Pashinyan stole this day from the Armenian people – Alexey Anpilogov

Speaking with Alpha News, Russian political scientist Alexey Anpilogov commented on the absence of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on the first day of the BRICS summit.

“This is not in the interests of Armenia. In such international meetings, not only every day but every hour and every minute is valuable. You can actually meet in one place with a dozen leaders of leading countries; you can solve issues that concern your country not in lengthy negotiations but in face-to-face conversations. This is exactly the art of diplomacy: to use this time with maximum efficiency. And here the question is not even about the personal relationship between Pashinyan and the president of Russia, or Russia and Armenia, they can be anything.

This forum brings together various countries, from small to large. It seems to me that Pashinyan, in general, did not steal this day from Russia and not from the forum itself; he stole this day from the Armenian people, which he should represent in the international arena,” Anpilogov said.

At the same time, Anpilogov notes that this step will not change anything for Armenia, even if it was a message for Western countries.

“The West may be glad to praise Pashinyan for this action, but I am absolutely sure that no changes in any real relationship will occur. That is, the West’s position regarding the future of Armenia will not change regardless of whether Armenia cooperates more closely with the BRICS and not only with Russia or not. The West has an absolutely opportunistic, I would say even vested interest in Armenia, and it has expressed it many times at various levels. Armenia has been assigned a rather modest role in the world in a Western way, and by and large Western countries will not defend any Armenian interests either in the short term or even more so in the long term.

What has the leader of Armenia, who is Pashinyan, achieved by following these perhaps ephemeral thoughts, thinking that someone can like him if he does not participate in a reputable international forum? This forum actually promotes the opinions of small countries and the multipolarity of the world order. Armenia, in general, can get a much more honorable and important place here than in the world created by Western standards, in the American-style world that now exists,” the expert concluded.