Trying to shift responsibility, Pashinyan chose Belarus as a target – Alexey Dzermant

Speaking with Alpha News, political scientist Alexey Dzermant commented on the reports that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan does not rule out the change of the position on the CSTO if Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko apologizes.

According to the expert, Pashinyan is trying to shift political responsibility to others, in this case, Alexander Lukashenko.

“Belarus perceives the statement by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan calmly, although we see some signs of hysteria that he has been showing over the past few days. Yesterday, Pashinyan said that Armenia would quit the Collective Security Treaty Organization, then it turned out his words were mistranslated and misunderstood, and today he is attacking Belarus. It seems to me that this is due to the fact that the internal political situation in Armenia is not developing very well for Pashinyan. Protest sentiments are growing. An authoritative leader, Bishop Bagrat, has appeared in the opposition. All this is happening amid the preparation of an agreement on a strategic partnership between Armenia and the United States,” Dzermant said.

“In my opinion, the Armenian Prime Minister’s political stunts can worsen the split in Armenian society, which is already happening. Instead of somehow bringing society together, Pashinyan is trying to shift political responsibility to others, in this case to Alexander Lukashenko, whom he accused of almost supporting Azerbaijan, of wishing Azerbaijan victory, and so on. Firstly, the victory was stated as a fact, and there were no talks about Lukashenko wanting Armenia to lose because, for a long time, Belarus was a mediator between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the talks around Karabakh.

The Armenian side rejected all these proposals, all these efforts. As a result, the situation led to a war in which Armenia lost. Pashinyan is the one who is responsible for the defeat. He understands this, but he is trying to escape this responsibility and shift it to his allies in the CSTO—to anyone but not to himself. In this case, Belarus was chosen as a target,” Dzermant noted.

“Instead of blaming others and making political stunts that could lead to disaster, Pashinyan should tackle issues in his own country and find a common language with his own people,” Dzermant concluded.