Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergey Kopyrkin was summoned to the Armenian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday, October 24 after Russia’s state-run television channel Channel One aired a program during which “offensive and completely unacceptable statements were made against high-ranking officials of” Armenia, the press service of the Foreign Ministry reports.

“During the meeting, the ambassador was handed a note of protest.”

Then on October 23, Channel One aired an hour-long program titled “Nikol Pashinyan: The Bearer of Calamity,” in which Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Security Council Chief Armen Grigoryan and Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan were labeled as “Soros agents,” referring to the American billionaire George Soros.