Pashinyan’s Armenia, having chosen alignment with Turkey, does not need Russia

The “Armenian-Russian month”, which began with Nikol Pashinyan’s visit to Moscow to mark the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, can be considered concluded. It is time to evaluate not just interim but final outcomes.

1. The Armenian military contingent did not participate in the parade on Red Square. Pashinyan’s press secretary, Nazeli Baghdasaryan, limited herself to the following explanation: “It was considered inappropriate.”

2. On the same day, Colonel Artsrun Hovhannisyan, the mouthpiece of enemy propaganda during the 44-day war, stated on Public Television that, according to Hitler’s plans, the Nazis were supposed to create a Greater Armenia by giving part of Turkey’s territories to it. He also called the claim that “the victory at Stalingrad saved Armenia from the Turkish invasion” a myth.

3. The delegation with high-ranking officials did not greet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at Yerevan’s Zvartnots airport. Ararat Mirzoyan also ignored the protocol event in Victory Park with Lavrov’s participation. Furthermore, Armenia ignored Russia’s position on hosting the European Community summit in Yerevan in 2026.

4. Despite the fact that Valentina Matvienko, Chairwoman of the Federation Council of Russia, was welcomed in Yerevan by a delegation led by National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan—and Simonyan did not spare flowers for Matviyenko—neither she nor Sergey Lavrov succeeded in opening a Russian consulate in Kapan, although this was supposed to be a significant political conclusion of “Armenian-Russian Rapprochement Month”, which, according to rumors, the Russian side has repeatedly conveyed to its Armenian counterparts.

5. Lavrov’s and Matvienko’s visits were met in Yerevan by protests organized by Nikol Pashinyan’s political partners Tigran Khzmalyan, Arman Babajanyan, Artur Sakunts and others. All pro-government media—from Public Television to the Armenian Time newspaper—provided a negative information background, building propaganda around the narrative that “Russia has proven itself to be an unreliable and inadequate partner.”

6. As the eventful month drew to a close, vandals once again desecrated the monument honoring Russian and Armenian border guards on Yerevan’s “Walk of Fame” in Victory Park, tearing down the coat of arms of Soviet Armenia from one of the pillars near the sculpture.

It should be recalled that this is not the first case of vandalism—a similar incident happened in 2024. The repeated vandalism in the same place is a steady trend that characterizes the inability to take effective response measures or the unwillingness to adequately respond to what happened, thereby encouraging vandals.

The “Month of Rapprochement between Russia and Armenia” has ended without significant achievements for the two countries. This proves once again that Pashinyan has already made a strategic choice. And it was made in favor of Turkey. Pashinyan’s Armenia has no need for Artsakh, Russian-language schools, Soviet historiography, Soviet monuments, or a Russian consulate—whether in Kapan or anywhere else. It needs only economic contacts with Russia until the country is fully integrated into or absorbed into the Turkic world. Pashinyan’s Armenia only needs “Russia to just pay the bills” until the country completes its geopolitical pivot.

Think about it…