Armenia wants to strengthen military cooperation with Russia

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pachinian.

Tigran Mehrabyan / PAN Photo

Text by: RFI Follow

4 min

This Saturday, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pachinian pleaded for a strengthening of military ties between his country and Russia.

This declaration comes less than 2 weeks after the crushing military defeat of its army in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan, which recovers a number of territories around this separatist enclave after having lost them just after the fall of the USSR .

After the agreement of November 9, signed under the aegis of Vladimir Poutine, nearly 2,000 Russian peacekeepers were deployed in Karabakh.

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With our correspondent in Tbilisi,

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 It is with these words that Nikol Pachinian greeted this Saturday the arrival in Yerevan of the Russian Ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs, Mrs Shoïgou and Lavrov.

This is enough to satisfy Russia, which already has two military bases in Armenia and which has just permanently installed 2,000 armed men in what Baku considers its territory, Nagorno-Karabakh.

Moscow can rub its hands all the more, by strengthening its military positions in this sensitive South Caucasus, at the gates of Iran and the Middle East, that Mr. Pachinian is perceived as having pro-Western inclinations.

When he came to power at the end of the velvet revolution of spring 2018, he had, it is true, brought with him many executives who had until then worked for international and Anglo-Saxon NGOs.

This had not pleased the Kremlin, a Kremlin that Mr. Pachinian has strived to satisfy continuously for 2 years, by conducting the most pro-Russian foreign policy that Armenia has ever known.

► Also to listen: Nagorno-Karabakh: the underside of a conflict

♦ Nagorno-Karabakh: Macron tries to get back into the game

Emmanuel Macron calls on the international community to find a political solution for Nagorno-Karabakh.

The French President visited an association that helps the Armenian community.

He is trying to get involved again in this matter.

After being sidelined, Emmanuel Macron is trying to get back into the diplomatic game.

Because despite the initiatives of the French president, it was under the aegis of Russia that a ceasefire was concluded on November 9.

A ceasefire which " 

 ", stressed Emmanuel Macron during his trip on Saturday.

"The return of the refugees", "the statute of Nagorno-Karabakh", the "clarification on the borders" or even "the return of the jihadists from Syria", for the Head of State, all these questions are not resolved .

Emmanuel Macron - who met with his Armenian and Azeri counterparts on Friday - calls on the Minsk group to get down to work, that is to say Russia, France and the United States, which the head of the The State accuses in hollow of not being interested in this conflict.

Emmanuel Macron also criticizes the choice of the Armenian president to " 

" the Russians and the Turks to the maneuver, a " 

 ", according to Emmanuel Macron.

The French head of state is therefore trying to regain control.

He also announces the sending of humanitarian aid for Armenians affected by war.

A first plane leaves from France this Sunday.

(RFI)

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• Armenia

• Russia

• Nagorno-Karabakh

• Vladimir Poutine

• Azerbaijan

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