Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Sunday described his country’s current alliances as “ineffective,” making a veiled reference to long-standing ties with Moscow from the time when Armenia was still part of the USSR.
• Also read: Erdogan-Aliev meeting in Azerbaijani enclave
• Also read: Karabakh conflict: Separatists negotiate withdrawal and surrender of weapons
• Also read: Nagorno-Karabakh: Protesters block roads in Yerevan
“The external security systems in which Armenia participates have proven ineffective in protecting its security and interests,” Pashinian said in a televised address.
“Armenia has never abandoned its commitments or betrayed its allies. But analysis of the situation shows that the security systems and allies we have long relied on have made it their mission to highlight our vulnerability and the inability of the Armenian people to have an independent state,” he said.
Armenia is still part of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a military alliance led by Russia, but had already shown signs of distancing itself from the Azerbaijani army before this week’s offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh, prompting a shift outside Moscow Sphere of influence.
There has been frustration in Yerevan for months over Russia’s inability to support Armenia against Azerbaijan and the lack of commitment of Russian peacekeepers to the conflict between these two neighboring states.
Armenia, which refused to host CSTO exercises in January, has just held military exercises with the United States this month, much to Moscow’s dismay.
In May 2023, the Armenian Prime Minister had already raised the possibility of Armenia leaving the CSTO, still in connection with the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.
Armenia and Azerbaijan, former Soviet republics, have already fought over control of this disputed, predominantly Armenian region in two wars, one in the 1990s and the other in 2020.
Russia promoted a ceasefire agreement that ended hostilities in 2020 and deployed peacekeepers there that failed to prevent Baku’s troops’ lightning invasion of Nagorno-Karabakh this week.