"Russia tired of horsing around Armenia" Russian pundits on Caliber.Az

It is rather difficult to describe relations between Moscow and Yerevan. The Kremlin’s angry rhetoric is becoming familiar, while Yerevan is also ready to voice toxic phrases, for example, accusing Moscow of attempting a coup in Armenia. Amid such a situation, there is such a feeling that the Russia-Armenia relations will be broken soon.

Russian political analysts expressed their views on this issue.

Expert at the National Energy Security Fund and lecturer at the Financial University under the Russian government Stanislav Mitrakhovich has said that it is obvious that relations between Russia and Armenia in the political sphere are going through a difficult period.

“There is no trust between the sides. Moscow thinks that Yerevan is deliberately distancing itself from Russia,” Mitrakhovich said in an interview with Caliber.Az.

“Currently, there is a tendency to liquidate the Russian presence in Armenia. There are calls to close the Russian military base, remove Russian TV channels and withdraw from the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO),” he noted.

“There are also other anti-Russian calls. Therefore, it is difficult to expect Russia’s sympathy for the Armenian current government and the current political course. The negotiations in Malta testify to Yerevan’s actions, aggravating the situation. Even China refused to participate in these negotiations as it considered them meaningless without Russia. However, Yerevan decided to attend the talks,” he noted.

As for Armenia’s attempts to change the situation with the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Mitrakhovich said that Russia understands everything and does not accept arguments that this is connected with resistance to Azerbaijan in international arbitration.

“Armenia cannot use this tool against Azerbaijan, but for Russia it is a challenge, taking into account the ICC decision regarding Russian President Vladimir Putin,” he added.

“So far, there are no obvious moments that can change the current trend towards distancing Armenia from Russia. I think that such a political course may create problems for Armenia itself. For some reason, Yerevan does not take this into account, but in vain. By distancing from Russia Armenia expects that its problems will be solved by the US or Europe. This position is quite erroneous. Armenia should thoroughly think,” the expert said.

Meanwhile, Russian political analyst Alexander Ryabtsov has said that Yerevan apparently does not have a clear policy and a unified vision of the situation in the region and in the world.

“This has already been mentioned. I did not come up with this, but I fully agree. Yerevan really does not have a long-term diplomatic action plan, a foreign policy strategy. It is changeable like plasticine. Everything happens according to the decisions made by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his office. The Armenians have been living like this since approximately 2020 when Armenia surrendered. The Armenian prime minister does not make plans. He understands that many aspects are momentary and it is necessary to please two opposing sides,” the political analyst noted.

Ryabtsov noted that therefore, Armenia’s foreign policy is a non-stop of diplomatic blunders, one can say one thing today and another thing tomorrow.

“Yerevan has indeed set a course for rapprochement with the West, but Pashinyan and his team do not think about the risks following such decisions. We see that this is so. Yerevan’s toxic actions influenced Moscow not to interfere with Baku in clearing Karabakh of armed groups. However, there was a period when Russia practically opposed Baku’s attempts to change the situation in the zone temporarily monitored by the Russian peacekeepers.

He noted that Moscow is tired of horsing around Yerevan.

“Trying to get closer to the West, Yerevan finds itself without reliable partners, without any guarantors of security in its place of “residence” in the South Caucasus. Everything is very chaotic in Pashinyan’s decisions,” the analyst said.

“For example, Yerevan for some reason supported the opening of the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Kapan [Gafan], apparently believing that this would help it in a frankly unpromising game in the region. However, fundamentally this moment does not change the situation in any way. Armenia is on the verge of losing its statehood, moreover, no one will care about this issue,” Ryabtsov said.