© Reuters
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan
Dnevnik Express
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Russia has advised Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to blame only himself for Azerbaijan’s victory over Nagorno-Karabakh. According to the Foreign Ministry in Moscow, Pashinyan should have worked with Moscow and Baku for peace, but instead insisted on flirting with the West.
This comes after another exchange of lines between Pashinyan and the authorities in Russia, days after the Azerbaijani army began a “military operation” against the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which ended with the surrender of the Armenians after 24 hours. Over the weekend, Pashinyan accused Moscow of not providing more aid to avert the crisis over Karabakh (where peacekeepers are based) and failing to fulfill its commitments to Yerevan, a theoretical ally with 3,500 troops stationed in the northwest of the country.
Pashinyan also added that deep changes will be needed in the Armenian security forces.
“We are convinced that the leadership of Yerevan is making a huge mistake by deliberately trying to destroy Armenia’s multifaceted and centuries-old ties with Russia, while making the country a hostage to the West’s geopolitical games,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. According to Moscow, Pashinyan is trying to shift “responsibility for failures in domestic and foreign policy”.
Armenians leave Nagorno-Karabakh en masse, Erdogan arrives in Azerbaijan
This comes as thousands of Armenians are expected to enter Armenia from the predominantly Armenian enclave. Azerbaijan promises that it will protect the rights of the nearly 120,000 Armenians who remain, but in Yerevan and Stepanakert, the capital of Karabakh, there are doubts that an ethnic massacre could occur.
© Reuters
At protests against Pashinyan in Yerevan
Pashinyan’s remarks about transforming alliances show he is preparing to move away from Armenia’s alliance with Moscow toward the West, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Therefore, anti-Russian hysteria was fueled in the Armenian media, although Russia actually had nothing to do with the protests in Yerevan either (after the surrender of Karabakh, some came out to demand Pashinyan’s resignation because of Armenia’s non-interference in the new escalation).
A matter of self-preservation: how Russia left Armenia alone
Along with these demonstrations, there was dissatisfaction in front of the Russian embassy. Meanwhile, American Senator Gary Peters arrived in Yerevan and expressed support for the territorial integrity of the country, a day after Pashinyan’s conversation with American Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. Armenia concluded last week a ten-day exercise with Washington, which also angered Moscow.
The Kremlin also responded to Pashinyan. Apart from defending Moscow’s peacekeepers, however, the press secretary of the presidency, Dmitry Peskov, was unable to answer whether they are expected to remain in Nagorno-Karabakh, as “they are currently located in the territory of Azerbaijan”. According to Peskov, Armenia remains an ally of Russia and will work to “respect all rights of residents of Karabakh”.
Why is Russia angry?
Another source of Russian irritation toward Yerevan was pointed out in the Foreign Ministry’s position: its attempt to resolve the dispute with Azerbaijan over Karabakh without Russian help.
“Essentially, the head of government admitted that all the time the republic was consciously prepared to withdraw from Russia”, and Moscow is confident that the transformation of Armenia into a “hostage of the geopolitical games of the West” is realized by the majority of Armenians. says more in the position. The institution analyzes Pashinyan’s policies and calls his team’s approach to negotiations “irresponsible”; the dissatisfaction of a part of the Armenians was understandable, expressed in popular protests.
Furthermore, by recognizing Azerbaijan’s sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh to future generations, Pashinyan “yielded to Western exhortations” by taking this 1991 Almaty Declaration step instead of complying with the “gentlemen’s agreement” with Azerbaijan’s presidents and Russia, Ilham Aliyev and Vladimir Putin, as of November 9, 2020, that the status of Karabakh remain in the hands of future generations.
“This basically changed the conditions under which the tripartite agreement was signed on November 9, 2020, and also the situation of the Russian peacekeeping contingent,” the institution continues, referring to the document from the Putin-Aliev-Pashinyan meeting, which then ended a six-week war. led to a defeat for Armenia and heavy concessions on its part.
In the months before the Azerbaijani operation, Aliyev and Pashinyan, as well as representatives of both countries at a lower level, held a number of meetings in Europe and in Washington. Differences between Yerevan and Baku remained on some issues (such as the status of Armenians in Karabakh and the question of future “international guarantees” for them or the opening of the land corridor through Armenia between Azerbaijan and its exclave of Nakhchivan), but their representatives also spoke of progress.
A matter of self-preservation: how Russia left Armenia alone
