Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan considers Armenia’s current alliances ineffective, a veiled allusion to his long-standing relationship with Moscow, inherited from the days when Armenia was part of the USSR, France Presse reports.

Nikol Pasinyan and Vladimir PutinPhoto: TASS / ddp USA / Profimedia

“The external security systems in which Armenia is involved have proven to be ineffective in protecting its security and interests,” Pashinyan said in a televised address on Sunday.

“Armenia has never abandoned its obligations and never betrayed its allies. But the analysis of the situation shows that the security systems and allies, on whom we relied for a long time, sought to demonstrate our vulnerability and the inability of the Armenian people to have an independent state,” he added.

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Armenia is still part of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a military alliance led by Russia, but had already shown signs of distancing itself, even before this week’s Azerbaijani army offensive on Nagorno-Karabakh, which toppled Moscow’s sphere of influence.

Disappointment has been brewing in Yerevan for months over Russia’s failure to support Armenia against Azerbaijan and the lack of involvement of Russian peacekeeping forces in the conflict between the two neighboring states.

Armenia, which refused to host CSTO exercises in January, just held military exercises with the United States this month, to Moscow’s dismay.

In May 2023, the Prime Minister of Armenia already spoke about the possibility of Armenia leaving the CSTO, also in connection with the Nagorno-Karabakh file.

Armenia and Azerbaijan, former Soviet republics, have already fought for control of this disputed region, populated mostly by Armenians, in two wars, one in the 1990s and the other in 2020.

Russia backed a ceasefire agreement that ended hostilities in 2020 and deployed peacekeeping forces to the region, but they failed to prevent a lightning-quick incursion of troops from Baku into Nagorno-Karabakh this week.