



{"id":23832,"date":"2020-08-31T11:11:46","date_gmt":"2020-08-31T11:11:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/media.am\/?p=23832"},"modified":"2020-09-09T13:41:34","modified_gmt":"2020-09-09T13:41:34","slug":"false-and-manipulative-news-in-the-region-about-armenia-august","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/verified\/2020\/08\/31\/23832\/","title":{"rendered":"False and manipulative news in the region about Armenia: August"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In August, regional media compared Armenia to Belarus, repeating the propaganda story of a &#8220;color revolution.&#8221; On Vladimir Solovyov&#8217;s YouTube channel, they again complained about the Armenian authorities and further manipulated the denied conspiracy theory.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Propagandists declared the Armenian revolution &#8220;colored&#8221; and compared it to Belarus<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After the presidential election, large-scale protests began in Belarus against Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled the country for 26 years. In Belarus, Russia, and Azerbaijan, these demonstrations were almost immediately called an &#8220;attempt of a color revolution&#8221; and compared with Armenia.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">? Lukashenko <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/franakviacorka\/status\/1292107771295535107\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">was showing<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> footage of demonstrations and violence from Ukraine, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, etc. from his pre-election commercial. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/eurasianet.org\/pashinyan-congratulates-lukashenko-on-controversial-re-election\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to Eurasianet.org<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, it is not clear whether the footage on display is from Armenia or not, but there was no such violence during the Armenian Velvet Revolution.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Kremlin and its affiliated media often manipulate the propaganda story of color revolutions when talking about demonstrations in neighboring countries. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ru.krymr.com\/a\/kak-prokremlevskie-smi-osveschayut-narodnye-protesty\/30803365.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The main thesis<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of this story is that the demonstrations against the government in different countries are not carried out by dissatisfied citizens, but by &#8220;outside forces&#8221; who finance some agents inside.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This story about the color revolutions was voiced by &#8220;\u041a\u043e\u043c\u0441\u043e\u043c\u043e\u043b\u044c\u0441\u043a\u0430\u044f \u043f\u0440\u0430\u0432\u0434\u0430,&#8221; a separate portion of the one-hour program was dedicated to Armenia.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">? The KP <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/radiokp.ru\/podcast\/36837\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">repeated the usual propaganda theses<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> about &#8220;outside&#8221; forces, and pro-government commentator Stanislav Tarasov (whose interviews <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/168.am\/?s=%D5%BF%D5%A1%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%BD%D5%B8%D5%BE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">often appear on<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the Armenian 168.am website) stated that the Velvet Revolution was planned by the Armenian community in the United States, that&nbsp; Pashinyan and Sargsyan had come to a preliminary agreement, and that now a dictatorship is being established in Armenia.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The story of color revolutions was also used by the Azerbaijani propaganda machine.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">? One of the Belarusian correspondents of the Russian state agency Sputnik <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bakuinform.az\/mnenie-eksperta\/6729-u-azerbajdzhana-i-belarusi-est-vnutrennij-sterzhen-u-armenii-ego-ne-bylo-kommentarij\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">told<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the Azerbaijani press that Azerbaijan and Belarus have strong leaders, they were able to &#8220;resist&#8221; the color revolution, but Armenia was not.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Armenian and Russian websites complain that Torosyan does not want to use the Russian vaccine<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Armenian 1or.am website <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/1or.am\/?p=64804&amp;l=am&amp;fbclid=IwAR2YbsU8aT10BnbGwvLvM6zNt2jFVYo_aIRYl2_F6kkeU7s_WLnoY5N730A\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">wrote<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that Arsen Torosyan is campaigning against the Russian vaccine. This article was <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/eadaily.com\/ru\/news\/2020\/08\/20\/smi-ministr-zdravoohraneniya-armenii-antiagitator-rossiyskoy-vakciny\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reproduced<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by the Russian website Eadaily.com. Both media outlets assumed that Torosyan had ties to international organizations and that he would bring another vaccine to Armenia &#8220;with some kind of plan.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These publications did not take into account that the development of the Russian vaccine is not over yet.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On August 11, Vladimir Putin <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/kremlin.ru\/events\/president\/news\/63877\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">announced<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that Russia was the first in the world to register the coronavirus vaccine. According to Putin, the vaccine is effective, his daughter was among those who received it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u274c Putin was wrong: &#8220;Sputnik-V&#8221; was not the first registered vaccine, China <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-health-coronavirus-china-vaccine\/cansinos-covid-19-vaccine-candidate-approved-for-military-use-in-china-idUSKBN2400DZ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">received<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> its vaccine registration in June. Both of these drugs are not for the general population, they will be tested on some limited groups\u2024 In China, the military, in Russia, doctors and teachers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In other words, the tests of the Russian vaccine, in fact, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/meduza.io\/feature\/2020\/08\/12\/vizhu-novosti-chto-v-rossii-zaregistrirovali-pervuyu-v-mire-vaktsinu-ot-koronavirusa-ona-pravda-pervaya-kogda-ya-smogu-privitsya\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">are not over<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Other manufacturers are ahead of Russia. For example, the Moderna company founded by Nubar Afeyan had started the final stage of testing earlier.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u0421\u043e\u043b\u043e\u0432\u044c\u0451\u0432 LIVE exploited the conspiracy theory again and saw &#8220;anti-Russian&#8221; tendencies in Armenia<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u0421\u043e\u043b\u043e\u0432\u044c\u0451\u0432 LIVE YouTube channel once again criticized post-revolutionary Armenia. This channel was founded by one of the most famous figures of Russian propaganda, Vladimir Solovyov. The channel has referred to Armenia several times in recent months, spreading <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/media.am\/en\/verified\/2020\/07\/31\/23487\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">manipulative allegations<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In August, another host of the YouTube channel, former State Duma deputy Semyon Baghdasarov, dedicated separate excerpts to Armenia in two issues of his program&nbsp; \u0421\u043c\u0435\u0440\u0448 (<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/S5qVNcq8vGI?t=1828\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/_sYJukYEOSM?t=4855\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In both cases, Baghdasarov&#8217;s claims were almost the same. He manipulated the conspiracy theory that had been <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/media.am\/en\/verified\/2019\/09\/11\/17079\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">repeatedly denied<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> about George Soros, claiming that Pashinyan&#8217;s government was &#8220;Soros-backed.&#8221; Besides, Baghdasarov often remembered historical figures, the glorious past of Armenia and his Armenian ancestors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Like another well-known representative of the Russian propaganda system, Margarita Simonyan, Baghdasarov contrasted the greatness of his ancestors to the current &#8220;anti-Russian&#8221; government of Armenia.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">? Baghdasarov stated that Pashinyan wanted to remove the 102nd Russian military base from Armenia but then realized that Turkey was a dangerous country and that Russia was the only hope to defend it from that crisis. He also resented the fact that Russian channels in Armenia are &#8220;blocked,&#8221; transferred to cable broadcasting, and that Armenian television shows the Russian opposition Alexei Navalny.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-23764 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/August-myths.jpg\" alt=\"\u057c\u0578\u0582\u057d\u0561\u056f\u0561\u0576 \u0574\u056b\u0586\u0565\u0580\u0568 \u0540\u0561\u0575\u0561\u057d\u057f\u0561\u0576\u056b \u0574\u0561\u057d\u056b\u0576\" width=\"750\" height=\"520\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/August-myths.jpg 750w, https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/August-myths-300x208.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Armenia and Artsakh denied the rumors spread in the Russian press<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In August, Armenian and Artsakh officials twice denied Russian media reports regarding security.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u274c The Defense Ministry spokesman <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/shushanstepanyan\/posts\/3107227995980006\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">denied<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/avia.pro\/news\/tureckie-f-16-podleteli-k-erevanu-na-rasstoyanie-vozdushnogo-udara?fbclid=IwAR0vEPHsqzAIrATe6gofxAthW84xGxX7xKKvQWduCtHX9ROOiKJm34cT6wM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">information<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> published by the Russian Avia.pro website that the Turkish F-16 planes had approached the Armenian border. The information was spread by other Russian media outlets as well: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lenta.ru\/news\/2020\/08\/03\/f16\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lenta.ru<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dialogorg.ru\/news\/02.08.2020-cmbcmbcmcm%2Ccnmnc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dialogorg.ru<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u274c The Artsakh Foreign Ministry <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MFANKR\/posts\/3295288690528335\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">denied<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the news spread by Topwar.ru that it had told Foreign Minister Masis Mailyan that Armenia would withdraw its Russian military forces from its territory if Russia did not provide assistance. The Russian website referred to the Polish <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.defence24.pl\/gorski-karabach-zblizenie-rosji-i-turcji-nas-niepokoi-korespondencja-ze-strefy-walk?fbclid=IwAR2Cj5O-b8850vuhc_KPzz_w9mKDZE7J2GdOSGQx0HV3bjf0gleTc5iQfX0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Defense24.pl<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> periodical, but in the Polish article these words are not said by Mailyan, but by a retired military man. Topwar.ru later removed the publication.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><b>Karine Ghazaryan<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In August, regional media compared Armenia to Belarus, repeating the propaganda story of a &#8220;color revolution.&#8221; On Vladimir Solovyov&#8217;s YouTube channel, they again complained about the Armenian authorities and further manipulated the denied conspiracy theory. Propagandists declared the Armenian revolution &#8220;colored&#8221; and compared it to Belarus After the presidential election, large-scale protests began in Belarus<a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/verified\/2020\/08\/31\/23832\/\"> Read the full article&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":23763,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-verified","author_posts-karine-ghazaryan"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23832"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23896,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23832\/revisions\/23896"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}