Yesterday’s meeting in Moscow between Nikol Pashinyan and Vladimir Putin was not an ordinary official meeting. In a carefully calculated public speech, Putin delivered a message that was both diplomatic and politically devastating.

Referring to Armenia’s economic ties, security issues, mentioning Nagorno Karabakh, Pashinyan’s unrealistic expectations from relations with the European Union and even hinting at the upcoming elections, he was not just summarizing bilateral relations and regional issues. he formulated a clear contrast between what Armenia has had, what it has lost and what it may lose.

Putin’s preface was, in fact, a verdict on Pashinyan. If we remove the diplomatic wording, the message was clear. you don’t seem to understand what you are doing, you are on the wrong path, and if you continue like this, you will cause much more harm to the Armenian people than you have already done.

At one point, I even expected that Putin would ask Pashinyan what he was wearing on the chest of his jacket. As if it is the map of Armenia. Pashinyan carries that map to emphasize that the issue of Nagorno Karabakh is closed. But who carries a map on his chest? Has anyone seen a leader of another country do something like this? A flag yes, but a map? Imagine the opposite: Putin will carry a map of Russia that includes Donbas during international meetings.

In my opinion, what Pashinyan is trying to convey with this symbol has exactly the opposite effect. That map, right on Pashinyan’s chest, becomes a constant reminder for the Armenian people that Nagorno Karabakh was lost unnecessarily, precisely during his rule, due to his gross mistakes.

Moreover, when the head of the country wears the map of his country that he imagines on his chest, it betrays another inner mistrust, that this territory is also an unstable and unprotected thing that can also be lost and should be stuck to his chest, to convince yourself and the other person that at least you can keep it. Because you are justifiably afraid that you don’t even know how to store it.

Former RA Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan

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