Alliance With Russia ‘Key To Armenia’s Security’
April 14, 2021
• Naira Nalbandian
Armenia -- Russian and Armenian troops hold joint military exercises at the
Alagyaz shooting range, September 24, 2020.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Wednesday that Russia’s military presence
in Armenia is vital for his country’s national security and could become even
stronger soon.
“We must note that the Armenian-Russian military alliance is pivotal for
ensuring the external security of the Republic of Armenia and it is cemented by
several dozen strategic treaties and mutual defense obligations,” Pashinian told
lawmakers in Yerevan.
He stressed the importance of a joint military contingent comprising Russian
troops stationed in Armenia and a Russian-Armenian air-defense system.
“According to the logic of the agreements that formed these two systems, an
attack on Armenia means an attack on Russia, and the two countries must jointly
confront external challenges,” he said.
Accordingly, Pashinian indicated Yerevan’s interest in the expansion of the
Russian military base headquarters in Gyumri. In that context, he said Russian
and Armenian officials are holding “quite productive discussions” on a possible
deployment of more Russian troops to Armenia’s southeastern Syunik province.
A Russian military post on a highway running along the Armenian-Azerbaijani
border.
Syunik borders Iran as well as districts southwest of Nagorno-Karabakh which
were retaken by Azerbaijan during and after a six-week war stopped by a
Russian-brokered ceasefire on November 10. Russia deployed soldiers and border
guards there late last year to help the Armenian military defend the region
against possible Azerbaijani attacks.
Pashinian discussed bilateral military ties with Russian President Vladimir
Putin during an April 7 visit to Moscow. He said after the talks that Russia is
helping Armenia reform its armed forces after the autumn war in Karabakh.
The Armenian Defense Ministry announced late last month that a high-level
Russian military delegation will visit Armenia soon for further talks on the
defense reforms.
A delegation led by Colonel-General Sergei Istrakov, a deputy chief of the
Russian military’s General Staff, held weeklong negotiations with the Armenian
army’s top brass in Yerevan in January.
Pashinian Blames Predecessors For Karabakh War Outcome
April 14, 2021
• Naira Nalbandian
• Astghik Bedevian
• Gayane Saribekian
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian speaks in the Armenian parliament,
Yerevan, April 14, 2021.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Wednesday blamed former Presidents Serzh
Sarkisian and Robert Kocharian for Armenia’s defeat in last year’s war with
Azerbaijan, sparking uproar from his detractors.
“Using the Karabakh issue to come to power in 1998, the Sarkisian-Kocharian duo
lost the Nagorno-Karabakh negotiating process and squandered our victory in the
first Artsakh war over the next 20 years,” he charged.
Speaking in the Armenian parliament, Pashinian accused the two ex-presidents of
illegally enriching themselves and turning Armenia into a “mafia structure”
during their rule. He said they have no moral right to brand him a “capitulator”
and “traitor.”
“While Azerbaijan bought spy satellites the [former] Armenian authorities bought
plots of lands on Greek islands, in Europe and everywhere where that was
possible,” he said in a speech which lawmakers from his My Step bloc greeted
with a standing ovation.
The session was boycotted by the main opposition Prosperous Armenia Party’s
parliamentary group but attended by other opposition deputies. Some of them
accused Pashinian of seeking to dodge responsibility for the outcome of the war
which left at least 3,500 Armenia soldiers dead and led to sweeping Azerbaijani
territorial gains.
They also condemned their pro-government colleagues’ rapturous applause as
inappropriate.
“They are creating new standards for morality, which is called My Step’s
morality,” said Taron Simonian of the opposition Bright Armenia Party. “As if
these heavy losses and misfortunes … were not enough, they are underlining their
political leader’s extreme ineptness.”
Armenia -- Gor Gevorgian, a parliament deputy formerly affiliated with the
ruling My Step bloc, speaks during a session of the National Assembly, Yerevan,
April 13, 2021.
Gor Gevorgian, a presently independent lawmaker who left My Step right after the
war, told Pashinian on the parliament floor: “As a member of a post-war
country’s parliament, I am ashamed of this hand clapping because we have
thousands of casualties, captured compatriots and fresh graves. You should have
tried to rein in your teammates.”
“Who are you?” Pashinian shot back. “Where have you come from? I won’t bother to
answer your question.”
“We applaud people who believe in the future of Armenia and Artsakh,” he added.
Representatives of Sarkisian and Kocharian issued, meanwhile, strongly-worded
rebuttals of Pashinian’s accusations.
Eduard Sharmazanov, the spokesman for Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia
(HHK), said the war and its outcome were the result of Pashinian’s “foolish,
nonsensical and spontaneous” policy on the Karabakh conflict.
“The wartime commander-in-chief who is responsible for 5,000 [Armenian combat]
casualties and during whose rule we lost more than 10,000 square kilometers of
land … blames everyone except himself,” Sharmazanov told RFE/RL’s Armenian
Service.
Sharmazanov said Pashinian mishandled not only the war but also negotiations
with Azerbaijan mediated by the United States, Russia and France.
In that regard, he dismissed Pashinian’s fresh claims that peace proposals made
by the U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group during
Sarkisian’s rule were not favorable for the Armenian side. He argued that
earlier this year the group’s Russian co-chair, Igor Popov, accused Pashinian of
misrepresenting those proposals.
A spokesman for Kocharian, Bagrat Mikoyan, scoffed at Pashinian’s “panicky”
remarks, saying that they are further proof that the prime minister is “losing
power.”
Sarkisian and Kocharian had led Karabakh during its successful 1991-1994 war
with Azerbaijan. Like virtually all Armenian opposition groups, the
ex-presidents have held Pashinian responsible for the Armenian side’s defeat in
the 2020 war and demanded his resignation.
Armenia -- Riot police block a sreet adjacent to the parliament building in
Yerevan during Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian's speech in the National Assembly,
April 14, 2021.
Sarkisian’s HHK is a key member of an opposition alliance that launched
anti-government street protests in Yerevan immediately after the hostilities
were halted by a Russian-brokered agreement on November 10. Pashinian has
pledged to hold snap general elections in response to the protests.
In his latest speech, Pashinian also strongly denied allegations that he is the
one who ordered in early October an Armenian military counteroffensive in
Karabakh that proved disastrous and greatly facilitated Azerbaijan’s subsequent
victory.
The embattled premier further dismissed the former Armenian army chief Onik
Gasparian’s claims that three days after the outbreak of the 2020 hostilities he
warned Pashinian that Armenia and Karabakh are heading for defeat and that the
war must be stopped as soon as possible. He insisted that Gasparian made a
statement to the contrary at a September 30 meeting of his Security Council.
Gasparian stood by his claims and accused the prime minister of “shamelessly
distorting facts” in comments to Armlur.am made later on Wednesday.
The general was controversially sacked as chief of the Armenian army’s General
Staff after initiating a February 25 statement by the army top brass that
accused Pashinian of misrule and demanded his resignation.
U.S., Russia, France Urge Renewed Talks On Karabakh Settlement
April 14, 2021
Armenia -- The U.S. and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and other
diplomats meet with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, Yerevan, December
14, 2020.
The United States, Russia and France have called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to
resume negotiations on a “comprehensive and sustainable” resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Diplomats from the three world powers co-heading the OSCE Minsk Group expressed
readiness late on Tuesday to facilitate such talks, including with renewed
visits to the conflict zone.
In a joint statement, they noted “with satisfaction” the conflicting sides’
compliance with the Russian-brokered ceasefire that stopped last year’s
Armenian-Azerbaijani war while calling for “additional efforts” to stabilize the
situation. They said that includes the release of Armenian prisoners of war and
civilians still held in Azerbaijani custody.
“The Co-Chairs stress that special attention should be paid to the achievement
of a final comprehensive and sustainable settlement on the basis of the elements
and principles well-known to the sides,” says the statement.
“In this respect, the Co-Chairs call on the parties to resume high-level
political dialogue under the auspices of the Co-Chairs at the earliest
opportunity. They reiterate their proposal to organize direct bilateral
consultations under their auspices, in order for the sides to review and agree
jointly upon a structured agenda, reflecting their priorities, without
preconditions.”
“The Co-Chairs underscore their readiness to resume working visits to the
region, including Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas, to carry out their
assessment and mediation roles,” added the mediators.
Their joint statement came just hours after Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
again said that Baku resolved the conflict by winning the six-week war. Aliyev
said the Minsk Group co-chairs should therefore deal now not with a Karabakh
settlement but other issues such as the post-war demarcation of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
By contrast, Armenia has repeatedly stated that the conflict remains unresolved
and that the Minsk Group should continue its mediation efforts.
The group’s U.S. and French co-chairs, Andrew Schofer and Stephane Visconti,
most recently toured the region and met with Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister
Nikol Pashinian in December. Their Russian colleague, Igor Popov, missed the
trip because of a coronavirus infection.
Aliyev and Pashinian met in Moscow in January for trilateral talks hosted by
Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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