Local bloggers often play an important role in the Kremlin’s efforts to influence a country’s information space. They are able to push Russian propaganda narratives which, to their unsuspecting readers, appear to be independent, original commentary – and what is more, they can tailor the messaging to suit regional issues, thereby ensuring that their audience finds their work both trustworthy and relevant.
In Armenia, one of the main pro-Russian bloggers is Mikayel ‘Mika’ Badalyan, an activist who regularly works with Russian media outlets like RT, and uses his Telegram channel @mikayelbad to criticize Pashinyan’s government, support Samvel Karapetyan and spread typical disinformation narratives about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the war in Ukraine and Yerevan’s relationship with the West. Badalyan has links to the Russian Presidential Administration and intelligence services and we believe is a go between for the Kremlin and figures in Armenia, passing money and information He also shares material from other sources, such as the pro-Kremlin military analysis channel Rybar and the opposition channel Armenian Vendetta, although we hear Rybar Head Mikhail Zvinchuk has recently been less happy to work with Badalyan when it comes to Armenia. Badalyan is also connected to figures in Kremlin linked media firm ANO Dialog, who sources tell us receive money to carry out Kremlin tasking in Armenia. Ahead of the election on 7 June it has been reported that Badalyan is organizing flights for Russian with Armenian passports to fly to Armenia, presumably to vote for pro-Russian figures. This has been confirmed by Swedish journalist Rasmus Canback when he duped Badalyan into providing travel details. Badalyan is now subject to a criminal investigation.
Azatagrum
Badalyan is the leader of the Armenian opposition movement Azatagrum (Armenian for ‘liberation’). The socio-political organization emerged in 2021 and its members believe that Pashinyan is responsible for the loss of Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan. They also oppose concessions made by the prime minister to secure peace, and what they consider to be the Armenian government’s anti-Russian policies. The group was heavily involved in the Resistance Movement of 2022, which saw large-scale civil disobedience and mass demonstrations in Armenia, with protesters calling for Pashinyan’s resignation.
Interestingly, according to a recent report by the EK Strategic Communications Center, Azatagrum’s Telegram channel was created in, and operates from, Russia. The center’s research shows that it mirrors the messaging of Badalyan and the Telegram channel networks associated with Rybar, an organization with ties to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Badalyan himself is no stranger to Russia, often visiting the country in conjunction with his role as a member of the council for the Russian NGO, ANO Eurasia. In April of this year, he attended the “Eurasia – Territory of Traditional Values” forum in Moscow, which was organized by the NGO and attended by approximately 600 representatives from the government, public sector, and business community.
On 1st April 2026, a demonstration took place outside the Armenian embassy in Moscow to show solidarity with the Armenian Apostolic Church and Catholicos Karekin II. The event was opened by Badalyan who stated that “The purpose of today’s rally is to prove in deeds and not in words that Armenians stand next to the Armenian church. We do not accept the policy pursued by the current government.”
ANO Eurasia
Established in 2024, ANO Eurasia’s purpose is ostensibly to ‘strengthen mutually beneficial integration processes in the post-Soviet space while preserving the national identity of peoples’. However, the nature of its activities and the people who are associated with it (the Board of Trustees includes the Chairman of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin and Deputy Speaker Boris Chernyshov) indicate that the organization is primarily a vehicle to allow Moscow to interfere in the political affairs of former Soviet countries. According to an investigation by Radio Liberty’s Moldova service, Russian intelligence services are known to set up NGOs as a way of cultivating networks of sympathizers and recruiting potential spies, and that is the case with ANO Eurasia, which has been under US sanctions since 2024.
Another notable member of the Board of Trustees is Moldovan oligarch Ilan Shor. In the lead-up to Moldova’s 2024 presidential election and EU referendum, Shor was responsible for orchestrating a wide-ranging interference campaign via ANO Eurasia, which included paying millions of dollars to approximately 130,000 Moldovan citizens, sometimes under the guise of charity, in exchange for voting against joining the EU. In a similar vein Badalyan has a role in paying Armenians to attend pro-Russian events, we are told that Russian contacts can order Armenian participants from Badalyan to be present at a particular event and he will do the rest.
Just months after it was founded, Eurasia opened an office in Yerevan, and in 2025 – as reported by the Armenian fact-checking organization Fact Investigation Platform (FIP) – the NGO began distributing humanitarian aid to those citizens who had been forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh. Bags containing food and hygiene products had the slogan ‘Russia is with You’ printed on them, and the initiative received extensive coverage in the local media. FIP notes that ANO Eurasia was working on the project with the Russian Humanitarian Mission under the auspices of the state agency Rossotrudnichestvo, which has become one of Moscow’s most effective instruments of soft power. The aforementioned report by the EK Strategic Communications Center goes so far as to assert that ANO Eurasia is ‘the principal operational vehicle for the Kremlin’s campaign in Armenia’ and Badalyan is the in-country coordinator. We hear that in February Badalyan was interested in purchasing a database of phone numbers, possibly to try and push the Russian message further into Armenia?
Conclusion
The web of connections that ties Mikayel ‘Mika’ Badalyan to Russian state run media, intelligence services, and sanctioned NGOs is no accidental coincidence—it is a deliberately engineered conduit for Moscow’s influence campaign in Armenia. By masquerading as an “independent” commentator, Badalyan repackages Kremlin narratives into locally resonant stories, fuels anti government sentiment, and even mobilizes logistical support for pro Russian voters on the ground.
The evidence is clear: a Telegram channel that mirrors Russian military analysis, financial pipelines that flow through ANO Eurasia, and a political movement whose very headquarters sit on Russian soil. When a single individual can both shape public discourse and act as a logistical hub for foreign backed election meddling, the line between “blogger” and “agent” blurs beyond recognition.
Badalyan is not a rogue activist; he is a strategic asset in the Kremlin’s playbook for soft power domination across the post Soviet space. Recognizing and exposing this hybrid threat is the first step—now it is up to Armenian civil society, independent media, and international partners to cut the channels that let Moscow weaponize local voices against their own nation.
