Beniamin Matevosyan: Putin tightens legislation while Pashinyan deepens his flirtation with the EU

(The new law in Russia and the EU summit in Yerevan are bringing a major conflict closer)

In mid-April 2026, Russian legislation underwent significant changes, marking another turn in the global confrontation between Moscow and the collective West. The Russian State Duma unanimously passed in the first reading a bill expanding the president’s powers to use armed forces abroad. The main goal of the initiative, put forward by Anna Tsivileva, Deputy Minister of Defense, and Andrei Kartapolov, head of the Defense Committee, is to protect Russian citizens and organizations from “criminal and other persecution” by foreign states and international courts whose jurisdiction Russia does not recognize.

This legal mechanism, effectively creating a “protective dome” over Russians anywhere in the world, is a direct response to the increasing number of detentions, such as the arrest of archaeologist Alexander Butyagin in Poland.

Alongside this legislative move, Europe’s security architecture is beginning to crack. Against the backdrop of the US electoral race, Donald Trump once again launched sharp criticism of the North Atlantic Alliance on his Truth Social platform, stating that NATO has never helped Washington and will not do so in the future. Trump is seriously considering the possibility of withdrawing the US from the alliance, particularly in light of European partners’ unwillingness to support American initiatives in the Middle East.

The Wall Street Journal notes that Europe has already begun preparing for a “post-NATO” era, attempting to form a “coalition of the willing” within the structure and expand the role of European command. For Russia, this fragmentation of the Western bloc represents a strategic opportunity: a weakening of American influence would allow Moscow to pursue the terms of the “Ryabkov ultimatum” of December 2021 far more effectively – an ultimatum that called for rolling back NATO infrastructure to its 1997 borders.

In these circumstances, the Armenian leadership’s attempts to continue a multi-vector policy look not merely anachronistic, but as a direct threat to statehood. By trying to convince society that Armenia can play both sides at once, Nikol Pashinyan is drawing the country into the epicenter of a great-power collision. The European Political Community conference and the first Armenia–EU summit, scheduled for May 4 and 5 in Yerevan, are being positioned by the authorities as a diplomatic triumph and the launch of an electoral campaign. Yet behind the glossy exterior lies a dangerous trap. By inviting to Yerevan representatives of the “coalition of the willing:” France, Germany, Poland, and the Baltic states, which today are the principal sponsors of military confrontation with Russia, Pashinyan is de facto inscribing Armenia into the anti-Russian axis.

The geopolitical history of the region does not forgive such miscalculations. When Georgia once made an unambiguous bet on a Western military presence, the result was an inscription on the walls of an American base: “Comrade Georgians, learn to fight, we’ll come and check.” The consequences for Ukraine proved even more tragic, the country was reduced to ruins in its attempt to become a NATO outpost. Today, Pashinyan risks repeating that path, ignoring the reality of economic sanctions and the prospect of Armenian territory becoming a new theater of war.

It is important to understand that in conditions where Washington is shifting the burden of sustaining conflicts onto Europe, small countries attempting to “change their security umbrella” in the middle of a storm are the first to come under fire. If Armenia’s political forces and voters fail to grasp the gravity of the moment, severing ties with Russia will become a catastrophe that no European conference can compensate for. Ignoring Moscow’s warnings and its newly adopted defense doctrines may mean that instead of the promised peace and prosperity, the country will face the final dismantling of its security.

Think about it…