Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has brushed aside opposition criticism regarding his government’s spoiling relations with formal strategic ally Russia and bringing “geopolitical rivalry” to Armenia by seeking to deepen ties with the West.
Speaking for the second day in the Armenian parliament during a debate over the fulfilment of his government’s five-year plan, Pashinyan again dwelled on issues of Armenia’s strategic choice to resolve all border issues with neighbors, including archrival Azerbaijan, based on the concept of a “real Armenia”, meaning the nation within its internationally recognized borders, as opposed to a “historical Armenia” that he said Armenians largely espoused before the 2020 war with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijani border incursions in subsequent years.
Pashinyan also addressed criticism of the opposition that his government’s efforts to diversify political and economic ties, including by deepening cooperation with the European Union and the United States, turn Armenia into an arena for “geopolitical rivalry” between Russia and the West.
In this regard, Pashinyan said that the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) that was co-chaired by Russia, the United States and France and included a dozen more countries also provided “legitimate geopolitical competition” in Armenia when it spearheaded international efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh problem for 30 years.
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He reminded that the Western co-chairs and Russia were increasingly at loggerheads since 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea and invaded eastern parts of Ukraine and have been “in a state of war” since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“What was the OSCE Minsk Group if not a legitimate geopolitical competition around the Republic of Armenia? Do you think that the interests of France, the United States, Russia and other Minsk Group member countries simply coincided?” Pashinyan queried.
“For 30 years we have been flung around like a bag. Didn’t you notice that?… What was it, if not geopolitical rivalry? On the contrary, we want to take Armenia out of this competition now,” he stressed.
The Armenian premier held a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell in Brussels on April 5.
At the meeting the EU unveiled an aid package for Armenia in the amount of 270 million euros (about $290 million) to be made available over the next four years, with the United States pledging $65 million in additional “development assistance” to Armenia this year.
The Western leaders said the assistance would boost Armenia’s resilience and help diversify its economy, which still remains heavily dependent on Russia.
The meeting in Brussels drew an angry reaction from Moscow that has accused Western powers of seeking to oust Russia from the South Caucasus.