Manipulations of Pashinyan's Rating: 'Hraparak'

On Sunday, Pashinyan's team was in high spirits as Stanislav Pritchin, a researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Oriental Studies and a member of the Valdai Discussion Club, announced to the TASS agency that, according to surveys, support for Pashinyan remains high in the country and he continues to be an undisputed leader.

However, certain political science circles in Russia announced that they do not recognize anyone by the name of 'Stanislav Pritchin,' but it turned out that such a person exists, yet he does not work at the Russian Institute of Oriental Studies.

We contacted the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Oriental Studies. The administration informed us that it is highly unlikely that such a survey was commissioned by them and suggested contacting the institute’s scientific secretary’s office. The assistant to the scientific secretary, Natalia Shlyotskaya, stated that Mr. Pritchin is no longer employed by them. When asked if he could have conducted surveys on behalf of the institute, she replied, 'If he has recently made such a statement, then he could not have been representing the institute.'

We also inquired whether the institute conducts any surveys. The response was, 'We have sociologists, like Savin, who works on Central Asia, not the South Caucasus, conducting social surveys. We have other sociologists in Moscow who could do some surveys. However, this is not our institute's primary direction.'

The institute refused to provide Pritchin’s phone number. Internet searches revealed his new workplace at the Carnegie Foundation's Moscow center. Moreover, the Russian state agency TASS is known to be under the influence of the Azerbaijani lobby,' writes the newspaper.