Lavrov cited EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas’s remarks made just before she and the foreign ministers of EU member states met with their Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan in Brussels on Monday. Kallas said the Armenian government has asked for the kind of “help to fight foreign malign interference” which the EU provided to Moldova earlier this year.
“Just days ago, the head of European diplomacy, Kristina Kallas, publicly promised that the European Union ‘will help Armenia fight malign foreign interference, as we did in Moldova.’ [That is] a sincere confession, an admission of guilt,” Lavrov told senior members of Russia’s ruling party at a meeting on Thursday.
He glossed over the fact that the EU help mentioned by Kallas was requested by the Armenian government.
Moldova - People vote at a polling station during Moldova's parliamentary elections in Chisinau, September 28, 2025.
Both the request and the EU official’s seemingly favorable reaction to it have prompted serious concern from Armenia’s leading opposition groups. Their leaders claim that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian is trying to secure the EU’s backing for winning the showdown elections through fraud or foul play.
“Kaya Kalas's statement is a direct and blatant interference in the internal affairs of Armenia,” Ishkhan Saghatelian, a leading member of the main opposition Hayastan alliance, insisted on Wednesday.
Saghatelian said it is meant to “prepare the ground for limiting, suppressing or neutralizing the activities of opposition political forces during the pre-election period” and “influence the electoral will and preferences of Armenian citizens.”
The Armenian opposition is particularly alarmed by Kallas’s reference to Moldova where two opposition parties deemed pro-Russian were barred from participating in a recent parliamentary election won by the country’s pro-Western leadership. The EU justified those bans, alleging Russian interference in the Moldovan elections.
Belgium - The EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas (right), enlargement commission Marta Kos and Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan sign an agreement in Brussels, December 2, 2025.
Lavrov charged that the EU itself meddled in those polls by openly supporting the former Soviet republic’s ruling party.
The election-related EU support sought by Pashinian’s administration has stoked opposition fears that the Armenian authorities too may disqualify some major opposition groups from the 2026 vote.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that Yerevan only wants the EU to help it “counter potential hybrid threats” to the proper conduct of elections. Armenian officials have still not elaborated on those threats or said publicly whether they emanate from Russia.
Following her previous talks with Mirzoyan held earlier this month, Kallas accused Russia of spreading pre-election “disinformation” in Armenia. While Pashinian regularly brands his political foes as Russian agents, neither he nor other Armenian leaders have explicitly echoed the accusations strongly denied by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Despite its heightened tensions with Yerevan, Moscow has so far avoided showing support for any Armenian opposition group, including the one led by jailed Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetian.