Question about birth certificate

[sccrsurfer 2]

My wife received an RFE for a copy of her original birth certificate from her country of birth.

My wife was born in Armenia, but is a citizen of France.

They don't have an online/mail request process, so we'd either have to:

1) apply for a copy at the consulate/embassy in Glendale, CA or Washington DC (we live in the midwest) -- this would take 3 months, not acceptable

2) fly to Armenia, or give someone the power of attorney to request the birth certificate. We don't really know anyone there.

3) We have her actual original birth certificate. Can we literally just make a copy of this and have it translated?

Also a question about translating. Does the translation have to be notarized an actual notary? It says it needs to be translated by someone else other than my wife or myself. That's fine because it's in Russian anyway. It was under Soviet control during her birth.

Anyone have experience with this? Can I simply make a copy of her actual original birth certificate with a copy machine at work and use that?

Thanks!