Russia’s catastrophic invasion of Ukraine means Armenia can no longer rely on Moscow as a guarantor of its security, even as fears grow of a return to open conflict with Azerbaijan, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told POLITICO in an interview, Report informs.
"As a result of the events in Ukraine, the capabilities of Russia have changed," Pashinyan said, acknowledging that Moscow was seeking to avoid alienating Azerbaijan and its close ally Türkiye, both of which have risen in strategic importance for the Kremlin since the start of the Ukraine war last year.
Pashinyan also accused the Russian peacekeepers temporarily stationed in the Karabakh economic region of Azerbaijan of not fulfilling their obligations:
"The Russian peacekeepers have failed in their mission."
Still, he added a caveat: "I can’t say though that if the Russian peacekeepers hadn’t been in Karabakh, the situation would now be better."
"If we want to have lasting, eternal statehood, first of all we have to take very serious steps and invest very serious efforts to settle our relations with our neighbors," he said.