Kremlin botnet “Matryoshka” inflated the scandal around the announcement of the concert of System of a Down in Armenia

The Kremlin botnet “Matryoshka” uses the scandal around the stated concert of System of a Down in Yerevan for a new wave of disinformation against Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. This The Insider was reported by researchers of the project “Bones Blocker”, which tracks the activity of Russian botnets in social networks.

The reason for the campaign was a real event: on May 23, during the election campaign, Pashinyan publicly announced that System of a Down will perform in July in the Republic Square in Yerevan, but the group said that the date had not yet been determined. “Matryoshka” immediately picked up this information and built a series of interrelated fakes around it.

In ten videos distributed by the network, a complete fictitious story is constructed:

One of the videos disguised as the material of the Armenian opposition publication Frontline reports that the group’s fee will allegedly amount to a record $120 million and has already caused “massive indignation” in the country against the background of a difficult economic situation. “Political scholar Ekaterina Mayering-Mikaze” (there is an Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Georgia with the same name and surname) in a fake interview explains that Pashinyan “fives with young people who will come to the concert, but will not vote for him.”
The video under the logo of the magazine NME builds a narrative of gradual collapse: Serzh Tankian “announces the postponement of the concert”, fans “fill the group with negative comments” and accuse her of complicity in the “political manipulation” of the prime minister.
Under the logo of "P" (imitating the American music publication Pitchfork), the bots replicate the story of the "mass return of tickets" to SOAD concerts around the world, the movement for the "cancellation" of the group and the alleged 70-thousandth community in the social network Bluesky, seeking its censorship.
The video under the Euronews logo attributes to Tankyan a publication in which he allegedly revises the position on the Armenian genocide and states that “400 thousand victims are also a tragedy, but not 1.5 million.” “Musical critic David Frick” (in reality, a man with such a name and surname is the senior editor of the music magazine Rolling Stone) asks “how much Pashinyan paid for the group’s political position.”
Under the Armpress logo, Pashinyan’s spokesperson in a fake reassures Baku: the group “has long changed its position” and now “supports the joint efforts of Armenia and Turkey to verify the number of victims of genocide.” It also explains the disappearance of the song Protect the Land from streaming services - allegedly at the request of the copyright holder.
The video for CNN Türk depicts Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov demanding to cancel the concert. Allegedly, SOAD’s speech in Yerevan will be “undermining all diplomatic efforts to achieve peace.”
The video under the NYT logo reports that the Turkish holding Doğan Holding secretly bought the band's catalog for $ 200 million, and a number of rock musicians - from Dave Mustaine to Di Snyder - refused to participate in the "Reusvan festival in support of Pashinyan". The footage uses real videos from the streaming service Cameo, where musicians record personal greetings - their personal appeals are mounted as if we are talking about Armenia.
The video from the logo of France 24 reports about the “terrorist threat” at the publicist concert of the SOAD in Stade de France. It is alleged that the French police “received a stream of calls with explosion threats” from the Armenian diaspora organizations.
Graffiti is distributed, allegedly painted by an Armenian artist on the wall in France, which depicts Pashinyan, teasing the participants of SOAD with money clamped in his hand. It is alleged that the artist was expelled from the country.

For the appearance of the reliability of bots use logos of Western publications and state structures. The standard reception of the network is the formula “previously reported”, which connects the videos and creates the illusion of an increasing news flow. The Insider is listed as listed, but they will not be published to avoid further distributing disinformation.

A concert that is not, and elections, which are soon

On May 23, during a pre-election meeting with voters in the Yerevan district, Avan Pashinyan announced that System of a Down will perform in July in the Republic Square. The next day, Serge Tankian wrote on Instagram:

“It seems that there was some confusion about this. We planned to perform in July, but decided to postpone the concert due to logistical and temporary difficulties. The new date will be announced later.”

Parliamentary elections in Armenia will be held on June 7, 2026. This is the first scheduled elections since 2017, and they largely decide the foreign policy future of the country. Pashinyan is building a campaign on the course of rapprochement with the EU. In early May, Yerevan hosted the summit of the European Political Community and the first EU summit – Armenia, Turkey lifted a 30-year ban on direct trade, and the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace agreement, the framework of which was initialed in Washington with the mediation of Trump in August 2025, remains the central theme of the election agenda.

What is “Matryoshka”

“Matreshka” is a Kremlin network of bots, trolls and coordinated anonymous media resources, specializing in mass disinformation campaigns. Its characteristic tools are short vertical videos under the logos of reputable Western media and organizations that simultaneously run on Twitter (X), Telegram, Bluesky and closed group chats. A favorite reception of the network is to pick up a real information scandal and build a fictional narrative around it, using genuine names and recognizable brands.