Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has again accused Russia of not honoring its security commitments to Armenia ahead of his trilateral meeting with top U.S. and European Union officials criticized by Moscow.
“We have not done anything wrong in our relations with the Russian Federation,” Pashinyan 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.”
Pashinyan 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.
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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 Pashinyan’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 Pashinyan’s foreign policy is leading to the “collapse” of Russian-Armenian relations.