The "Moldovan scenario": Expert warns against geopolitical  polarization in June elections

ArmInfo. Artur Khachikyan, Stanford University professor and political scientist, has expressed confidence that current Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is already following the Moldovan scenario in his  preparations for the country's June parliamentary elections. 

"First, society is being offered a false choice: either Europe or  Russia. As I've been trying to explain for years, Armenia doesn't  have to choose between them; it's not an 'either-or' situation.  Armenia could lose everything by becoming part of this conflict, as  it has for 150 years, and gain nothing. Instead, Armenia could gain  greatly by becoming a bridge between East and West, as Armenians have  done for millennia.  We are a nation of businessmen and traders who  have earned vast sums of money trading across the globe, from India  to Russia, from Egypt and Sudan to Argentina and America," the expert  stated in his Telegram post. According to him, the Armenian people  have never had to choose in the past, and they don't have to choose  now. He added that instead, Armenians can maintain good working  relationships with all their partners and benefit from them.

Khachikyan is confident that Armenia Armenia should pursue a "smart,  sophisticated" foreign policy, citing Turkey and Azerbaijan as  examples of nations that maintain strong, beneficial ties with both  Russia and the West simultaneously. No one would dare drag them into  conflict or sacrifice their interests for the sake of other  countries.

"We've had a great example of this in recent years: after the  conflict in Ukraine began, Armenia's economy boomed, becoming an IT  hub where Russian and Western IT companies collaborated. As a result,  our trade and business flourished," he noted.

Secondly, Khachikyan continued, "this regime" is promoting the theory  of Russian interference in the elections as a pretext to justify  Western intervention. It claims Russia is planning a secret attempt  to intervene (the so-called "hybrid war").

"No country should have the right to interfere in our elections,  whether from the East or the West. And no country should have the  right to buy our media, our journalists, our social media, YouTube  channels, etc., or manipulate our public opinion and political life  using foreign money, known as 'grants.' Most Western countries have  very strict laws prohibiting such interference," the expert  continued.

The political scientist is confident that when someone talks about  "hybrid wars," a buzzword denoting interference in a country's  internal affairs, they should be held to the same standards as those  they accuse of such actions. "And pouring millions of dollars into a  small republic with a population of 2.5 million to completely control  its media and public opinion and promote certain political figures is  exactly what's needed: massive financial, informational, and  political interference in the country's affairs. This is a first-  degree 'hybrid war.' Therefore, when they talk about interference in  internal affairs and 'hybrid wars,' we need to take out a mirror and  ask: 'My light, my mirror,  tell me! Tell me the whole truth: Am I  the fairest of all, the rosiest and whitest of all?'" Khachikyan  concluded  with a touch of sarcasm.

Recall, Radio Liberty previously reported that they had  a letter  from Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan to Brussels at their  disposal, in which he "requested the dispatch of a rapid response  team to Yerevan to counter Kremlin disinformation and Russian  interference in the parliamentary elections in Armenia." In this  regard, it was recalled that the EU sent a similar team of  approximately 20 people to Chisinau during last year's parliamentary  elections "to help Moldovan authorities identify and counter  disinformation emanating from Russia on social media." It should be  added that the EU's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, previously announced  the allocation of 15 million euros to Armenia to "counter Russian  propaganda."

On March 4, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova  stated that Russia is ready to send a mission similar to the European  one to Armenia if Yerevan  desired it.