Kazakhstan denies fabricated Pashinyan remarks circulating on social media

Kazakhstan’s Centre for Combating Disinformation has rejected claims circulating on social media that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made remarks targeting Kazakhstan.

The centre said an investigation found that the quote attributed to Pashinyan had been fabricated. According to the statement, the claims originated from his response to a journalist during a September 3 briefing.

Asked about allegations that Armenia’s decisions were influenced from abroad, Pashinyan said: “One gets the impression that you are looking at the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Armenian SSR.”

The centre stressed that Pashinyan was speaking about Armenia’s independence in making state decisions and did not mention Kazakhstan.

According to the centre, the authors of the social media posts altered parts of Pashinyan’s original response and added phrases that he did not use, giving the statement a different meaning and presenting it as an attack on Kazakhstan.

The original remarks are supported by video footage of the September 3 briefing, the centre said.

Kazakhstan’s Centre for Combating Disinformation urged social media users to verify quotes against their original sources, dates and context before sharing them. It also called on users who had already published the inaccurate claims to delete them and issue corrections.

The centre said such manipulations could fuel negative sentiment and create artificial tensions between the peoples of Kazakhstan and Armenia.

By Sabina Mammadli