Kremlin indignant at Armenia for "unfriendly steps", including aid to Ukraine

Russia has summoned Armenian Ambassador Vagarshak Harutyunyan to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a “tough conversation” over Yerevan’s latest steps, which Russia considers unfriendly, including, according to the Kremlin, the visit of the prime minister’s wife to Kyiv and the transfer of humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

Source: European Pravda, referring to the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

Details: The Russian Foreign Ministry said it had noticed hesitation in Armenia regarding further participation in the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) and bilateral treaties with Russia, as well as the viability of agreements involving Russia to normalise relations with Azerbaijan.

“Against this background, in recent days, the leadership of Armenia managed to take a series of unfriendly steps, including launching the process of ratifying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the trip to Kyiv by the wife of the Prime Minister Anna Hakobyan with the transfer of humanitarian aid to the Kyiv Nazi regime, and the holding of military exercises on Armenian territory with the participation of the USA. In this regard, V. Harutyunyan, the ambassador of Armenia in Moscow, was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, and harsh remarks were made to him,” Moscow says.

In addition, the ambassador was given a note of protest due to the speech of Simonyan, the Speaker of the Parliament, against Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the entire department, and they were indignant at the detentions in Armenia of a pro-Russian blogger and a representative of the Armenian branch of “Sputnik”.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation expressed the hope that Russia and Armenia will remain allies and that Armenia will cooperate in the issue of exercises along the lines of the CSTO and “the expected direction of the organisation’s observation mission to the republic to facilitate the settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan”.

Background:

• Recently, Nikol Pashinyan, the Prime Minister of Armenia, called it a strategic mistake that Armenia relied only on Moscow in security matters.

• The other day, he announced the accumulation of Azerbaijani troops and the threat of a new escalation.