The Armenian Foreign Ministry summoned Russia’s ambassador in Yerevan, Sergei Kopyrkin, to hand him a protest note in connection with the report aired during the Russia-1 channel’s weekly news program anchored by Dmitry Kiselyov, a Russian media executive close to the Kremlin.
In a statement, the ministry said the report contained “artificially generated narratives against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia.” It did not elaborate.
Kiselyov refused to comment on the development, telling News.ru that he does not understand “which concrete statement upset our Armenian brothers.”
The report in question discussed Armenia’s conflict with Azerbaijan as well as the Pashinian government’s position on Armenian-Azerbaijani transport links and decision seek membership of the European Union.
The authorities in Yerevan already banned last March the retransmission of a daily political talk show aired by Russia-1 because of its pro-Kremlin host Vladimir Solovyov’s repeated criticism of Pashinian. They accused Solovyov and some guests on his programs of violating a 2020 Russian-Armenian agreement that allowed Russia-1, Channel One and another state-run Russian channel, Kultura, to continue to broadcast their programs to the South Caucasus country.
“As with the previous program, the broadcast of Kiselyov's program may be blocked in our country,” Armenian Ministry of High-Technology Industry Mkhitar Hayrapetian told reporters later on Wednesday.
Hayrapetian said his ministry has already asked the National Commission on Television and Radio to look into the matter and consider recommending such a ban.
The Foreign Ministry in Yerevan also summoned Kopyrkin in October 2023 to condemn Channel One for disparaging Pashinian during an hour-long program. The then Armenian charge d’affaires in Moscow was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry the following day. Ministry officials deplored what they called anti-Russian propaganda spread by Armenia’s government-controlled media.
Armenian Public Television frequently interviews and invites politicians and commentators highly critical of Moscow to its political talk shows. Their appearances in prime-time programs of the TV channel run by Pashinian’s loyalists have become a regular occurrence in the last few years amid a further deterioration of Russian-Armenian relations.