Beniamin Matevosyan: Pashinyan is fueling conflict between Putin and Aliyev

(Russia will feel the consequences of Karabakh’s fall for a long time to come)

The latest diplomatic scandal between Russia and Azerbaijan clearly demonstrates that Ilham Aliyev’s ambitions extend far beyond Karabakh. The 2023 ethnic cleansing, which led to the complete depopulation of Artsakh, only emboldened Baku to pursue further expansion and direct confrontation with Moscow. Of course, Baku would not have been able to act so brazenly if it weren’t for the destructive factor of Nikol Pashinyan in Yerevan.

The Armenian prime minister first lost the war, then on October 6, 2022, in Prague, officially recognized Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan, and in 2023 ineptly allowed the final elimination of Armenian statehood in the region. The fact remains: relying on Pashinyan’s systematic mistakes and deliberately damaging policy, Aliyev not only inflicted colossal harm on Armenia by depriving it of its historic Karabakh shield, but is now also allowing himself to brazenly interfere in Russia’s domestic political and expert discourse.

A demonstrative display of Ilham Aliyev’s ambition came in the form of the decision by Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General’s Office to place Russian experts and media figures on an international wanted list. The Azerbaijani lists included Alexey Chadaev, adviser to the head of Russia’s Ministry of Transport; Ivan Knyazev, TV host; and Semyon Uralov, political analyst.

Moreover, Mikhail Yevdokimov, Russian ambassador, was summoned to Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry. Baku expressed strong protest over materials in the Russian media space, accusing the experts of calling for interference in the republic’s internal affairs and making statements against its leadership. This is a direct attempt to dictate to Moscow what can be said within its own information space. If Russia were guided by a similarly aggressive principle, it would long ago have placed on a wanted list or arrested the administrators of the “Maiden Tower” Telegram channel, and would have abducted and staged a show trial for the editors-in-chief of Azerbaijani propaganda outlets such as haqqin. az or minval. az.

In large part, this situation has arisen solely because Artsakh no longer exists. This allows Aliyev not only to interfere in Russia’s internal affairs, but also to inflict even greater damage on Armenia, and, with the direct support of Turkey and the US, to push through the so-called “Zangezur corridor.” At the same time, Pashinyan’s government is simultaneously moving toward a total rupture of integration and defense ties with Russia.

The key problem behind the current crisis in relations between Moscow and Baku is, to the greatest extent, hidden precisely in Yerevan. By surrendering Artsakh, Pashinyan destroyed the system of checks and balances that served as a safety valve for the entire South Caucasus.

Armenia itself must not become a tool of foreign policy in someone else’s hands, neither Moscow’s, nor Washington’s, nor Brussels’, and certainly not Ankara’s. At the same time, it was objectively in the interests of both Yerevan and Moscow to preserve the status quo on the Artsakh issue indefinitely. The inviolability of this regional balance made it possible to keep Azerbaijan within the framework of constructive dialogue and prevented Turkey from finally pushing Russia out of the Caucasus. However, this highly complex geopolitical construction was destroyed by Yerevan back in 2018.

Think about that…