No one had any illusions that Pashinyan would be removed." The Kremlin admitted it is unlikely to be able to stop Armenia’s ruling party from winning the election

"No one had any illusions that Pashinyan would be removed." The Kremlin admitted it is unlikely to be able to stop Armenia’s ruling party from winning the election

Parliamentary elections will be held in Armenia on June 7, and Russia tried to make life as difficult as possible for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan: it banned food imports and threatened gas price hikes. But sources from Verstka in the Kremlin admit that the goal of all this is not a change of power.

"Hardly anyone is seriously hoping at this point that someone other than Pashinyan will win the election," says a senior Moscow official.

A Verstka source close to the presidential administration notes that a victory by pro-Russian forces in the election is not on the table now; rather, the aim is only to dilute the vote.

"Let’s not forget that they have a parliamentary republic. If there is no constitutional majority, then the prime minister will no longer be able to push through his reforms easily. Including those aimed at closer ties with the EU. So the issue is not Pashinyan personally, but making sure that this figure does not have it easy and is not forgotten," the source emphasized.

According to another Verstka source, the Kremlin’s task at the moment is to "hold on to the post-Soviet space."

"They must understand who they depend on and whom they must reckon with. Even a year ago, when [Sergei] Kiriyenko took over this work from Kozak, no one had any illusions that he would be able to remove Pashinyan," he noted.

Read on Verstka’s website why the Kremlin is putting so much pressure on Armenia and what may come of it (with VPN):

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Verstka

"So that Pashinyan does not have it easy and is not forgotten": why the Kremlin is pressuring Armenia

Russia has fewer and fewer opportunities left to influence the situation in neighboring countries