“We have not done anything wrong in our relations with the Russian Federation,” Pashinian said in a video of a meeting with members of his party posted on his Facebook page on Wednesday.
“Our [Russian] partners cannot … say ‘you had this obligation and you failed to fulfill it,’” he went on. “We can show and are showing [the obligations not honored by Russia,] raising legitimate questions and expecting substantive answers to those legitimate questions.”
Pashinian and members of his political team have repeatedly accused Russia and the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) of failing to defend Armenia against Azerbaijani military aggression.
The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, reiterated Moscow’s strong denial of these claims in an interview with Russia’s Zvezda TV channel publicized on Wednesday. In that regard, Zakharova pointed to Pashinian’s decision to recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh prior to Baku’s recapture of the region last September. The decision was dictated by the West, she claimed.
“I accuse of lies all those who profess and spread the notion that Russia and the CSTO are to blame for Yerevan’s decisions on Karabakh,” Zakharova said.
The fresh recriminations highlight Yerevan’s deepening rift with Moscow and growing reliance on Western powers. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last week that Pashinian’s foreign policy is leading to the “collapse” of Russian-Armenian relations.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are scheduled to meet with Pashinian in Brussels on Friday for trilateral talks seen as a show of Western support for that policy. Moscow charged last week that the talks are part of the West’s efforts to break up Armenia’s alliance with Russia.
Speaking to Zvezda, Zakharova warned that Armenia’s reorientation towards the United States and the EU could lead to another upsurge in tensions in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. She also scoffed at the Pashinian government’s European integration drive.
“Why do representatives of the current authorities in Yerevan devalue [Armenia] so much?” she said. “Why do they compare the ancient Armenian civilization, with its culture, history, and statehood, which existed long before the European one, with the now deadlocked EU?”