Defiant Macron-Pashinyan tandem brings the region closer to a new war End result could be tragic for Armenia

As expected, French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu made many provocative statements during his official visit to Armenia. "I think that you and the Minister of Defence have outlined for us a very concrete path of cooperation between our teams. We need to move faster, given the threats that are looming over Armenia. So it is very important for us to respond quickly and to take measures," he said at a meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

It was a recognition that Paris was in a rush. And accordingly, the French side's hurried pace is also being followed in Yerevan. In this sense, the false and provocative statement made by Nikol Pashinyan in an interview with the France 24 TV channel in Paris was not surprising. He told another lie in advance and with a very clear purpose: "Azerbaijan's attack on Armenia is very likely".

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry reacted immediately. It pointed out that the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia had recently met in Munich on the initiative of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Pashinyan remained silent about the likelihood of an "Azerbaijani attack on Armenia" during the trilateral meeting. In Munich, he took off the mask of a "revanchist" and put on another one, a kind of "peace dove".

Pashinyan travelled to Paris to receive instructions from French President Macron immediately after Munich. After receiving them, the prime minister gave a scandalous interview to France 24 television, putting the German chancellor, who was trying to bring peace between Baku and Yerevan closer, in a very awkward position. It is obvious. Paris does not need peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia. It needs a new war.

Paris and Yerevan are planning to start it by putting the blame on Azerbaijan. This is the root of the information campaign of lies about our country which has been in progress for a long time. The campaign's main slogan is "Azerbaijan prepares attack on Armenia". Nazis once used this simple trick. Obviously, Paris and Yerevan act synchronously in the tradition of Hitler's propaganda. At the same time, the falsity of the statements made by the Armenian leadership is obvious to many Armenian specialists.

"The main goal of the Armenian-French flirtation is to expel Russia from the region and create an illusion in Armenian society that France can reliably replace Moscow as a military ally because Russia is not," says military expert David Jamalyan. He clearly points out that "we are on the brink of war". In his opinion, it is France and Armenia that are interested in war, not Azerbaijan.

But there are plenty of such experts in Armenia. But they are unable to sober up Nikol Pashinyan, who has long since lost his room for manoeuvre and turned into an obedient executor of Emmanuel Macron's orders. And it makes sense to pay attention to statistics in the context of the false postulates of this tandem about the "military threat" from Azerbaijan.

According to the report on the progress and results of the implementation of the programme of the Government of Armenia (2021-2026) for the year 2023, 19 servicemen of the Armenian Armed Forces were killed in combat last year. At the same time, 64 Armenian servicemen died in non-combat conditions. In other words, the number of deaths in the Armenian army at the hands of Armenian soldiers was many times higher than the number of combat deaths. To put it simply, Pashinyan is ready to declare that the main danger for the Armenian army is the Armenian army. After all, the traditions of unlawful relations leading to deaths have not disappeared from the Armenian army.

For example, the forensic examination of the body of the "Yerkrapah" fighter Gor Asatryan showed that he was killed. Specifically, after an argument between Asatryan and T. K. on the night of February 12 at about 00:05, T. K. struck Asatryan, who was lying on the bed, hard with his hand in the neck area, as a result of which Asatryan received life-threatening injuries and died. This is how Armenian servicemen, including "Yerkrapah" fighters, die.

But neither Pashinyan, Papikyan nor Lecornu will tell the Armenian army these realities. They rant about something that does not exist, namely the "military threat from Azerbaijan", while they hide what does exist, namely the high non-combat losses in the Armenian army. The purpose of this Armenian-French lie is clear to see. But their impact on Armenia may prove quite tragic. No France will help the Armenian soldiers who will be sacrificed for Macron and Pashinyan's plans.