Nikol Ungrateful: Armenian Prime Minister "surrenders" friendship with Russia to please the West?
Фото: BBC The Armenian authorities themselves provoke a new conflict in Transcaucasia.
The last week was marked by a sharp deterioration in relations between Russia and Armenia. More precisely, in Moscow, that attitude towards the CSTO ally did not deteriorate, but Yerevan took a number of extremely unfriendly steps, which may indicate almost a complete reversal of the government of this country towards NATO and the Western political community.
At this time, Azerbaijan is concentrating troops from Nagorno-Karabakh, masking it with exercises. Pashinyan calls the North Atlantic Alliance to Armenia, and expects that it will be "eaten" not only in Moscow, but also in Baku?
The Moscow Post correspondent understood the situation.
The steps of the government of Nikol Pashinyan cannot be called ambiguous, incomprehensible, uncertain. They are more than revealing. First, Armenia recalls its representative from the CSTO and refuses to take part in joint exercises in Belarus. And then he declares plans to hold the Armenian-American exercises ARTSIV PARTNERS-2023 on September 11-20, the purpose of which is to increase the level of interoperability of units participating in international peacekeeping missions.
The exercise will include "operations to stabilize relations between the conflicting parties in the performance of peacekeeping tasks." Among the other goals of the maneuvers are the exchange of best practices in the field of management and tactical communications, as well as increasing the readiness of the Armenian unit for planned operations.
This is an obvious signal: Armenia is gradually leaving the CSTO orbit and is looking for a new security guarantor. This is not happening from a good life, Russia is objectively weakened by the current crisis in Ukraine, and Pashninyan himself came to power in the wake of the pro-Western Velvet Revolution in 2018. His flirtation with Russia turned out to be a bluff and a necessary measure to stabilize the political situation in the country after a catastrophic military defeat.
In 2020, when a new war for Karabakh began, it became clear that no one was going to save the current government except Russia. And the Russian Federation, as a faithful ally, has made every effort to stop the acute phase of the crisis, achieve a ceasefire and prevent its spread into the sovereign territory of Armenia and beyond. Our peacekeeping contingent was placed on the contact line, which is regularly subjected to provocations. And on both sides.
The interest of the United States and its Western allies, primarily France, is also understandable. They are trying to squeeze Russia out of Transcaucasia. But this is a minimum program. And the maximum is to provoke a new large-scale conflict, into which Russia will try with all its might. American diplomats have long dreamed of arranging a "second front" for Russia.
Now Russia-NATO are trying to draw Romania into the conflict — allegedly, the wreckage of our drone fell on its territory. Earlier, a similar provocation was in Poland, when the wreckage of an allegedly Russian rocket fell. However, except for Ukraine, no one is in a hurry to kill themselves about Russia.
Pashinyan is already being turned into the second Zelensky, and Armenia into the second Ukraine-Anti-Russian. The factor of Azerbaijan remains, behind which Turkey stands. As a NATO member, under Erdogan’s leadership, she deftly plays to the contradictions between the Alliance and her own national interests, prioritizing the latter.
The number of incidents is growing on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Accusations that Armenia is shelling Azerbaijan are ongoing. At the same time, transport planes with weapons regularly fly from Israel not even to Baku, but to Ganja, closer to the border.
The crisis created by the blockade of Artsakh reached the highest point. Further "warm up" the situation by starving tens of thousands of people with hunger is counterproductive for Azerbaijan. The idea that the Armenians "themselves will understand everything and leave" failed. It is not possible to return their way to Armenia "just like that," having settled the case in the European spirit with "national autonomy."
A column of Azerbaijani troops at the transition to the Armenian-Azerbaijan border. Photo: Open Sources
The provocative rhetoric of Nikol Pashinyan is also amazing. He was recently interviewed by Italy’s La Repubblica. There he directly stated that Western countries are pushing Yerevan to push Russia out of the South Caucasus. According to the prime minister, allegedly Russia itself is cunning due to the steps that it takes or does not accept.
He wondered why Russia does not control the Lachin Corridor, which is now blocked by Azerbaijani forces. At the same time, Russia has repeatedly noted that Russian peacekeepers have no opportunity to influence the Azerbaijani military. I.e. Pashinyan openly provokes the power action of the Russian Federation against Baku?