Paris, Yerevan declare war on Moscow
Sensational data of Russian special services

ANALYTICS  13 January 2023 - 15:58

Yerevan's inconsistent behaviour, as well as Yerevan politicians' attacks on Russia and the CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organisation], are causing growing annoyance in Moscow. Vladimir Putin literally walked around Pashinyan like a skating rink at a forum in Valdai last October. The Armenian prime minister was already visited by Russian Foreign Minister [Sergei] Lavrov in December, following the well-known Yerevan demarche. Finally, following Pashinyan's press conference on January 10, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova lashed out at the Armenian government.

Of course, Moscow's confusion and resentment of Armenia are understandable: we have nurtured and nurtured you for so many years, and you have proven to be so ungrateful. However, Armenia and gratitude are incompatible things, as evidenced by the sad experience of both Azerbaijanis and Turks. Now it's Russia's turn, which is deeply stuck in Ukraine and unlikely to be able to continue supporting Armenia at its own expense, let alone promote its "miatsum [unification of Armenia and Karabakh]" wishlist.
And, because they are accustomed to rigging their sails to every wind in Yerevan, they seized this opportunity and abruptly began to change their minds, initiating a change of suzerain. Fortunately, it didn't take long for a new owner to emerge: the French "sister" is ready to take the "land of stones" under her financial and military-political tutelage. This explains the French incursions into the South Caucasus that were discovered last year.

There were some warning signs before the Prague summit, when [French President Emanuel] Macron and [Armenian Prime Minister Nikol] Pashinyan abruptly decided to convert the trilateral format (Aliyev-Michel-Pashinyan) into a quadrilateral format with the French president's participation. During the talks, Armenia and France attempted to put pressure on Azerbaijan by exploiting recent border incidents. However, the outcomes of the five-hour two-round quadrilateral meeting (Aliyev, Pashinyan, Macron, and Michel) clearly reflected the final statement, indicating that the pressure on Azerbaijan was ineffective. A week later, Macron made false and provocative statements in which he accused Baku of "provoking a terrible war". Thus, Macron showed that the settlement of Baku-Yerevan relations is of little interest to him. For him, this is just a manipulation to infiltrate the South Caucasus and force Russia out of the region. To do so, he uses both Armenia and pushes through all kinds of EU missions.

By the way, Telegram channels close to Russian special services are paying attention to this today, noting that Pashinyan is unconcerned about whether he receives dollars or euros. "At the same time, the Armenian authorities have not thoroughly investigated France's motives, because the cover of the EU peacekeeping mission, which allegedly reduces the risk of escalation on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border, looks naive," writes the Telegram channel Siloviki in particular.

We should recall the Finkenstein Treaty, which Emperor Napoleon signed with Persian ambassadors on May 4, 1807. The treaty was aimed squarely at the Russian Empire. Napoleon hoped that Persia's desire to return to Georgia would lead to the opening of a second front in the war with Russia. Simply put, the French have a history of infiltrating our region through untrustworthy actors for their own ends, one of which is to squeeze out Russia.

According to the same Telegram channels close to Russian security forces, the EU, under pressure from Paris, is planning [to send] a new 400-person mission to the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. It is not difficult to imagine that many of them will be special-services personnel who speak Armenian and Russian, among other languages. This mission is overseen by French diplomat Deputy Secretary of the EU European External Relations Service Charles Fries, who visited Armenia in December and met with Pashinyan.

By the way, on January 10, during an interview with domestic TV channels, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev also made it clear that he was aware of the new EU mission's true goals. He noted that the mission representatives are already in Armenia and are holding meetings and, according to available information, in February the EU mission in a larger composition will be sent to Armenia without Baku's consent. According to the head of state, sending a new EU mission to Armenia without coordination with Azerbaijan will not increase the region's security and at the same time will have a negative impact on negotiations under the EU auspices.

When you consider a number of recent statements from Yerevan about Russia's military presence, as well as Armenian nationalists' recent attempt to block the 102nd military base in Gyumri, the picture becomes very clear: the Russians should leave, and the French should take their place. But you can't simply force Russia out of Armenia; you need a compelling reason. According to the same Telegram channels that are close to Russian security forces, the West, represented by Paris, may attempt to open a second front against Russia, sparking new clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia. And, given that Russia is unlikely to intervene on Yerevan's behalf, the latter will have reason to accuse Moscow of "non-union" behaviour and demand the withdrawal of Russian troops from Gyumri.

The Armenian prime minister's all recent actions indicate this. In particular, his sudden statement made at a press conference on January 10 that the traditional CSTO exercises "Unbreakable Brotherhood-2023" and specifically "Russia's military presence in Armenia not only does not guarantee the security of the latter but on the contrary, creates threats to the republic."

History repeats itself. Paris is no longer using Persian hands, but Armenian hands, to destabilize the region and remove Russia from it so that France becomes the new moderator in the region. It is probably superfluous to explain that such a development does not suit not only Moscow, and Ankara, but also Baku. Obviously, if we notice such a policy in Paris and Yerevan, it is unlikely that this fuss was not noticed in Moscow. And today's [January 12] briefing at the Russian Foreign Ministry, at which [MFA Spokesperson] Maria Zakharova rather undiplomatically subjected the Armenian authorities to severe obstruction, as well as information from Telegram channels close to the power structures, shows that everyone in Moscow sees and notes. But what actions it will take against the vassal who has strayed from the hands will be revealed in the near future. Putin, without a doubt, despises betrayal...

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