By Alice Lee | Published on May 28, 2026

In a last-ditch effort to discredit Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan ahead of June 7, 2026, parliamentary elections, the Russia-linked Matryoshka campaign has fabricated a flurry of fake news reports presenting Pashinyan as an abusive, warmongering fraud. In just one week in May, NewsGuard found, the campaign spread 31 claims about Pashinyan, who favors closer relations to the West. Each false claim was designed to appear to be from well-known credible media outlets.

Pashinyan, who was elected in 2018 after leading a peaceful protest movement against the former Russia-aligned government, has tried to bring the landlocked ex-Soviet state closer to the European Union, even hosting an EU-Armenia summit in April 2026. He is currently well ahead in the polls against his main opponent, Russian-Armenian businessman Samvel Karapetyan, although nearly one quarter of voters say they are undecided. 

The fake reports were posted by anonymous X accounts that had few or no prior posts, all within minutes of each other, suggesting a coordinated campaign by inauthentic accounts aligned with Russia. The reports accused Pashinyan of plotting election fraud, preparing for a war with Russia, and behaving inappropriately with staff. 

These fabricated reports mimicked 17 international outlets, including Wired magazine, the U.K.’s Telegraph, French state-owned outlet France 24, and Armenian news sites ArmenPress and CivilNet.

A MULTI-PRONGED ATTACK

NewsGuard’s analysis of the 31 fake reports found that 38 percent suggested that Pashinyan is losing support at home and abroad, 25 percent accused him of committing election fraud or running influence campaigns in his favor, and 12 percent accused him of leading Armenia into war against Russia. Other fabricated claims alleged that Pashinyan is battling cancer, has been accused of sexual misconduct, and is stifling the press, portraying him as authoritarian.

Multiple videos in the influence campaign against Pashinyan use AI to adapt content from actual news reports, making them appear even more authentic. For example, a May 22, 2026, report posted on X that purported to be from the well-known Euronews broadcaster began with a segment presented by correspondent Méabh Mc Mahon. The video opened with a real report from the outlet’s “Europe Today” series, then cut to stock footage of Pashinyan and used an AI-generated version of Mc Mahon’s voice to seamlessly lead the video into false claims.

Mc Mahon’s voiceover first reports on “Pashinyan’s aggressive cancer,” claiming that oncologists say he has “no more than two to three years to live.” The report then turns to allegations of abuse: “Insiders also report that Nikol Pashinyan assaulted his press secretary’s personal assistant,” the voice says. “The victim is currently hiding in France.”

The phony Euronews report gained 223,000 views on X in four days. Mc Mahon did not respond to NewsGuard’s May 26, 2026, emailed request for comment.

EVEN CHER GETS INTO THE ACT

Matryoshka, named after the Russian nesting dolls, has also fabricated reports about celebrities with Armenian roots and connections, including singer Cher and reality star Kris Jenner, claiming that they disapprove of Pashinyan in bogus reports mimicking Politico and other recognizable outlets.

In March 2026, Matryoshka even impersonated NewsGuard and fabricated quotes from its co-CEO, Gordon Crovitz, about supposed pro-Pashinyan influence operations. As NewsGuard previously reported, Crovitz has never made public statements about Armenia, and NewsGuard has never identified any such operations.

A May 22, 2026, poll by Washington D.C.-based think tank International Republican Institute shows Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party leads pro-Russian nationalists parties, garnering 32 percent of vote. Its main rival, Strong Armenia, which supports closer ties to Russia, is polling at 9 percent. However, there is still significant uncertainty; the same poll found that 23 percent of respondents were undecided, and 21 percent refused to answer. 

Clearly, Russia has not given up. Over the past eight months leading up to the Armenian vote, Russian operatives have produced nearly 400 fake reports targeting Pashinyan, according to anonymous Antibot4Navalny, which tracks Russian disinformation. 

Matryoshka earlier targeted the November 2024 U.S. presidential election, the February 2025 German election, and the September 2025 election in Moldova, during which Russia sought to undermine the pro-West party, which ultimately prevailed.

However, none of  those campaigns lasted as long as the operation against Armenia, which launched a year before the country’s elections, NewsGuard found. Indeed, according to Antibot4Navalny, by election day, Armenia is highly likely to overtake Moldova as Russia’s number one disinformation target.

Edited by Madeline Roache, Dina Contini, and Eric Effron