By McKenzie Sadeghi, Eva Maitland, and Alice Lee | Published on Nov. 11, 2025

Since April, Russia’s propaganda apparatus has pushed 18 false claims targeting the Western-leaning government of Armenia, appearing in 13,883 social media posts and articles and collectively gaining 45 million views, a NewsGuard analysis found.  The claims — which leveraged AI-generated fabricated news sites, coordinated social media accounts, and manipulated videos — spread on 11 social media platforms in eight languages. In some cases, these false claims were provided as responses by leading AI chatbots. 

The phony tales of government corruption, sex scandals, and other malfeasance began spreading a full 14 months before Armenia’s June 2026 Parliamentary elections, an unusually early start for Russia compared to its previous efforts to sway polls in other nations. NewsGuard found that Russian propaganda campaigns in Germany and Moldova began just three and five months before their 2025 elections, respectively, and both campaigns failed to deliver the results Moscow hoped for. Apparently, Moscow has learned that it needs to start its efforts much further in advance of elections.