Russia warns Armenia against flirting with West

Nikol Pashinyan, the prime minister of Armenia, was informed by Russia on Monday that he was solely to responsible for Azerbaijan’s success in Nagorno-Karabakh because he focused on courting the West rather than cooperating with Moscow and Baku for peace. In a speech to the country on Sunday, Pashinyan claimed that Russia had let Armenia down by not doing enough to prevent the conflict over the breakaway territory. He also indicated that he would have to change Armenia’s security partnerships. Russia’s foreign ministry retaliated by criticising Pashinyan in severe terms. “We are convinced that the Yerevan leadership is making a massive mistake by deliberately trying to destroy Armenia’s multi-faceted and centuries-old ties with Russia while making the country hostage to the geopolitical games of the West,” it said. Following a swift onslaught by Azerbaijan last week, thousands of ethnic Armenians fled into Armenia. The approximately 120,000 Armenians who live in Karabakh have been assured by Baku that their rights will be protected, but many do not believe this to be true. Internationally, Karabakh is considered to be Azerbaijani territory. Russia, which deploys approximately 2,000 peacekeepers in the area, claimed Pashinyan was attempting to clear himself “of responsibility for failures in domestic and foreign policy by shifting the blame to Moscow”. According to the Russian foreign ministry, Pashinyan’s comments on shifting alliances show that he is getting ready to turn away from Armenia’s alliance with Moscow and towards the West. Russia said that Pashinyan had “shied away from working in rhythm with Russia and Azerbaijan and instead had run to the West” to address the Karabakh problem and that Yerevan authorities had incited anti-Russian hysteria in the Armenian media. Moscow refuted claims that it participated in the demonstrations in Yerevan and warned Pashinyan that while Russia did not incite revolutions, the West did. “The head of the Armenian government should be well aware that Moscow does not get involved in such things - unlike the West which is pretty adept at organizing ‘colour revolutions’,” Russia said. Russia accuses the US of fomenting “colour revolutions” in a number of post-Soviet states, including Ukraine. (With agency inputs)