As the newspaper writes, Armenia’s contemptuous attitude towards Putin was a revelation at the recent Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) summit in Yerevan.
Notably, in a general photo of the leaders, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan distanced himself from the president of Russia. And later he refused to sign the declaration and criticized the failures of the CSTO. He also expressed disappointment at the lack of a response to his official request for military assistance following the September 2022 attack on Azerbaijan.
“It is depressing that Armenia’s membership in the CSTO has not dissuaded Azerbaijan from aggressive actions,” he said.
As Emil Avdaliani, a professor at the European University of Tbilisi told The Guardian, today Armenia is trying to diversify its foreign relations in the light of a weakened Russia.
“Dependence on Russia is deadly, so Yerevan is striving for rapprochement with Turkey, closer ties with the EU, Iran and China. This is a result of Moscow’s half-hearted approach to Yerevan and, above all, of Russia’s weakening position in the South Caucasus due to its increasingly unsuccessful war in Ukraine,” he stressed.
And according to Tom de Waal, an expert at the Carnegie Europe think tank, the summit showed the growing fragility of Russia’s and Putin’s influence personally on their neighbors.
“These policies are failing and Putin is showing the true power of brutal power in Ukraine. This is part of a general trend where Russians still have that Soviet legacy of seeing their neighbors as sort of junior partners who belong to them yet they are sovereign nations.” The CSTO is supposed to be a defense organization, but as far as Armenia is concerned, it has failed to fulfill its obligations,” Vaal said.
In addition, the protests in Yerevan on the day of the CSTO summit, whose participants called on Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine, also had an impact.
“The protests testify to a change in Armenia’s attitude towards Russia. Its unreliability as an ally has become palpable. Anti-Russian sentiments have always been present among Armenia’s political elites, but now it has turned into resentment – a feeling of complete hostility, ”added Professor Avdaliani.
