:

• Half of the election commission members involved in counting votes — four out of eight — represented the opposition;
• Authorised representatives of the main opposition forces were present at all polling stations;
• Observers or journalists visited almost every polling station;
• Cameras operated without interruption at 98% of polling stations.

According to the expert, discrepancies between the preliminary results published on the Central Electoral Commission’s website and protocols from some polling stations do not indicate vote-rigging.

“Officials enter preliminary results manually, so technical errors can occur. The authorities do not calculate the final results from those entries. They use verified data from protocols signed at polling stations.”

Ioannisyan urged everyone to wait until officials complete the recount process and announce the final results.

Expert: ‘Armenia recorded more cases of vote-buying in recent days than in previous 30 years’

The Anti-Corruption Committee reported five vote-buying cases in the past three days alone. According to human rights activist Daniel Ioannisyan, the committee opened around 60 cases between February and May 2026.

Political analyst Areg Kochinyan’s comments

Political analyst Areg Kochinyan published a video on his Facebook page commenting on the situation:

“The Russians have started saying that Armenia’s election was rigged. They accuse us of all sorts of things. Do you know what this reminds me of? It is like having a friend who is an alcoholic and suddenly hearing him say: ‘Listen, drinking is bad, you should not drink.’ Or imagine someone who, to put it mildly, lacks moral values lecturing others about the importance of morality.

Who is talking about vote-buying, election fraud and electoral transparency? Just look at their most recent presidential election. Look at what happened in their own country.

Why does Russia consider Armenia’s election so disgraceful? Why have the Russian president’s spokesman and the Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman suddenly decided to comment on the quality of Armenia’s electoral process?

In essence, the Russians are sending a signal to their network of agents in Armenia and to the instruments they have here. They want them to start unrest, launch some kind of ‘post-election processes’ and cast doubt on the quality of Armenia’s elections. In doing so, they seek to weaken the Armenian authorities and Armenia itself.

Two scenarios are possible:

• either they want to launch a new hybrid attack against Armenia right now;
• or they are preparing the ground for a more convenient moment, when they can intensify economic and energy pressure and raise this issue again.”

Why Moscow remains silent