Kocharyan’s battle with the changing South Caucasus A junior officer under Moscow’s command

“Not a day without polluting the airwaves with nonsense”—this seems to have become the unofficial motto of Robert Kocharyan, the separatist and former president of Armenia. He consistently follows this approach, making loud, attention-grabbing statements not because he has a viable vision for his country’s future, but purely in anticipation of the upcoming parliamentary elections this summer. These elections will mark yet another attempt by the so-called “Robikists” to reclaim at least a modest, non-disgraceful presence in the National Assembly, if not full political control.

To fully grasp their “suffering,” it is worth recalling the results of the 2021 snap parliamentary elections, which took place in the aftermath of Armenia’s defeat in the Second Karabakh War. Notably, at that time, the revanchists had far more opportunities to exploit the issue of “lost Karabakh,” playing on public emotions and hysteria. Yet, alas, even under such circumstances, Kocharyan’s bloc suffered a crushing defeat: his attempt to return to the “saviour of the nation” seat ended in plain failure.

Thus, the hopes of the former president and his supporters for the upcoming summer parliamentary elections are understandable—but unacceptable, especially considering that Robert Sedrakovich is currently wanted on charges of committing serious crimes. The Military Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Azerbaijan accuses him of participating in aggression against Azerbaijan, committing crimes against humanity, organising illegal armed formations, and other criminal acts that have left a bloody mark on the region’s history.

The thoroughly rotten core of Robert Kocharyan is illustrated by his monstrous statement about the “genetic incompatibility of Armenians and Azerbaijanis,” which clearly demonstrates the worldview of the former Armenian leader, fully imbued with Nazi-like beliefs. This time, the ex-president went as far as to claim that “TRIPP is the greatest threat to Armenia’s security, and the United States only needs it to monitor Iran’s borders,” and that, in general, “it is an Armenian-American project for Türkiye and Azerbaijan.”

Such statements leave little doubt that Kocharyan is either hallucinating or suffers from a distorted perception of reality that would require medical attention, since there is substantial evidence that this project primarily benefits Armenia itself and the region as a whole. Factors such as the development of infrastructure and transit corridors bring economic revitalisation, new investment, an end to transport isolation, and expanded access to external markets. This is a chance to transform the South Caucasus from a zone of perpetual conflict into a space for cooperation.

These arguments provide grounds to suggest that it is likely Kocharyan’s Russian handlers speaking through him — the very same actors who for decades have sabotaged the resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, fearing the loss of their leverage over Baku and Yerevan.

However, time has set everything in its proper place. Azerbaijan, having achieved victory in the 44-day war of autumn 2020 and carrying out a brilliant one-day counter-terrorist operation in the Karabakh region in September 2023, has fully restored its sovereignty and territorial integrity and advanced a peace agenda that is now being implemented. A powerful boost to this process came with the signing of the draft “Agreement on the Establishment of Peace and Intergovernmental Relations between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia,” the ceremony of which took place on August 8, 2025 in the presence of the leaders of both countries and U.S. President Donald Trump at the world’s number-one office. These historic agreements opened a new chapter in relations between the two states, while simultaneously effectively neutralising Moscow’s influence in the South Caucasus and automatically reducing the space for Russian manipulations.

Undoubtedly, all of this irritates Kocharyan to no end, as it undermines the very ideology of hatred on which he built his career. Hence his absurd statements, such as: “The volume of U.S. foreign trade with the entire South Caucasus is about 0.004% — it’s nothing. The U.S. gains zero from the region.” The narrow-mindedness of Armenia’s second president is striking. As is well known, the foreign policy of a superpower is not always and everywhere measured by trade turnover. With regard to the South Caucasus, the United States is primarily concerned with the stability of energy routes, the security of transport corridors, and reducing the influence of its geopolitical competitors in this strategic region. Failing to understand this indicates either incompetence or a deliberate attempt to mislead the public.

Another of his statements — “Russia’s levers of influence over Armenia are enormous; however, unlike the U.S., Moscow does not use them against its partners” — is an outright and cynical lie. Historical facts show that during his presidency, Kocharyan handed over strategically important sectors and enterprises to Moscow to settle Armenia’s state debt, including energy facilities, key elements of transport infrastructure, and defence-related enterprises. In effect, he placed the levers of the republic’s economic independence in foreign hands. Boris Gryzlov aptly described the country’s position at that time: “Armenia is Russia’s outpost in the Caucasus.”

Given all his statements, it is precisely in this status that Robert Sedrakovich wants to see both present and future Armenia, while he imagines himself as the “head of the outpost” — forever a junior policeman under a senior commander from Moscow.