Armenia multiplies signs of distrust against Moscow
Nothing seems to be going well between Armenia and Russia, which has assumed a large part of the security of the small republic in the South Caucasus for 30 years.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian announced that Russian border guards should have left Zvarnots International Airport in Yerevan by August 1.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in Yerevan on February 15, 2024. AFP - HANDOUT
By: Régis Genté Follow
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From our regional correspondent,
This is a real snub for
Moscow
, which generally sees throughout the former Soviet space the rejections of its military or security forces as casus
belli
(an act of war, Editor's note).
In this case,
Nikol Pashinian
puts an end to a somewhat tacit agreement between Yerevan and Moscow, the Russian border guards present at Zvarnots airport not assuming the majority of “customs” tasks there.
The presence of the Russians in this airport has until now allowed them to have a lot of information and a form of control of a strategic object.
Prime Minister Pashinian made it clear that there is no question of dismissing Russian border guards from the Armenian-Turkish border, nor from their two military bases in the country.
A breakthrough strategy?
This decision is added to a series of other measures perceived in Moscow as defiance.
The decision to freeze Armenian participation in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a sort of post-Soviet military alliance dominated by Russia or the desire to move closer to the European Union, with a view to possible accession in the long term are real red lines for the Kremlin.
Yerevan gives the impression of being in
a strategy of breaking
with Russia, of changing geopolitical orientation.
This seems to be a very risky move, facing a very aggressive Russia at the moment.
Yerevan wants to make Moscow react
The reason for Armenia's anger is that its strategic partner Russia did not defend it during the second Nagorno-Karabakh war at the end of 2020, where Moscow let Azerbaijan take back this secessionist region which it had been escaping for three decades.
But in addition, Moscow has done nothing, neither to oppose Azerbaijan's aggression against Armenian sovereign territory from May 2021, nor to trigger
an intervention by the CSTO
.
Nikol Pashinian is trying to get Russia to react, to prevent further aggression from Azerbaijan and to make it leave the more than 200 km2 of Armenian territory occupied by its armed forces.
Also listen: Armenia: what life and what reintegration for the wounded, three years after the conflict?
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