“We are deeply convinced that the Armenian people are overwhelmingly interested in the development of traditionally, historically brotherly ties with the Russian Federation,” Lavrov told reporters in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek.
“I want to bring your attention to the fact that a couple of days ago Prime Minister [Nikol] Pashinian gave … an interview in which he made clear that Armenia is not changing its orientation. We hope that this position will prevail despite [Western] attempts to drag Yerevan in another direction,” he said.
The Russian-Armenia rift deepened further last month after Moscow decried “a series of unfriendly steps” taken by Yerevan. Those included Pashinian’s declaration that his government is trying to “diversify our security policy” because Armenia’s reliance on Russia for defense and security has proved a “strategic mistake.” He also suggested that Russia will eventually “leave” Armenia and the region. This raised more questions about the South Caucasus country’s continued membership in Russian-led blocs.
Russia’s failure to prevent, stop or even condemn Azerbaijan’s September 19-20 military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh, which caused a mass exodus of its ethnic Armenian population, only added to the tensions. The Russian Foreign Ministry accused Pashinian on September 25 of seeking to ruin Russian-Armenian relations and reorient his country towards the West.
Speaking to Armenian Public Television on Tuesday, Pashinian insisted that he has no plans to demand the withdrawal of Russian troops from Armenia or get his country out of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) repeatedly criticized by Yerevan.
It emerged the following day that the Armenian premier will not attend Friday’s summit in Bishkek of the leaders of Russia and other ex-Soviet states making up the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). His foreign minister, Ararat Mirzoyan, similarly boycotted a meeting of the top diplomats of CIS countries held there on Thursday.
Lavrov hoped to hold trilateral talks with his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts on the sidelines of the Bishkek meeting. Yerevan now seems to prefer Western mediation of Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks. One of Lavrov’s deputies, Mikhail Galuzin, claimed on Monday that the main goal of that mediation is to drive Russia out of the South Caucasus.
