False news: Kocharyan and Sargsyan "brought" Soros to Armenia

Verdict: Fake News

On June 16, Facebook user Astghik Galstyan posted a photo in which former RA Presidents Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan, together with the former Minister of Defense Vigen Sargsyan, former Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, and the well-known businessman George Soros were sitting at the same table.

Astghik Galstyan wrote in the description of the photo: “this swindler claims every day during his campaign that Pashinyan brought Soros to Armenia, so now see who brought Soros and why; robbing Armenia was not enough to satisfy their avarice so they brought Soros, wrapped him around our nation’s neck and drained his money. How much can you lie?”

The user reiterates the famous narrative about businessman George Soros, accusing the former presidents of "bringing" him to Armenia.

The post had about 1000 shares.

The photo has been edited

We found the original version of the photo through the Yandex search engine. It is a screenshot of a video released by GALA TV in 2013. In the same episode of the video (3:50), we see the World Wrestling Champion and former MP Arsen Julfalakyan instead of George Soros.

Thus, the photo shared by Astghik Galstyan, in which George Soros is sitting at the same table with former high-ranking RA officials, has been edited, and the assertions made on the basis of the photo are therefore false.

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This article was produced in partnership with Media Initiatives Center and is part of Facebook’s Fact-checking Programme. Given the rating, Facebook may impose different restrictions – click here for full information. For information on issuing a correction or to dispute a rating, please see here.