Pashinyan wants to complete his project to shift Armenia to the West, expert says

Speaking with Alpha News, political scientist Dmitry Babich commented on Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s refusal to attend the Moscow Victory Parade on May 9. According to the expert, Pashinyan wants to complete his project to shift Armenia from Russia to the West.

“It seems like Prime Minister Pashinyan is going all-in; that is, he wants to complete the project he started to delimitate the border and shift Armenia from Russia to the West. He decided not to delay this process, not to cut it piece by piece, but to do it abruptly. His decision not to attend the May 9 parade obviously fits into this logic; this is the only way to explain it. This, of course, is a risky step, but he knows better,” Babich said.

According to the political scientist, Russia wants to maintain good relations with Armenia.

“We in Russia would like to achieve two goals. First, no war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. These wars both frighten and upset us, and we see nothing good in them. Second, we would like to maintain good relations with Armenia. In Moscow, the question of either Russia or the West has never been raised; Armenia has never been prohibited from signing any agreements with the EU or the USA; however, the West, obviously, poses the ultimatum very harshly: we or Russia. It is obvious that Prime Minister Pashinyan agreed with this logic.

In my opinion, you should not agree with this logic. For example, China does not agree with this logic and withstands certain pressure. It seems to me that good relations with Russia are worth it,” Babich concluded.