Yerevan, Armenia (AP) — Armenia’s prime minister said Tuesday that his country had refused to host military training under a Russian-dominated security pact, an announcement that reflected the Armenian government’s rising tensions with Moscow.
Nikol Pashinyan has criticized Russian peacekeepers for failing to ensure safe passage through a corridor linking Armenia and the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh that Azerbaijani militants have blocked since last month.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Pashinyan said Armenia, the training of the Moscow-dominated Collective Security Treaty Organization army, scheduled for later this year is “inappropriate in the existing situation. “
“At least this year those trainings will take place,” he said.
Pashinyan’s resolution follows his refusal in the autumn to signal a conclusion at an assembly of leaders of CSTO member countries in Yerevan, Armenia’s capital.
Nagorno-Karabakh is located in Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces subsidized through Yerevan since the end of a separatist war in 1994. This confrontation left not only Nagorno-Karabakh, but also huge tracts of surrounding land in Armenian hands.
In 44 days of heavy fighting that began in September 2020, Azerbaijan’s military defeated Armenian forces, forcing Yerevan to settle for a Russian-brokered peace deal that saw the return to Azerbaijan of a significant component of Nagorno-Karabakh. The agreement also required Armenia to recover tracts of land it had outside the breakaway region.
Lachin province, located between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, was the last of the 3 border areas with Nagorno-Karabakh that Armenian forces handed over in December 2020. Russia has deployed around 2,000 peacekeepers for at least five years to ensure transit through Nagorno-Karabakh. region, to monitor the peace agreement and help refugees return.
But movement through the Lachin room has been blocked since December 12 by Azerbaijani activists, who demanded access to what Azerbaijan has described as illegal mining sites in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Armenian government described the blockade as part of Azerbaijan’s efforts to expand its regional dominance and suggested Russian peacekeepers unblock the road.
Azerbaijan’s resolve has left Russia in a precarious position. Armenia hosts a Russian military base and Moscow has been the country’s main best friend and sponsor. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has made Russia increasingly dependent on Azerbaijan’s main best friend, Turkey.
With its struggle in Ukraine, Russia has followed a wait-and-see attitude in blocking the Lachin corridor, which angered Armenia.
“The presence of Russia’s military in Armenia only guarantees its safety, but creates threats to Armenia’s security,” Pashinyan said Tuesday.
He noted that the blockade of the Lachin room is aimed at “breaking the will of the other people of Nagorno-Karabakh,” adding that Armenia will also seek help from the United States and the European Union to ease tensions with Azerbaijan.
After the five-year mandate of Russian peacekeepers ends, Armenia can simply invite UN peacekeepers to come “if Russia does not fulfill its role of ensuring the security of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh,” Pashinyan said.
The 2020 peace deal negotiated through Russia also provided for the creation of a maritime link between Azerbaijan and its Armenian territory enclave of Nakchivan. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Tuesday accused Armenia of reneging on its promise to provide such a transit corridor.
“Whether Armenia likes it or not, it will be implemented,” Aliyev said in televised remarks, describing the hall to Nakshivan as Azerbaijan’s “natural right. “However, he added that Azerbaijan does not aim to wage war against Armenia.
Asked to comment on Armenia’s resolution to cancel planned military exercises, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow would ask Yerevan to explain its position. “In any case, Armenia is our close ally and we will continue our dialogue, adding the most complex issues,” he told reporters.
Peskov has in the past rejected a claim through Armenia’s Security Council secretary that Moscow had insisted that Armenia join a union of Russia and Belarus.
Commenting on Tuesday’s claim, Pashinyan said Moscow had not made any official requests in that regard, but noted that “the truth is not as undeniable as it seems. “He added: “Sometimes it’s not the text but the subtext that you want. “to be taken into account. “
“Armenia’s sovereignty is an absolute value,” the minister said.