“GEGHARD”
SCIENTIFIC ANALYTICAL
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2025
2025-11-26
The American expert Irina Tsukerman has been one of the favorite experts of Azerbaijan’s state propaganda and media outlets, actively engaging in anti-Armenian activities. She has regularly published articles in the international press “seasoned” with Baku’s propaganda theses and narratives, targeting Armenia and its policies, mainly in the context of the Artsakh conflict.
Her anti-Armenian activities and her support for Azerbaijan in the information sphere during the 44-day Artsakh War, as well as her cooperation with individuals and media outlets funded by Baku are noteworthy.
Human rights and national security expert, journalist, and analyst Irina Tsukerman is a research fellow at the Arabian Peninsula Institute operating in Washington and at the Israeli Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs think tank.
I.Tsukerman is also a board member of The Washington Outsider Center for Information Warfare. Her research interests include geopolitics, foreign policy, and security issues, including the analysis of domestic and international processes.
Anti-Armenian articles during the 44-Day Artsakh War
On October 12, 2020, Irina Tsukerman published an article titled “Iran and Armenia: Mutual Support is a Threat to Israel” on the Jewish National Syndicate (JNS) news agency.
Tsukerman, a proponent of anti-Iranian policy, stated: “While much of the discussion has focused on the Armenia–Azerbaijan war as a proxy for Russian and Turkish territorial ambitions, Iran’s role in supporting Armenia deserves greater attention, particularly regarding its potential impact on Israel’s interests in the region.”
She further wrote: “Armenia in the past has provided Iran with weapons, which were then used to kill American troops, according to WikiLeaks revelations of U.S. State Department cables.”
It should be noted that here Tsukerman refers to the WikiLeaks 2010 releases, including a message dated December 24, 2008, from U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte to the U.S. Embassy in Armenia. The document expresses concern over weapons allegedly sold by Armenia to Iran, which were reportedly later used to kill and injure American servicemen in Iraq.
In a 2011 interview with Echo Moscwy, former Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan responded to the documents released by WikiLeaks: “Armenia has never sold or resold weapons to Iran, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has told Echo Moskwy radio station. There is no military-technical cooperation between the two countries.”
By distorting reality during the 44-day war, Tsukerman ignored the close ties between Baku and Tehran, apparently attempting to secure U.S. support for Azerbaijan.
It is worth noting that the Jewish National Syndicate has long engaged in Azerbaijani propaganda, publishing a range of articles reflecting Baku’s narratives. For example, in July 2025, the outlet published an article titled “America can’t ignore the nuclear time bomb at Metsamor power plant”, claiming that the plant “is a ticking time bomb at the heart of the South Caucasus, and an accident at Metsamor wouldn’t just endanger Armenia, it could destabilize the entire region.”
However, in October 2022, Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), personally visited the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant and praised its operations:
“Armenia’s economy relies on the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant, and the IAEA will continue to offer its support to help the plant provide low-carbon energy in a safe and secure manner. I am pleased to see the safety upgrades at Metsamor and impressed by the dedication of the staff,” he wrote on his X microblog.
It should be recalled that in July 2020, during the Tavush clashes, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense spokesperson threatened that modern missile systems in the Azerbaijani arsenal could strike the Metsamor NPP with high precision. In other words, if Metsamor were ever at risk, the threat would come from Azerbaijan.
In January 2020, former JNS editor-in-chief Jacob Kamaras founded the PR company Stellar Jay Communications, whose clients have included the Azerbaijani government. In 2020, the Azerbaijani government reportedly paid the firm $92,600.
On October 20, 2020, another article by Irina Tsukerman, co-authored with Jason Epstein, was published in Newsweek under the title “A Pro-Western Azerbaijan Deserves America’s Support.” “However, we unite in our support of Sunni-majority Turkey's Shi'a ally, Azerbaijan, an unabashedly pro-Western country, as it is unfairly smeared in certain political, diplomatic and media circles for having the audacity to defend itself in the latest round of bloody fighting with its neighbor, Armenia,” they wrote.
It should be recalled that during the 44-day war in 2020, it was not Armenia that initiated hostilities, but Azerbaijan, which launched military aggression against Artsakh and committed a series of war crimes.
Advancing Azerbaijani disinformation, the article claims that in 1991, following the declaration of independence, “Kremlin-backed Armenian invasion of Azerbaijan immediately followed, resulting in the capture of some 20 percent of the latter's territory and ethnic cleansing of the region.” The piece concludes with an appeal to the United States to support Azerbaijan.
Tsukerman’s co-author, Jason Epstein, is the president of Southfive Strategies LLC, an international public relations consulting firm. Southfive’s clients have included Azerbaijan’s diplomatic academy in Baku, ADA University. Epstein’s work with the Azerbaijani diplomatic academy began on August 1, 2008, when he registered under the U.S. Department of Justice’s FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act) division.
Support for the forced displacement and ethnic cleansing of Armenians in Artsakh
After the 44-day Artsakh War, I. Tsukerman continued to actively promote Baku’s propaganda narratives, justifying Azerbaijan’s military aggression against the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh and the subsequent forced displacement and ethnic cleansing.
In her interviews, she also supported Azerbaijan’s policy of closing the Lachin (Berdzor) corridor and causing a humanitarian crisis in Artsakh.
In August 2023, she complained that Armenia had appealed to the UN Security Council to convene an emergency session regarding the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh. According to Tsukerman, this attempt by Armenia was an unconstructive step and undermined the ongoing negotiations on a peace treaty with Azerbaijan.
Obsessed with ingratiating herself with the Azerbaijani authorities, Tsukerman has made inhumane statements, calling for the denial of international aid to the population of Artsakh:
“It is absurd to claim that the Armenian population of Karabakh needs foreign humanitarian assistance when Baku offers them citizenship and the same rights as everyone else in the country,” Tsukerman concluded.
Tsukerman labeled the September 19, 2023 Azerbaijani military aggression against Artsakh and the ethnic cleansing of the Armenian population as an “anti-terror operation,” echoing official Baku.
“Azerbaijan’s anti-terrorist measures had been effective in that the separatists surrendered right away,” Irina Tsukerman told pro-government Report media.
A few days later, in an interview with the Azerbaijani Trend, Tsukerman stated that “the Second Karabakh War was a turning point for the South Caucasus, as its outcome ended Armenia’s occupation of Azerbaijani lands.” She described the November 8, 2023 military parade held in Stepanakert as “a symbolic event that highlights the restoration of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and demonstrates the successes of the Azerbaijani government.”
Under scruitny
In February 2023, the investigative outlet The Forbidden Stories, in its series “History Erasers: Digital Influencers”, published an investigation titled “From Trump supporters to a human rights attorney: the digital influencers who harassed a journalist”, in which, along with other journalists, Irina Tsukerman was identified as a figure connected to a “media project” involving foreign governments.
The investigation notes that Tsukerman is a New York-based attorney who echoes narratives close to those of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Azerbaijan and Israel in videos, opinion pieces and Television appearances. Offline, Tsukerman offers “offensive” and “defensive” “information warfare” services through her US-based company, Scarab Rising and advocates at the UN Human Rights Council with a shady Yemeni NGO, the Yemeni Coalition of Independent Women.
According to the Scarab Rising website, Tsukerman serves as the company’s president, and the firm specializes in media, communications, reputation management, and security strategy. The website also denies that Tsukerman and her company are listed in the FARA registry (the U.S. Department of Justice’s Foreign Agents Registration Act database).
The “queen of disinformation” banned on Twitter
Since July 19, 2022, Tsukerman’s account has been blocked on X for “repeated dissemination of false information” in violation of the platform’s rules. The ban occurred against the backdrop of her public criticism of Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity research group operating at the University of Toronto.
Tsukerman claimed that Citizen Lab’s focus on Israeli spyware and its supposed neglect of other cases could have political motivations. In a 2023 article by TVP World, Tsukerman repeated accusations against Citizen Lab.
Her comments aligned with the defense of the Israeli spyware company NSO Group and states such as Morocco and Saudi Arabia that have used its tools. Her statements are frequently described as biased in reports by Amnesty International and Citizen Lab. This has triggered negative reactions from OSINT (open-source intelligence) researchers and journalists, who have accused Tsukerman of spreading disinformation on behalf of foreign governments.
Critics on X, such as users @Cthulhu_Answers and @runasand (journalist Runa Sandvik), frequently reference Tsukerman’s ban, calling her the “queen of disinformation” associated with narratives pushed by authoritarian regimes.
The X account @irinatsukerman, titled “Irina Tsukerman pushes disinformation,” stated: “Irina Tsukerman has been permanently banned from Twitter for multiple violations.”
Although there is no direct evidence of Tsukerman financially motivated by the Azerbaijani authorities, her close ties with official Baku and pro-Azerbaijani structures are evident. Irina Tsukerman remains one of the key figures of Azerbaijan’s state propaganda in the United States.