Russia says EU mission to RA mirrors ‘Moldova scenario’

PanARMENIAN.Net - The decision to send a European Union rapid response team to Armenia to counter hybrid threats is an obvious projection of the “Moldovan scenario,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

According to Zakharova, the initiative to deploy such a mission reflects an approach previously used elsewhere, RIA Novosti reported.

“Sending a so-called ‘rapid response team’ to the republic, as you mentioned, is essentially an obvious projection of the ‘Moldovan scenario’ onto Armenia,” she said during a briefing.

In her view, the active involvement of such a team is unlikely to strengthen Armenia’s real sovereignty and could produce the opposite effect, Sputnik Armenia reported.

At the same time, Moscow noted the comment from Armenia’s Justice Ministry stating that the group’s work would not be directed against Russia.

Russia, for its part, said it is ready to send a similar group dealing with comparable tasks if requested by the Armenian side.

The European Union plans to help Armenia prevent possible Russian interference in the parliamentary elections scheduled for June by first deploying a “hybrid rapid response team” aimed at countering Kremlin disinformation, and possibly later establishing a more permanent civilian mission in the South Caucasus country, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty earlier reported.

A similar team of about 20 experts had been sent to Chisinau during last year’s parliamentary elections to assist Moldova’s authorities in detecting and countering disinformation spread from Russia on social media.