Any Russian trace in Armenian shopping centre blast? Numerous suspicions in Armenia

The explosion at the Surmalu shopping centre in Armenia's capital of Yerevan is the most widely discussed topic among Armenians and media outlets due to the catastrophic consequences of the incident and the high death toll. While the cause of the explosion has not been officially disclosed, those who believe Russia was involved in the incident are clearly heard. The conspiracy theory is supported by prominent Armenian politicians and public figures. Furthermore, the version involving Russia's involvement is widely accepted, and, of course, the anti-Russian wave is growing and gaining strength. New "arguments and facts" are emerging.

The version about the involvement of someone or something from the Russian Federation was partly spurred by the events that preceded the incident, which caused a real storm of emotions in Armenia. Among them is the fake news spread by notorious Russian blogger Semyon Pegov, who actively disseminated disinformation on his channel during the 44-day Karabakh war about the Azerbaijani army and the balance of forces at the front. This time he made reports from the site of the explosion along with his Armenian colleague Mika Baghdalyan. They spread rumours about the death of a little girl as a result of a fire to arouse readers' interest. Having learned that this was just fake news to draw attention to their reports, the Armenian public severely criticised the pseudo-journalists. Meanwhile, this is the provocative orientation of both bloggers, worked out over many years, always acting as a kind of Russia's proxy force in the region. As is known, Pegov always closely communicated with the Russian special services, while Badalyan, zealously inflating "sensations", cooperated with the Russian peacekeeping contingent in the Karabakh region.

The anti-Russian wave also intensified after the information on the Life.ru resource, which belongs to Russian media tycoon of Armenian origin Aram Gabrelyanov. It turned out that the message about the explosion in Surmalu appeared on this website two hours before the incident. Later, the scandal was allegedly settled, taking into account the difference in time zones, however, some Armenian media outlets and social networks continue accusing Gabrelyanov of manipulating the time change and the planned information "bomb".

Baghramyan 26 Telegram channel supporting Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan directly accused the Russian embassy of trying to undermine the political situation in the country.

"Unfortunately, this terrorist spreading fake news (Mika Baghdalyan) is supported and financed by Russian propagandists, in particular, by the composition of the Russian embassy in the Republic of Armenia," Baghramyan 26 Telegram channel says.

Proceeding from the situation in Yerevan, it is possible to assume that everything was prepared by some global force from the outside. For example, the reports about bombs planted in the Yerevan metro and Zvartnots airport were made today [August 16]. Prominent political and public figures of the country, such as politician and filmmaker Tigran Khzmalyan, link these circumstances into one chain and even compare the nature and strength of the explosions at the fireworks warehouse in Rostov-on-Don in 2020 with the Surmalu incident, revealing a similar subtext in these events.

One of Khzmalyan's latest posts on Facebook is directly related to Moscow, or rather, to its leadership. "Russia has never betrayed Armenia. The enemy does not betray. The enemy either kills or sells," he said. Meanwhile, many Armenians commenting on Khzmalyan's latest posts also express confidence that Russia was involved in the explosion of the shopping centre.

Lragir.am news website also links false signals about explosives with the actions of forces sent from Russia. It does not openly talk about this, but more than transparently hints, indicating that this happens periodically, but law enforcement agencies have not yet notified the public about the false phone calls - whether they were made from Armenia or from abroad.

"Earlier, those who made such phone calls were found and prosecuted. Is it possible to assume that this is not hooliganism given that these events coincided with the active phase of 'unconditional implementation of the tripartite statement'?" the message says.

More questions related to Surmalu - the cause and perpetrators of the explosion, the scale of destruction, etc. appear every day. While assessing the nature of the incident based on the available video footage, some netizens think that the explosion occurred as a result of TNT explosives. However, Armenian Emergencies Minister Armen Pambukhchyan excludes the version of a terrorist attack, but the previously announced version of a fire in a pyrotechnics warehouse seems unconvincing to the Armenian public.

Proceeding from expert Sashik Brutyan's conclusion, the Armenian Hraparak newspaper did its best to understand the essence of the issue, but could not come to a concrete conclusion.

"I cannot say and decide how many explosives could be in the warehouse. Then, to make any assumptions, it is necessary to know the thickness of the walls, but the salute was unlikely to cause an explosion," the expert said.

The allegations that the opposition is trying to overthrow the existing government continue to gain momentum in the Armenian and even Russian media outlets through provocations and threats of terrorist acts. Meanwhile, the Armenian opposition is closely cooperating with Moscow. That is, here is Russia's involvement.

"One of my versions is that this is being done purposefully. Maybe some people are doing this to increase political tension in the country. These may be political opponents of the authorities," political analyst Stepan Grigoryan said while commenting on the situation in an interview with AliQ Media.

At the same time, the possibility of organising an explosion through revanchists' help from political movements, according to a number of media outlets and Armenian users on social networks, is not excluded either. In their comments, among the possible organisers of the incident, they point to the people supporting Armenian ex-presidents [Robert] Kocharyan and [Serzh] Sargsyan. In any case, the journalists of tsargrad.tv in the article "Who blew up Surmalu?" stated that protest moods have always been a signal for a change of power in Armenia, and now the local opposition can use some "new tools of struggle" to foment these passions.

"According to a source in Yerevan, the protests have subsided, but opposition representatives assure that they did not lower their banners, but only changed the tools of struggle. However, it is not specified what tools they will use. If we assume that certain goals will be achieved as a result of these rallies and Pashinyan's Cabinet of Ministers will resign, what other force would be preferable for Russia?" the authors of the publication asked. They think that there are two most influential forces in the Armenian political arena: one of them is led by Robert Kocharyan, the other by Serzh Sargsyan.