BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 7. Russia's RTVI media outlet has spread a "rating" of Armenian politicians, where Ruben Vardanyan, a fugitive Russian billionaire of Armenian origin, who took over separatists in Karabakh, ranks second, just after PM Nikol Pashinyan.
This "rating" has been compiled by a certain center for sociological research called "Focus". The organization claims that the public opinion survey in Armenia was conducted from January 31 to February 4 by phone. Thus, 21.67 percent of respondents are potentially ready to vote for Pashinyan in the elections to the National Assembly, and 20.36 percent - ready to vote for Vardanyan.
The credibility of this source is questionable, as the organization does not even have its own website and publishes so-called "polls" in a Telegram-channel. Moreover, a small number of people has participated in the survey, just 840, out of which is difficult to form an objective opinion.
Several Armenian outlets have immediately published the "polling results". All polls of this organization are immediately re-published in the Armenian media, and in the vast majority they broadcast anti-Pashinian and pro-Russian viewpoints.
Also, RTVI has been "supporting" Vardanyan for a long time already, publishing his interviews, etc. Vardanyan is known for bribing all kinds of media outlets to spread his propaganda, and it is obvious that this channel wasn't an exception.
The far-reaching plans of Vardanyan and his puppeteers to seize power in Armenia itself have become obvious to everyone. This is a repeated scheme, similar to when former Armenian presidents Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan (the so-called Karabakh clan) seized the power in Karabakh only to be later 'moved' to Yerevan.
Vardanyan is realizing that all his plans regarding Karabakh will not work out, since Azerbaijan has long made it clear to Armenians and the whole world that there can be no other "authority" in Karabakh, the so-called "humanitarian blockade" is just a fiction, and no one is going to talk with separatists. So, his is moving on to plan B, actively promoting his "popularity" and "credibility" among Armenians. Such a maneuver will allow him to sweep the failure in Karabakh under the carpet, and also begin to deal with his main instruction - the seizure of power in Armenia.