At a press briefing in Moscow on Wednesday Maria Zakharova jibed at statements made by Armenian officials, including Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, about “diversifying of Armenia’s foreign policy without changing the vector.”
“One would also like to hear how they see it in practice,” Zakharova said, as quoted by Russia’s TASS news agency.
She said the kind of rhetoric is “a blatant attempt to hide true intentions.”
“It is clear that the matter concerns a radical change in the republic’s orientation in foreign affairs,” she said, claiming that Yerevan is changing its foreign-policy vector “clearly at the suggestion or prompting of the West.”
“On the other hand, they are trying to camouflage it in every possible way, thinking that this way they can maintain the same level of assistance and special relationship. This is all so visible and clear that it is impossible to hide it all behind such words or formulations,” Zakharova said.
In his recent public remarks Pashinian has criticized Russia, a formal military and political ally of Yerevan, for failing to come to Armenia’s aid in its disputes with Azerbaijan, including a series of recent deadly border clashes as a result of which Armenia says some of its territories were occupied.
Tensions between Armenia and Russia rose further after Azerbaijan’s September 19-20 military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh that led to the exodus of the region’s virtually entire ethnic Armenian population. Armenia, in particular, blamed Russian peacekeepers deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh under the 2020 ceasefire agreement between Moscow, Baku and Yerevan for failing to protect the local Armenians.
Pashinian defended his government’s policy that he said was aimed at diversifying relations in the security sphere as he addressed the parliament in Yerevan on November 15.
The day before that the Armenian leader announced his decision not to attend an upcoming summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Russia-led defense bloc of six former Soviet countries that also includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.
Earlier this year Armenia also declined to participate in CSTO military drills, while hosting joint exercises with the United States military in Yerevan. This and several other moves by Yerevan drew angry reactions from Russia that has accused the Pashinian administration of systematically “destroying” relations with Moscow.
During today’s press briefing Russia’s Zakharova lamented Yerevan’s decision not to attend the CSTO’s November 23 summit and meetings at the level of ministers prior to it.
“We do not believe that it meets the long-term interests of the Armenian people and will contribute to the strengthening of security and stability of this friendly country,” she said.
At the same time, Zakharova said that Armenia is not going to block the work of the CSTO’s statutory bodies or prevent the approval of documents that have already been agreed.
“This essentially leaves the door open for Yerevan and allows it to join the work in the future, and we hope that [our] Armenian ally will use this opportunity in the near future,” she concluded.
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