‘Pashinyan cut the allied cord’: expert on freezing Armenia’s participation in CSTO

Speaking with Alpha News, Russian political scientist Aslan Rubaev commented on Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s statement about freezing Armenia’s participation in the CSTO.

According to the expert, Pashinyan does not understand that by doing so, he is removing the very shield that defended Armenia.

“Actually, Pashinyan’s statement on the suspension of Armenia’s participation in the Collective Security Treaty Organization was an absolutely expected step. Unfortunately, we see how allied relations are now collapsing unilaterally. They are not just going through a crisis; they are simply collapsing. Pashinyan cut the allied cord that connected Moscow and Yerevan, not realizing that by doing so he was removing the very shield represented by the CSTO that defended Armenia. Now Armenia is becoming the most vulnerable in terms of security,” Rubaev said.

According to the political scientist, the next step is the withdrawal of the Russian military base, which has been located in Armenia for a long time.

“Now we will clearly see the next steps to dismantle our international relations. The investment climate that was coming from Russia and, in general, some economic flows will noticeably decrease. In terms of economy, Armenia lost.

From a military and geopolitical point of view, it ceases to be interesting to Moscow, and the trajectory is now shifting to Azerbaijan. If earlier we said that Russia’s main strategic partner in the South Caucasus is Armenia, now, most likely, Azerbaijan will take its place. And this is not in favor of Armenia.

The West wants to use Armenia as a training ground for the deployment of NATO military forces, and this will be done for sure. And it was not a coincidence that Pashinyan sent this message after his meeting with Macron. We know very well that Armenian foreign and domestic policies today are mostly influenced by Paris and Washington. So, in this case, Pashinyan’s position is more than clear.

We are waiting for the next direction of Pashinyan’s foreign policy, which will be against Russia. This is quite obvious. We must be ready for these challenges because Armenia is rapidly turning into an anti-Russian region. Now the only thing missing is Pashinyan’s official statement about participation in a special military operation on the territory of Ukraine,” Rubaev concluded.