'Armenia is not Russia's ally in its war against Ukraine,' asserts PM Nikol Pashinyan

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on June 1 asserted that Armenia is not Russia's ally in its war against Ukraine. In his first open remark about his country's stance on the ongoing Ukrainian conflict ordered by Russia's President Vladimir Putin, Pashinyan noted that his country isn't a friendly supporter of the conflict Russia is waging in neighbouring Kyiv. "This has never been said out loud, but I think it shows: in the war with Ukraine, we are not an ally of Russia. And our feeling from this war, from this conflict is anxiety, because it directly affects all our relations," Pashinyan said in a televised interview with American broadcaster CNN.

He was asked about Armenia's position regarding the Ukrainian war. "On the one hand, you are Russia's ally, on the other hand, we are witnessing very undesirable actions by the Russian Federation in Ukraine," the interviewer told Pashinyan. 

"In the West, they notice that we are an ally of Russia, they notice this more. And in Russia they see that we are not their ally in the war with Ukraine. And it turns out that we are not an ally to anyone in this situation, which means we are vulnerable," Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan furthermore said. 

Pashinyan, during the interview, stated that it seems that there is an option to avoid all these collisions, but also the truth is that the more complicated the situation, the narrower the chances for avoiding. "We are avoiding it not because we don't have opinions about the situation, but we're avoiding it because of what I said a moment ago, that our concerns are, unfortunately, more than they will allow us to be more involved in coping with other problems," Armenian leader said. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, left, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attend a trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Eurasian Economic Union Forum at the Kremlin, in Moscow, Russia. Credit: AP

'Will take a decision to withdraw from CSTO': Armenian PM

On May 22, Pashinyan expressed his willingness about withdrawing from the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) bloc if he deems that the organisation is "incapacitated". Armenia is currently a part of the CSTO led by Moscow, an intergovernmental military alliance in Eurasia consisting of six post-Soviet states—Armenia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. But the Armenian leader has plans of stepping away from the organization, as ties with Russia faltered over the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute with Azerbaijan as the Armenian leader believes Russia is unable to protect Armenia from the military threats faced by Azerbaijan. 

Russia has deployed peacekeepers in the contentious Lachin corridor, the only authorised winding route between Armenia and the contested territory, Nagorno-Karabak [known to the Armenians as the Republic of Artsakh] as a part of the ceasefire agreement.

"I am not ruling out that Armenia will take a decision to withdraw from the CSTO, if the bloc fails to respect its treaty obligations," Pashinyan told a news conference in Yerevan.

Russia's President Putin mediated bilateral talks as he met with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. While Russia said that there may have been "in proposal" the settlement of their long dispute based on mutual recognition of each other's territorial integrity, Pashinyan said that he wasn't satisfied with the outcome of the meeting. Armenia, last week, also refused to hold the military drills planned by a Russia-dominated security pact, as a sign of the Armenian government’s growing tensions with Moscow.