Armenia suspends broadcasting of Russian Sputnik station for humiliating Armenian PM

Ukrayinska Pravda:  In Wednesday 20 December, the TV and Radio Committee of Armenia decided to revoke the licence of the Sputnik Armenia propaganda radio station for 30 days due to humiliating statements allowed by the host Tigran Keosayan, the husband of Margarita Simonyan [editor-in-chief of the Russian state-owned broadcaster Russia Today – ed.].

The commission found that on 17 November, in his programme, Keosayan "in mocking and humiliating terms" commented on Armenia and the Armenian people, "giving assessments to which a political observer and presenter, who is a foreign citizen, has no moral right."

"It was also recorded that during the programme, inaccurate or insufficiently reliable information received from unverified sources was announced," the regulator noted, without giving details.

The propaganda radio station itself said that Keosayan accused Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of treason, wondering if he would stay "alive" after that.

As a result, the Armenian Television and Radio Commission suspended the licence of the Sputnik Armenia owner company for 30 days and fined it ֏500,000 [approx. US$1240 – ed.].

The Russian "media" has been spreading propaganda against the Armenian government since Yerevan started to speak more and more about its desire to reduce the country's over-reliance on Moscow a few months ago.

Prior to that, a manipulative programme about Pashinyan on the Russian federal TV channel prompted the Armenian Foreign Ministry to summon the Russian ambassador in September.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed that Yerevan was primarily responsible for not implementing the agreements that were reached on 9 November, 2020. This statement prompted a response from Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.