Armenia: Pashinyan says relying solely on Russia for security was a 'strategic mistake'

Armenia's policy of exclusively relying on Russia to guarantee security was a strategic mistake, Prime Minister of this country Nikol Pashinyan believes, because Moscow was unable to fulfill its obligations, reports Reuters.

In an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica published on Sunday, Pashinyan accused Russia of failing to ensure Armenia's security in the face of what he said was aggression by neighboring Azerbaijan over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Pashinyan suggested that Moscow, which has a defense pact as well as a military base in Armenia, does not consider the country sufficiently pro-Russian and believes that Russia is in the process of leaving the South Caucasus region.

Therefore, Yerevan tried to modify security arrangements, Pashinyan said, apparently referring to ties with the European Union and the United States, as well as attempts to establish closer ties with other countries in the region.

"The security structure of Armenia was 99,999 percent connected with Russia, including the issue of arms and ammunition procurement," Pashinyan told La Repubblica.

But today we see, said Pashinyan, that Russia itself needs arms, weapons and ammunition (for the war in Ukraine) and in this situation it is understandable that even if it wants to, the Russian Federation cannot meet the security needs of Armenia.

"This example should show us that depending on only one partner in security matters is a strategic mistake," Pashinyan added to the Italian newspaper.

His comments underscore the resentment inside Armenia over what many there see as Russia's failure to defend their interests.

There is still no comment from Moscow on Pashinyan's interview. In 2020, Russia acted as a mediator in the negotiations between Yerevan and Baku to reach a peace agreement.

Armenia and Azerbaijan also clashed in 2020 over the control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The conflict ended with a peace agreement recognizing the victory of the Azerbaijani forces. The agreement was reached with the help of Russia.

Since then, Russian soldiers have been stationed in Nagorno-Karabakh, but Armenia has been complaining about their ineffectiveness for several months. Pashinyan accused Russian peacekeepers deployed to uphold the ceasefire agreement of not doing their job.

Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly Armenian territory, broke away from Azerbaijan, leading to a war that claimed 90 lives in the 30.000s.