On December 2, the “Strategic Agenda for the Armenia-EU Partnership” was signed at the sixth meeting of the Armenia-EU Partnership Council. At a press conference held that same day, Kaja Kallas, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, announced the allocation of €15 million to Armenia. According to her, this EU funding will help detect and respond to foreign influences.
“This will fund a variety of initiatives, including demining training and equipment, as well as regional confidence-building measures. In parallel, Armenia, of course, faces other challenges. Russia and its proxies are already ramping up disinformation campaigns in Armenia ahead of the next year’s parliamentary election. We see the same networks that we saw deployed in Moldova that were active, so he playbook is identical,” Kaja Kallas stated at the press conference.
After the signing of the document, an information campaign targeting Kaյa Kallas commenced on various social media platforms.
Specifically, on December 3 and 4, some users on X (formerly Twitter) expressed concern that Kaja Kallas was urging Armenia to impose sanctions on Russia. Additionally, it was reported that 50 million euros had been allocated to facilitate Armenia’s distancing from Moscow.
What happened in reality
During a press conference on December 2, in response to a question from a journalist at the Aravot website, Kaja Kallas stated that the EU sanctions against Russia are challenging. However, she emphasized that they have requested partner countries to implement similar measures because they want the war to end. She remarked, “The impact of this war on all our economies is significant, which is why we are imposing sanctions to bring it to a close.”
The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy stated, “That is why we ask our partners to join us.”
Although Kallas’s speech does not explicitly call on Armenia to implement sanctions against Russia, it is clear that the EU values the support of partner countries, including Armenia, in enforcing these sanctions.
The claim that the EU has provided Armenia with 50 million euros has not been confirmed; only 15 million euros in support have been officially announced.
According to Kallas, this funding will be used to finance several initiatives, including training demining specialists, purchasing equipment, implementing regional confidence-building measures, and addressing hybrid threats, among others.
The account named Jeremy Gray spread information using the logos of the reputable German news organization Deutsche Welle and the French agency VIGINUM. This tactic created the false impression that these media outlets authored the content. However, an investigation revealed that neither organization had published this information.
Some users on X described Kallas’ statement as hypocritical: “She accuses Russia of meddling in Armenia’s internal affairs, yet this is precisely what the European Union is doing today.”
Another account stated that a “BellingCat” investigation revealed over 5,000 companies in Europe were producing fake videos, creating a new income source for “European elites.”
It’s important to note that the video linked to this information is unrelated to the content being shared. In fact, the photo was sourced from the website aoto.com and was captured during the filming of Austria’s first virtual production studio. Additionally, we were unable to find any investigation with similar content on BellingCat.
Screenshot from AOTO’s Instagram page
On December 4, a video was circulating, supposedly created by artificial intelligence (AI), featuring Julien Brass, a professor at the University of Grenoble-Alpes in France. In this video, he asserts that school bullying contributes to the emergence of mentally unhealthy leaders, citing figures such as Kaja Callas, Emmanuel Macron, Nikol Pashinyan, and others.
Screenshot from LuciferD’s X page
In the real version of the video, Julien Brass only presents the role of the educational institution and its vision. There is no mention of leaders or their mental health.
Screenshot from LuciferD’s X page
It is important to note that most of the publications by X have already been removed, and the accounts responsible for spreading the false information are now inaccessible.
The Fact-Checking Platform (FIP.am) reported on the disinformation campaign targeting Kaja Kallas. Their investigation revealed that similar campaigns were also conducted in Armenian media and on Telegram.
