On the occasion of the 81st anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, Moscow is not as crowded this year as last year, in the case of events dedicated to the 80th anniversary.

Last year, the President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, the leaders of the CIS countries, the leaders of almost all of Russia’s traditional partner countries, including Nikol Pashinyan, were in Moscow’s Red Square. This year, many people are not in Red Square, including Pashinyan. Nikol Pashinyan will not participate in the Victory Parade to be held in Moscow on May 9 this year. During his last briefing, Pashinyan stated that during his previous visit to Moscow, in April, he told Putin that he would not be in Red Square.

“During my visit to the Russian Federation, I informed the President of the Russian Federation that I will not be able to participate in the May 9 events due to the campaign,” he said. Pashinyan did not specify whether another Armenian official would go to Moscow instead of him or not. However, as the Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergey Kopirkin announced the other day, Nikol Pashinyan, “among other friendly countries of the Russian Federation”, was invited to the parade in Moscow. Pashinyan participated in the Moscow parade in 2025 and 2023, but missed the 2024 one.

However, yesterday, during the meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow had not officially invited anyone to the May 9 celebrations, but announced that it would welcome all potential guests. “We have not officially invited anyone,” Putin said. Lukashenko also emphasized that he was disgusted to see how some neighboring states “threw the Victory under their feet”. He reminded that the Soviet people saved the whole world from the “plague” and that this is “our great treasure”. Lukashenko expressed confidence that world leaders “will ask to come here” soon. “To be in this square,” he added. The President of Belarus arrived in Moscow on the evening of May 8 to participate in the Victory Day celebrations.

According to the Russian media, the presidents of Abkhazia, Badra Gunba of Laos, Tonglun Sisulit of Kazakhstan, Kasim-Jomart Tokayev, Supreme Ruler of Malaysia Sultan Ibrahim, the leadership of the Republic of Serbia headed by President Sinisha Karan, Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fitzo, President of South Ossetia Alan Gagloev and others.

Pashinyan’s absence from the Red Square comes to complete the chain that has emerged in the Armenian-Russian diplomatic-expert-information domain in recent days. The 8th European Political Community Summit held in Armenia, the participation of Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and his anti-Russian speech were met with great displeasure in the Russian Federation and the Foreign Ministry summoned the RA Ambassador to the Russian Federation, Gurgen Arsenyan, conveying Russia’s displeasure.

“The head of the diplomatic mission was informed about the categorical inadmissibility of providing a pulpit to Vladimir Zelensky, the leader of the Nazi regime in Armenia, to issue terrorist threats against Russia, within the framework of the latest events under the auspices of the EU,” said the message of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry also stated that during the meeting with the RA ambassador, it was emphasized that Moscow is justly upset in this regard and considers the lack of a proper negative assessment by the official Yerevan to be inconsistent with the partnership nature of Russian-Armenian relations.

And although the gap in Armenian-Russian relations is deepening, approaching the crisis point, the RA authorities declare that they maintain strong ties with the Russian Federation.

During the “Yerevan Dialogue” international forum, RA Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan announced that for decades, if not centuries, RA thought that in a hostile environment, RA needs one main friend, a “big brother” who can protect.

“Now this perception has changed, including because when the moment came and we really needed the protection of that bigger friend, it didn’t come, and that greatly changed the perception of foreign policy among ordinary Armenians. I am not even talking about the political elite.

And now we somehow succeeded, and this is exactly what we want, the direction we want to go. we somehow managed to reduce our dependence, be it politically, economically or energetically, we managed to reduce our dependence on one center, our ties to one center, and diversify our list of friends. As you rightly mentioned, we have established a strategic partnership with the United States.

The United States plays a key role in establishing peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The United States plays a key role in the opening of transport infrastructure and communications in the South Caucasus. I’m sure you’ve heard of the TRIPP project, the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, which includes railroads, power grids, internet cables, and perhaps oil and gas pipelines in the future.

It’s all about connectivity, connectivity between Armenia and Azerbaijan, connectivity between Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia and beyond this region: Europe, Central Asia, the Far East. We have established a strategic partnership with the European Union. We have very close relations with India, strategic partnership with China and Kazakhstan, and we still maintain our strong ties with Russia,” commented Mirzoyan.

Thus, Armenian-Russian relations have entered a stage where the usual norms of diplomatic etiquette have been replaced by open demarches and public manifestations of mutual mistrust.

Nikol Pashinyan’s absence from Red Square, citing a “campaign campaign”, and Vladimir Putin’s statement about the lack of official invitations, indicate that the parties are no longer trying to maintain the illusion of a “strategic alliance”. The political gap formed between Moscow and Yerevan today is manifested not only at the ceremonial level, but also by the fundamental clash of geopolitical vectors, where Armenia’s “diversification” policy and the emphasis on Western projects are considered as a direct challenge to Russia’s influence.

The catalyst for deepening the crisis was the summit held in Yerevan with the participation of the President of Ukraine, which became a “red line” for the Kremlin, leading to the summoning of the RA ambassador to the Foreign Ministry and harsh warnings about “categorical inadmissibility”. The ruling elite of Armenia is radically reshaping the security and economic architecture of the country, relying on the Western centers, which, it is not yet known, how they will support Armenia in this transitional phase, if this foreign policy of Armenia continues.

As a result, Armenian-Russian relations today have reached a point where assurances about maintaining “strong ties” simply contradict real political processes. When once-allied countries begin to communicate in the language of “summoning ambassadors”, with diplomatic skirmishes, and the meetings of the top management become a platform for recording differences rather than cooperation, it becomes obvious that the former model no longer exists.

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