Author of Pashinyan’s “Fake Congratulation” to Trump Detained

YEREVAN (Armradio) — The Armenian National Security Service has revealed the identity of the person, who disseminated false information claiming Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan congratulated Donald Trump on launching “successful” campaign against Iran.

A Facebook user named Diana Harutyunyan claimed on January 3 Pashinyan had congratulated Trump on killing top Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani.

This false news was reposed by Azerbaijani and Iranian media outlets.

The man running the fake account has been detained. He has confessed to having created the page in 2018 to post politically motivated information.

“I made the latest post about Nikol Pashinyan’s so-called congratulation to Donald Trump to discredit the authorities, as I consider that keeping former President Robert Kocharyan under custody is unfair,” the man said in a video published by the National Security Service.

He added, however, he could not have imagined the post would be widely disseminated, causing harm to the interestsand national security of the Republic of Armenia.

The man said he regrets and apologizes for the deed.

“This is the case when the false “freedom” of speech poses a threat to our national security. The authors of the news and their motives need to be clarified,” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in a Facebook post on Saturday.

The Prime Minister added today that Iran and the United States are friendly countries and Armenia cannot be drawn into anti-Iranian or anti-American actions.