FIS RF: European Union demands from Armenian authorities to oust the Russian Orthodox Church from the country

The Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation (SVR) has announced a targeted policy of the European Union to destroy religious and spiritual ties between Armenia and Russia. According to the agency, Brussels is demanding the complete ousting of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) from the republic as one of the prerequisites for Yerevan’s further European integration process.

According to the Russian Federation SVR press bureau, as part of this strategy, the EU Partnership Mission in Armenia, established in April this year, is making aggressive attempts to restrict the activities of the Yerevan-Armenian Diocese. In particular, they seek to deprive the Diocese of the rights to use the church real estate and block its interaction with the Armenian Apostolic Church. The SVR emphasizes that these actions are part of the “political-ideological task” to break centuries-old spiritual ties.

The report pays special attention to the incident in Gyumri. According to the intelligence, Brussels-affiliated non-governmental organizations, such as the “Union of Informed Citizens” and the “Vanadzor office of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly”, organized an information attack on the rector of the chapel church at the 102nd military base of the Russian Federation, Priest Timofei Ghazarian. The clergyman was accused of interfering in the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for June 7, 2026.

The Russian agency notes that at the moment European structures continue to fabricate compromising materials against other representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church in order to induce the Armenian authorities to start large-scale persecution. Summarizing the situation, the SVR recalls that the spiritual closeness of Russia and Armenia has much deeper historical roots than the institutions of the European Union and is able to withstand the current external pressure from structures that “rejected their cultural and historical identity.