Pashinyan Says Russia and Armenia Are No Longer Strategic Allies

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has stated that Russia and Armenia are no longer strategic allies. His assessment follows Moscow's refusal to aid Yerevan during a 2022 flare-up of conflict with Azerbaijan along their shared border, a development that has reshaped Yerevan's view of its longstanding security relationship with the Kremlin.

In 2022, Armenian and Azerbaijani forces clashed at several points along the Azerbaijani-Armenian border. The fighting prompted Armenia's government to formally request assistance from Russia and from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the mutual-defense bloc led by Moscow. Both Moscow and the CSTO declined the appeal, leaving Armenia to face the border escalation without backup from its treaty allies.

Pashinyan believes that Russia's failure to help during the crisis undermines its status as a "strategic partner." The episode has intensified tensions between Yerevan and Moscow and has fueled doubts about Armenia's continued reliance on Russian-led security arrangements in the South Caucasus.