Pashinyan has become puppet and tool in proxy war, says former UN Assistant Secretary-General

The Armenian authorities are destroying relations with the Armenian Diaspora, said Benon Sevan, the former UN Assistant Secretary-General, commenting on the speech of Armenian Ambassador to Cyprus Tigran Mkrtchyan at the Foreign Policy Challenges of Armenia seminar held at the University of Nicosia.

“They are destroying the country and the relations with the Armenian Diaspora,” Sevan, an Armenian Cypriot, said.

“There are more Armenians living and working in Russia than in Armenia, and they make a rather substantial financial contribution to the development of their historical homeland. However, the Armenian Prime Minister does not even allow prominent Armenians from abroad to enter Armenia because they criticize his regime. The head of the Armenian government has become a puppet of his puppeteers and a tool in the proxy war,” the former UN Assistant Secretary-General said.

In response to Mkrtchyan’s claims that Armenia seeks to strengthen its defense capabilities in the West because Russia and the CSTO allegedly turned their backs on Armenia during Azerbaijan’s military actions in Karabakh, Sevan reminded him that Armenia signed a Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement with the EU long before that armed conflict.

He added that it was Pashinyan who recognized “Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, and in this regard, it is not clear why Yerevan expected Russia or the CSTO to interfere in the internal affairs of a sovereign state.”

Sevan also expressed sympathy to the Armenian Ambassador for having to represent a country that does not have a consistent foreign policy.