Why did Putin and Pashinyan blame Artsakh on each other? Former Foreign Minister of Artsakh

The meeting of Nikol Pashinyan and Vladimir Putin on April 1st in the Kremlin was an important meeting with pre-election significance for Pashinyan. 168TVof Revue expressed such an opinion on the air of the program Former Foreign Minister of Artsakh, RA Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Arman Melikyanspeaking about the content and public effects of the Putin-Pashinyan talks that took place in Moscow last week.

What about during the public conversation between Putin and Pashinyan? QUESTION OF ARTSAKH to the discussion, the former Foreign Minister of the Republic of Artsakh explains it from the point of view that it is not at all desirable for the Kremlin for Russia to be perceived in Armenia as “the main superpower destroying Artsakh”, and that is the reason why Putin and Pashinyan mutually blamed each other for the destruction of Artsakh.

Arman Melikyan draws attention to the question of what effect the public part of the meeting between Putin and Pashinyan, which was also discussed behind closed doors and was more frank, had on the Armenian public and what comments it gave rise to in Russian professional circles.

“I think that, by and large, for the Russian public, with the exception of the Armenian community of Russia, this meeting did not have any significant significance. It was a meeting of intra-Armenian interest, and the effect, according to me, was that the pro-Russian forces of Armenia were excited, the pro-Pashinyan forces of Armenia were excited, and in that sense, it seems that everyone got what they wanted from Moscow and Putin’s lips. We should also keep in mind the context of the preceding events, keep in mind that since 2020, Russia’s credit in Armenia has significantly decreased, and the attitude towards Russia among ordinary citizens has acquired quite serious negative shades, and it is impossible for them not to know this in Moscow,” Arman Melikyan believes.

According to the diplomat, it is another matter that the Russian authorities are used to and have learned to use the attitude of others towards them based on their interests, be it negative or positive, and from this point of view, according to Arman Melikyan, Pashinyan’s rule in Armenia has never really caused any problems for Russia, either at the bilateral level or on international platforms.

“The rhetoric that is used, often accusations, often grievances, has in no way really reflected on the practical side of relations. Now, if Russia knows that the attitude towards it in Armenia, to put it mildly, has worsened during the last 5-6 years, it means that the attitude towards those people whom Russia will support will worsen in Armenia precisely because they are supported by Russia, and on the contrary, when it was visible that Russia is dissatisfied with Pashinyan with his words and even humiliates Pashinyan in front of everyone, this can increase the number of Pashinyan’s supporters in Armenia, if not to say, at least to practical supporters. number only because President Putin humiliates him,” commented Arman Melikyan.

He also added that in all cases, this “humiliation” was mutual, because Pashinyan’s supporters are also convinced that Pashinyan “put Putin’s belly in place” with his answer, so both Russia-lovers and Pashinyan-lovers were excited by this debate that took place in front of the cameras. These are, of course, mainly public perceptions, but it is a completely different question how far they are related to reality.

Turning to the issue of Artsakh during the Putin-Pashinyan conversation, the former Foreign Minister of Artsakh said the following. “In all cases, it is not at all desirable for the Russian side that Russia is perceived in Armenia as the main superpower destroying Artsakh, and that is the reason why they mutually put the blame for the destruction of Artsakh on each other, and both are right, because by and large, together they brought the Artsakh issue to this particular conclusion.”

According to Arman Melikyan, Putin and Pashinyan, by and large, were fooling us with accusations related to Karabakh, rather than each other.

“In reality, what does it matter whether Armenia recognized the independence of Artsakh or not?” It was Russia’s sovereign right to present its attitude towards Artsakh to the international community in a legal form at the political level. In fact, Artsakh was a small ally of Russia in the South Caucasus, and in that sense, Russia has repeatedly made hints about it through the lips of various political figures, therefore, to link the destruction of Artsakh with Armenia’s non-recognition of its independence is at least not correct, that is, it is Russia’s right to decide whether Artsakh is independent or not, and to condition the recognition of that independence on Armenia’s attitude is not correct at all.

The same applies to Pashinyan’s statement, that is, what does it have to do with what the Russian leader announced? If you have your own policy and you really want to recognize the independence of Artsakh, recognize it. Why do you condition that recognition or the protection of Artsakh’s rights with Russia’s attitude?” thinks the former Foreign Minister of Artsakh.

Speaking about the possible outcomes of the ongoing war against Iran, Arman Melikyan believes that there are only two options: either Iran will lose, or the United States and Israel.

Let’s remind that on April 1, the talks between Nikol Pashinyan and Vladimir Putin took place in the Kremlin in Moscow. At the beginning of the meeting, the President of the Russian Federation in his speech touched on a number of topics, including Armenian-Russian relations, the volume of bilateral trade turnover, which, according to Putin’s data, amounted to 6.4 billion US dollars in 2025 and 11 billion dollars in 2024, the price of Russian gas sold to Armenia compared to the price sold to European countries, the incompatibility of EAEU-EU membership, dissatisfaction with the CSTO and the issue of Artsakh. the internal political processes in Armenia and the parliamentary elections to be held in June. The head of the Kremlin hinted at the imprisonment of Russian citizen Samvel Karapetyan and expressed hope that all political parties of Armenia with a “pro-Russian attitude” will be able to participate in the elections.

Pashinyan had answered, that “there are no participants in political processes in our places of imprisonment”, and that according to the RA Constitution, only those citizens who have an exclusively Armenian passport can participate in the elections.

“Moscow. The Kremlin. In an interview with Pavel Zarubin in the format of the Russian TV program “Putin”, Dmitry Peskov, the spokesperson of the Russian President, informed that behind closed doors, the conversation between Putin and Pashinyan lasted for about two hours and was “sincere, useful, necessary”.

Full interview in the video.

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