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Russian MFA denies rumors about PMC Wagner fighters in Armenia

"This is all just another mythology. I can qualify it simply as a falsehood," Maria Zakharova pointed out

VLADIVOSTOK, September 13. /TASS/. Publications by some Armenian Telegram channels about three thousand fighters of the PMC Wagner, allegedly present in the country and planning anti-government actions, are a falsehood, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing at the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).

At a journalist's request, Zakharova commented on the rumors being spread in some Armenian Telegram channels that three thousand fighters of the PMC Wagner were allegedly present in the country and, with the support of some local forces, plotting a coup and the ouster of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. She dismissed such claims as groundless and pointed to the complete absence of relevant photo and video materials with geo-referenced locations.

"Where are they, if it is true that so many people are in question? This is not a country with a population of a billion. It's a country with a far smaller population. In all likelihood these people would have been easily spotted," Zakharova emphasized. "This is all just another mythology. I can qualify it simply as a falsehood."

The Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, Grigory Karasin, commented on the relevant publications most accurately, calling them "hogwash," Zakharova said.

"I agree absolutely with what Karasin in that there should be at least some figures, some facts and at least something," she added.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, while commenting on the rumors about the arrival of PMC Wagner fighters in the country, said that they were checked by the National Security Service.

"Such rumors did surface in Telegram channels. The NSS is checking this information within its range of competence," he said.