A country with close ties to Russia detains journalists known for their pro-Moscow stance.
In Armenia, two individuals, including a blogger critical of the government, have been apprehended near the Azerbaijani border. On Thursday, the Yerevan government confirmed the detention of Sputnik Armenia correspondent Ashot Gevorkian and blogger Mikhail Badalyan.
Gevorkian and Badalyan were among seven individuals arrested in the Syunik province over Wednesday and Thursday. Gor Abrahamyan, a spokesperson for Armenia’s Investigative Committee, stated that the detentions were connected to alleged violations of Article 355 of the criminal code, involving the “illegal trafficking of firearms and ammunition.”
Sputnik Armenia reported that Gevorkian was working on a radio program focusing on the lives of Armenians in the border region with Azerbaijan, an area that has witnessed sporadic clashes in recent years.
Badalyan was reportedly taken from a hotel in Goris by “unidentified individuals wearing masks” on Wednesday evening, as per Evgeny Primakov, the head of the Russian agency for international cooperation, Rossotrudnichestvo. Primakov also hosts a radio show on Sputnik and noted that Badalyan had strongly expressed opposition views and criticized the Armenian government during a recent appearance on the show.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova raised concerns about these detentions, suggesting they might be related to an upcoming Russian-Armenian media forum in Yerevan and insinuating Western interference in Russia-Armenia relations.
Zakharova expressed doubt that Armenia’s government, which initially came to power with a commitment to “freedom of speech as the absolute right of everyone,” would endorse the persecution of journalists and the restriction of information flow.
Armenia is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which includes Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Russia played a role in brokering a ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2020 following a 44-day conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan recently accused Russia of “abandoning” the South Caucasus in an interview, to which Moscow disagreed. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphasized the significant Armenian diaspora in Russia and underscored Russia’s integral role in the region.
