ArmInfo. The Armenian Embassy in Greece categorically refutes the information published in the Greek media that spyware installed on the phone of one of the leading opposition parties in the country, leader of the socialists Nikos Androulakis, was including at the request of the Armenian Special Service.
"The information spread in the media is a shameless lie. Armenia has never asked any government to tap anyone's phones," Armenian Ambassador to Greece Tigran Mkrtchyan said, referring to the publications that Armenia is involved in wiretapping of the telephone conversations of chairman of the Greek PASOK party, Nikos Androulakis.
"The Prime Minister of Greece also touched on this topic today. The Republic of Armenia could not take such a step either from a legal or moral point of view. That is, the claim itself is illiteracy. It is clear that some forces are very concerned about the level of Armenian-Greek relations and their further deepening," Mkrtchyan wrote on his Facebook page.
Earlier, the Greek media disseminated information that the Greek National Intelligence Service (EYP) tapped the phone of MEP Nikos Androulakis for three months, until he was elected leader of the Movement for Change party – PASOK (old name – KINAL). According to the Ta Nea daily newspaper, the surveillance was carried out at the request of two foreign intelligence agencies: Armenia and Ukraine, using the Predator software. Then, Androulakis filed a complaint with the Supreme Court in connection with an attempt to spy on his phone in 2021 using the Predator software. On August 5, 2022, EYP chief Panagiotis Kontoleon resigned.
"I would never have thought that the Greek government would be spying against me. It is our democratic duty to protect the rights and freedoms of the citizens of Greece. Today is the moment of truth for those people who, driven by arrogance and a sense of impunity, seem incapable of doing so," said the leader of the Greek opposition.
A few hours after Androulakis's statement, the country's government confirmed that spyware had indeed been installed on the socialist leader's phone by the country's security services, without citing Armenian or Ukrainian traces of the scandal. Today, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, referring to this topic during his televised address, said that he did not intend to resign because of the scandal with wiretapping of the opposition politician Nikos Androulakis. Mitsotakis said that, nevertheless, he intends to propose a number of changes in the work of the special services.