Armenian President Armen Sarkissian decided to resign from his post, so as not to take responsibility for the steps planned by Nikol Pashinyan, Russian political scientist, director of the Center for Political Studies Sergey Markov told the Russian bureau of Report.
“Apparently, this is a radical improvement in relations with Azerbaijan and Turkey. This resignation is a good sign for Azerbaijan. Pashinyan is probably going to reconcile. To some extent, Sarkissian’s resignation can be considered a victory for Azerbaijan,” the expert believes.
He noted that the resignation of the Armenian president happened very unexpectedly on January 23.
According to Markov, there is another version of the reasons for the resignation of Armen Sarkissian: perhaps Pashinyan finally got Vladimir Putin’s approval to consolidate power in Armenia in his own hands.
“The Russian president gave the go-ahead after Pashinyan behaved well during the CSTO operation to help Kazakh President Tokayev restore stability in the country,” Markov said.
He noted that there were doubts, since the prime minister is considered by many as a pro-American politician who could somehow undermine the CSTO operation: “In this case, Pashinyan had a special responsibility, because it turned out purely by chance that it was Armenia that became the chair country of the CSTO a few days before the start of the bloody riots. It was Nikol Pashinyan who headed the CSTO council, and he was supposed to initiate this military operation of the CSTO.”
Markov stressed that Pashinyan carried out all the actions in connection with Kazakhstan very clearly and under the dictation of Moscow. “That is why he deserved forgiveness and he was allowed to lead to the consolidation of power, as well as to replace the president with the one loyal to himself,” the Russian expert believes.