YEREVAN (Armenpres) — Armenian authorities have strongly denied a news report alleging that a French company has been transporting nuclear waste to Armenia for storage, calling it fake news intended to harm the country’s international reputation.
In a statement released on Saturday, the Ministry of Environment addressed an article titled “French Orano Company Has Been Secretly Transporting Nuclear Waste to Armenia, Which Will Be Stored in a National Park,” describing it as “entirely disinformation and untrue.”
The ministry urged media outlets to act responsibly and avoid circulating reports of unknown origin without proper fact-checking.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s office also addressed the issue, characterizing the article as part of an ongoing hybrid war against Armenia. Pashinyan’s spokesperson, Nazeli Baghdasaryan, wrote on Facebook that information attacks are a key element of such hybrid warfare.
“This is an attack on Armenia’s sovereignty, statehood, foreign policy independence, and democracy,” Baghdasaryan stated. “The goal is clear: to damage Armenia’s international reputation and, in this case, to cast a shadow over our strategic partnership with France.”
Without naming specific actors, Baghdasaryan noted that “certain centers”—by employing anti-Armenian narratives—are essentially revealing their discomfort with Armenia’s current path. “This is further proof that the direction Armenia has taken is the right one,” she added.
“Armenia will not deviate from that path, no matter how many fake articles or information attacks are launched,” she concluded.
Mediamax, one of the Armenian news outlets that had previously published a translation of the false article, has since removed the piece and issued an apology for spreading disinformation.
