&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Germany's Merz warns of Russian meddling in Armenia vote")
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday warned of possible Russian interference in next year's Armenian parliamentary election, saying Moscow is trying to prevent closer ties between the landlocked Caucasus nation and the EU. "It has become a distressing normality that elections are attacked by enemies of democracy," Merz said at a press conference in Berlin alongside his Armenian counterpart Nikol Pashinyan.
Merz accused Russia of "trying to scare voters in Armenia" and "spreading untruths about the goals and values of the European Union" through "disinformation and sabotage".
"It's not only Europe that Russia is trying to destabilise through hybrid means, but Armenia too," he added.
In March, Armenia's parliament passed a bill launching the country's bid for EU membership, as the historically Russia-allied country drifts further away from Moscow's orbit.
According to a translation provided by the German chancellery, Pashinyan said at the press conference that Armenia had already experienced an election in 2021 "under very difficult circumstances" and that the country "had experience with disinformation".
Russia is blamed by Western security services for a spate of drone flights, acts of sabotage, cyberattacks and online disinformation campaigns in Europe, which have escalated since Moscow's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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Merz encouraged Pashinyan to move closer to the EU, saying "there is now a historic opportunity for Armenia to embark on the path towards Europe" but cautioned that the country would have to "meet many conditions to join the European Union, including the Copenhagen criteria". In August, Armenia and its longtime arch-foe Azerbaijan committed to peace after decades of territorial conflict in a deal brokered by the White House.
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