Armenian prime minister says his country no longer considers Russia a strategic partner

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Thursday there are grounds to no longer consider Russia a strategic partner of Armenia.

Speaking at a news conference in the capital Yerevan, Pashinyan accused Moscow and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) of failing to "imlement its security obligations," meaning Russia's refusal to interfere in Armenia's 2022 escalation with Azerbaijan.

"After the events of September 2022, how can we say that there is a strategic partnership?" Pashinyan said, responding to a question about why Russia was not described as a strategic partner in the Armenian government's 2026-2031 program.

"If we now write 'strategic partnership,' you will ask why Russia and the CSTO did not fulfill their security obligations in September 2022. What should I answer you?" he said.

The Armenian government's 2026-2031 program instead says that dialogue aimed at mutually beneficial, multi-sector cooperation with Russia will continue as Armenia transforms its relations with Moscow "in the new conditions of establishing peace in the region" and pursues a balanced foreign policy.

Presenting the program to parliament, Pashinyan said the transformation of Armenian-Russian relations was a natural process following the establishment of peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

In response to Armenia's claims, Russian officials have repeatedly said the security obligations did not extend to Karabakh, which is internationally recognized as the territory of Azerbaijan, and that they only concern Armenia's territory itself.

Armenian and Azerbaijan fought a series of cross-border wars in the Karabakh region within Azerbaijan since the late 1980s. Baku fully liberated its territory in 2023.