MOSCOW, September 8. /TASS/. The number of pro-Western media outlets with an agenda aimed at discrediting Russia has been growing in Armenia, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday.

"We are concerned about the growing number of pro-Western media outlets in Armenia that tend to discredit our country and our [bilateral] relationship [with Armenia]. We have taken note of negative reporting, often confrontational in nature, that calls into question Russia’s constructive role in the region," she said in a video address to a Russian-Armenian media forum in Yerevan posted on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Telegram channel. "Unfortunately, there are certain Armenian media outlets that go beyond mere criticism, but openly besmirch our common mechanisms for interstate cooperation, including the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization - TASS) and the EAEU (Eurasian Economic Union - TASS)," she specified.

"I think that neither you nor we can be satisfied with the trend that has recently gained momentum in Armenia’s media space toward the dissemination of one-sided, negative information about Russia and the relationship between Russia and Armenia, which is often simply untrue," Zakharova lamented. "No doubt, this contradicts the traditionally friendly communication between the two peoples," she added.

According to the Russian diplomat, the West is not just encouraging such propaganda, but rather is actively fostering it by funding numerous NGOs and awarding grants, as such tendentious reporting is mostly targeted at an impressionable youth audience.

Zakharova called for efforts on the part of government agencies and media outlets to maintain a healthy atmosphere in the two countries’ information space for the sake of fruitful, across-the-board bilateral cooperation.