On July 8, Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman, commented on the appointment of Artsrun Hovhannisyan, the former spokesperson for the Armenian Ministry of Defense, as head of Armenia's National Defense Research University. Zakharova recalled that Hovhannisyan attracted attention in May 2025 because of remarks broadcast on Armenian television on May 9, the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany. According to her, he expressed regret over the Wehrmacht's defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943 and argued that the defeat of Nazi Germany had prevented Hitler's alleged plans to create an independent "Greater Armenia."

She stated that Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergey Kopyrkin had sent an open letter to the Armenian Defense Minister in May 2025, and that Moscow had also raised the issue during high-level contacts, stressing that such treatment of the memory of the shared victory was unacceptable. "We were told in response that this was merely a 'personal opinion' that did not reflect the official position," Zakharova stated. According to Zakharova, Armenian state institutions did not publicly respond to the controversy. She argued that Hovhannisyan's appointment to lead a state educational institution indicates that such views are now regarded positively by the Armenian authorities. "It appears that Yerevan, while striving to join 'enlightened' Europe, is also preparing to align itself with the dangerous trend of rewriting the history of World War II in a way that suits Western interests," Zakharova stated.

Zakharova further argued that political forces in parts of Europe are increasingly portraying local collaborators with Nazi Germany as participants in a "national liberation struggle." She stated that one objective of this approach is to weaken the shared historical memory of the peoples of the former Soviet Union and diminish recognition of their role in defeating Nazism. She added that similar policies had been pursued in the Baltic states and Eastern Europe, and claimed that Ukraine represented the most advanced example of this trend. Referring to President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to Yerevan in early May, Zakharova stated that he had been warmly received and given a platform to make what she described as hostile statements toward Russia.

Zakharova also described the situation as a betrayal of the memory of Armenians who contributed to the victory over Nazi Germany, arguing that any glorification of Nazism should receive clear public and state condemnation. In her concluding remarks, she linked the controversy to what she described as broader efforts by Armenia's current authorities to reshape historical memory, including, in her view, attempts to downplay the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire and undermine the Armenian Apostolic Church. "It is up to the Armenian people themselves to fairly assess the extent to which this aligns with the true aspirations of Armenian society," Zakharova stated.