“Pashinyan views EU mission as benefit leading to separation from Moscow” Poloskova and Gerdin on Caliber.Az

Armenia is continuing to demonstrate its resentment towards Russia and the CSTO. The day before it transpired that Prime Minister Pashinyan refused to go to Minsk for the CSTO summit. A few days ago, Armenian Secretary of the Security Council Armen Grigoryan refused to go to a meeting of the Secretaries of the Security Councils of the CIS countries.

What to expect next from Yerevan? Is it possible for Armenia to leave the CSTO, EAEU, and CIS? The editorial office of Caliber.Az addressed these questions to Russian political experts.

Ph.D. in Politics, First Class State Counselor of the Russian Federation Tatyana Poloskova believes the circumstances of the prime minister may be different, as well as the reasons for refusing to participate in an important international event, which, in her opinion, is the CSTO summit.

“Pashinyan has more than once allowed himself harsh public statements against the CSTO, calling this organization worthless and useless. He canceled the CSTO exercises on the territory of Armenia and refused to sign the final resolution of the summit in Yerevan. In a nutshell, Pashinyan is simply haunted by some chain of circumstances that prevent him from fulfilling his previously assumed obligations under the CSTO. But seriously, Pashinyan is playing the usual game, which is called `trading in a political status’. He diligently demonstrates to the West his loyalty and how unpleasant any alliances with Russia are to him. However, he is not yet slamming the door, for example, in the same CSTO. But at the same time, representatives of the Armenian Ministry of Defence are conducting active negotiations with colleagues not only from Western countries but also from the Middle East for the supply of military technologies and weapons,” Tatyana Poloskova underscored.

In her opinion, the Armenian government wants revenge but is afraid of the consequences.

“Such games can spark a serious military conflict. Therefore, Pashinyan, out of habit, tries to weave a web. But everything goes to the point that he, in the end, will get confused about it.

As for Moscow, it knows the true reasons behind Pashinyan’s refusal to participate in the CSTO summit. Pashinyan’s behavior and attempt to sit on several chairs will only hasten his end as a politician. One can only sympathize with Armenia,” T. Poloskova added.

In turn, Russian pundit Vladislav Gerdin believes that Yerevan’s main goal is to provoke Moscow into some kind of aggressive statements or even actions. This idea is suggested to Pashinyan by the West, saying that this is how Armenia will create all the prerequisites for deploying NATO troops on its territory and squeezing Russia out of the region.

“The latest expansion of the EU intelligence mission in Armenia shows that Pashinyan does not see this as a direct threat to the country. On the contrary, he views this as a kind of good, leading to a speedy separation from Moscow. This is a very big stupidity of Armenian politics, which is constantly seeking the protection of certain power centers. But has Armenia really not been taught the history of Ukraine? A war will take place on the territory of Armenia, and the West will remain on the sidelines because the main thing for it is not the development of democracy in Armenia, but the creation of zones of instability and military conflicts around Russia.

“Armenia, by its complete abstraction from allied and bloc obligations and ignoring the interests of Moscow, is trying to cause maximum irritation in Russia. That is, there is an expectation that tension will arise, Russia will react extremely nervously to Yerevan’s next negative move, and then Armenia may rush into the arms of its Western partners, calling on them to save it from the “aggressive Russian bear”.

This whole scheme is visible to the naked eye, in Moscow they also see this game and everyone understands, trying not to be fooled by the Armenian tricks, reacting with restraint, except occasionally letting Yerevan know that every day is not Sunday,” summed up V. Gerdin.