The spice of the situation is given by the fact that the maneuvers were announced in the context of the statements of the head of the NATO European Development Committee, Gunter Fehlinger, who called on Armenia to join the North Atlantic Alliance. Yerevan responded to these words by admitting that the country has been cooperating with NATO for a long time and is ready to continue this process. But Moscow, as noted by the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, Sergei Ryabkov, perceived these exercises with an element of concern.
On the other hand, it is worth mentioning Yerevan’s intentions to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. As noted on Smolensk Square, Moscow asked Yerevan for clarifications on this matter. As RIA Novosti reported citing a diplomatic source, the implementation of these plans could negatively affect bilateral relations between Armenia and Russia.
The arrest of pro-Russian blogger Mikael Badalyan also added some tension to relations between the countries. “I do not exclude that this is another provocation in connection with the Russian-Armenian media forum in Yerevan. A provocation by those who sleep and see how to ruin relations between the two countries. And the West has invested a lot of money in this,” he commented. the official about the situation to the blogger representing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Maria Zakharova.
Regarding the difficult humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, with which Pashinyan was so unhappy, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that Moscow is taking consistent measures to resolve it. According to Zajárova, the normalization of the situation should be facilitated by the unblocking of the Lachin corridor.
As noted by the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, hostile statements by Armenia are unacceptable and dangerous. “They can alter the normalization process towards escalation and deterioration,” Zakharova said. “We are taking a stance of defending those agreements that should lead, if implemented, to an agreement,” she added.
However, the Prime Minister of Armenia continued to maintain his line. In an interview with Politico, he again criticized Russian peacekeepers, blaming them for the growing tension on the line of contact. However, he immediately admitted that he did not know how the situation would have developed without them.
It is worth noting that Politico did not publish an interview in its pure form, but an article with quotes from Pashinyan, interspersed with statements by the author of the publication, which add an anti-Russian bias to the text.
