{"id":19503,"date":"2026-05-20T19:40:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T15:40:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/?p=19503"},"modified":"2026-05-20T19:40:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T15:40:51","slug":"russia-is-increasing-its-influence-ahead-of-elections-in-armenia-ahmad-shahidov-spoke-on-arb24-television","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/?p=19503","title":{"rendered":"Russia is increasing its influence ahead of elections in Armenia \u2013 Ahmad Shahidov spoke on ARB24 Television"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9fnz2-yoKqE?si=Pm5Y8NM_FyTOU_Hl\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nAmid the upcoming parliamentary elections in Armenia, relations with Russia and the country\u2019s geopolitical orientation have once again become one of the main topics on the agenda. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan\u2019s accusations that Russia is creating a \u201cspy network\u201d in Armenia, along with Moscow\u2019s open concern over Yerevan\u2019s rapprochement with the European Union, have intensified political tensions in the region. Human rights defender Ahmad Shahidov spoke about the issue during a broadcast on ARB24 Television.<\/p>\n<p>Ahmad Shahidov stated that Russia\u2019s recent statements constitute a clear political message to Armenia: \u201cMoscow is openly demonstrating that it does not accept Armenia benefiting from the advantages of the Eurasian Economic Union while simultaneously pursuing integration with the European Union. Although Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksey Overchuk maintained a diplomatic tone in his recent remarks, the essence of the message was a warning to Yerevan that the time for a geopolitical choice is approaching. Russia wants to keep Armenia within its sphere of influence and is viewing the upcoming elections through this prism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Human rights defender Ahmad Shahidov also noted that Nikol Pashinyan\u2019s statements regarding \u201cFSB agents\u201d and \u201cforeign interference\u201d indicate that the internal political struggle in Armenia has entered a much harsher phase: \u201cPashinyan presents the elections not merely as a struggle for power, but as a determination of Armenia\u2019s future geopolitical direction. At the same time, political and economic circles close to Russia are also being mobilized. A serious division is being observed within Armenia, and this process may deepen further until the elections.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/arb24_20.05.2026.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-19504\" src=\"https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/arb24_20.05.2026-700x394.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/arb24_20.05.2026-700x394.jpg 700w, https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/arb24_20.05.2026-475x267.jpg 475w, https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/arb24_20.05.2026-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/arb24_20.05.2026-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/arb24_20.05.2026.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/arb24_20.05.2026a.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-19505\" src=\"https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/arb24_20.05.2026a-700x394.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/arb24_20.05.2026a-700x394.jpg 700w, https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/arb24_20.05.2026a-475x267.jpg 475w, https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/arb24_20.05.2026a-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/arb24_20.05.2026a-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/arb24_20.05.2026a.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/arb24_20.05.2026b.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-19506\" src=\"https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/arb24_20.05.2026b-700x394.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/arb24_20.05.2026b-700x394.jpg 700w, https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/arb24_20.05.2026b-475x267.jpg 475w, https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/arb24_20.05.2026b-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/arb24_20.05.2026b-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/arb24_20.05.2026b.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/arb24_20.05.2026c.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-19507\" src=\"https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/arb24_20.05.2026c-700x394.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/arb24_20.05.2026c-700x394.jpg 700w, https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/arb24_20.05.2026c-475x267.jpg 475w, https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/arb24_20.05.2026c-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/arb24_20.05.2026c-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/arb24_20.05.2026c.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Amid the upcoming parliamentary elections in Armenia, relations with Russia and the country\u2019s geopolitical orientation have once again become one of the main topics on the agenda. Prime Minister Nikol&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[232,220],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","category-slider"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/arb24_20.05.2026a.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19503"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19508,"href":"https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19503\/revisions\/19508"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shahidov.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}