Moscow has branded as “unacceptable” remarks by Armenia’s prime minister in which he blamed Russian peacekeepers for failing to stop an offensive by Azerbaijan—his nation’s perennial foe—in the flashpoint Karabakh region.
“Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s [remarks] contain unacceptable attacks on Russia and are a cause for disgust,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a Sept. 25 statement.
“They are a clear attempt to shift responsibility for [Yerevan’s] domestic and foreign policy failures by putting the blame on Moscow.”
Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the mountainous Karabakh region has remained the subject of fierce dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Although most of Karabakh’s roughly 120,000 inhabitants are ethnic Armenians, the region is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.
On Sept. 19, Azerbaijan carried out a lightning offensive to disarm ethnic Armenian separatist groups in Karabakh and exert full control over the region.
The operation ended within 24 hours after separatist leaders agreed to a ceasefire deal brokered by Moscow.
According to Armenian sources, at least 200 ethnic Armenians were killed during the offensive. Azerbaijan stated that its forces sustained casualties, but it hasn’t provided specific figures.
Having assumed full control over Karabakh, Azerbaijan is now calling on separatist groups in the region to lay down their arms in line with the terms of the ceasefire.
Since Azerbaijan started its offensive, thousands of ethnic Armenians have reportedly left Karabakh for Armenia, saying they fear persecution by Azerbaijani authorities.
Samantha Power, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, has called on Baku to respect the terms of the ceasefire and “take concrete steps to protect the rights of civilians” in Karabakh.
According to Ms. Power, who visited Yerevan on Sept. 25, Washington is now considering an “appropriate response” to Azerbaijan’s “unacceptable” use of force.
In 2020, Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a six-week war over Karabakh. The conflict ended with a Moscow-brokered ceasefire that left Azerbaijan in control of the region.
PM Questions Alliance
On Sept. 24, Mr. Pashinyan warned that Azerbaijan’s recent offensive would likely result in a massive influx of ethnic Armenians from Karabakh into Armenia.“If there is no effective protection against ethnic cleansing [by Azerbaijan] ... Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh will see exile from their homeland as the only way to save their lives and identity,” he said in a televised address.
Mr. Pashinyan blamed the potential humanitarian crisis on Azerbaijan and Russian peacekeepers deployed in the region.
He also said Armenia’s strategic partnership with Russia was “not enough to ensure Armenia’s external security.”
Since 1991, Armenia has been a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a six-nation military alliance led by Moscow.
Although Azerbaijan isn’t a CSTO member, it enjoys close relations with Russia.
For years, Moscow has sought to resolve the dispute over Karabakh in hopes of eliminating a chronic source of instability in the South Caucasus region, which borders Russia.
It wasn’t the first time that Mr. Pashinyan questioned the value of Armenia’s alliance with Russia.
After a deadly border clash early this month, he accused Moscow of failing to ensure his country’s security in the face of Azerbaijani “aggression.”
In the immediate wake of Azerbaijan’s offensive, Armen Grigoryan, head of Armenia’s security council, accused Russian troops deployed in the region of failing to fulfill their peacekeeping mandate.
However, Moscow rejects the assertion, stating that Baku had confined its military offensive to what’s internationally recognized as Azerbaijani territory.
‘Geopolitical Games’
Recent weeks have seen mounting friction between Moscow and Yerevan—and a perceptible tilt by the latter toward Russia’s Western adversaries.In mid-September, Armenia drew Moscow’s ire by hosting elements of the U.S. military for 10 days of joint military exercises.
Armenia also recently began the process of ratifying the Rome Statute, thereby endorsing the legitimacy of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Earlier this year, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes—an accusation rejected by Moscow.
In his Sept. 24 address, Mr. Pashinyan asserted that Yerevan’s ratification of the Rome Statute would serve to protect Armenia from external threats.
“The decision to ratify the Rome Statute was made last December when it became clear that the CSTO and the Armenian–Russian strategic partnership were not enough to ensure Armenia’s external security,” he said.
In response, Russia’s Foreign Ministry accused Yerevan of trying to justify a shift toward the West by blaming Russia—and the CSTO—for “alleged mistakes.”
It further accused Armenia’s leadership of adopting “inconsistent positions” and “preferring to zigzag and turn to the West instead of working with Russia and Azerbaijan” to resolve the dispute over Karabakh.
“Authorities in Yerevan are deliberately trying to ruin Armenia’s centuries-long relations with Russia and making the country a hostage to the West’s geopolitical games,” the ministry stated.
Notably, Ms. Power was accompanied on her recent trip to Yerevan by Yuri Kim, acting U.S. assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs.
At a Sept. 14 hearing of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Ms. Kim said it was “too early to tell” whether Armenia was drifting into the Western orbit.
Nevertheless, she went on to voice optimism that Yerevan might be persuaded—given the right geopolitical circumstances—to “partner with [the United States] as opposed to Russia.”
