Author: Anna Tamamian

While the war against the neighboring Islamic Republic of Iran is constantly being discussed in the international press, attracting international relations and US foreign policy “attention”, the US interest in TRIPP does not seem to fade.

Although the pace of implementation of agreements has suffered significantly. Before the American side becomes active, third parties apply to participate in TRIPP-related processes. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Yermek Kosherbaev and the Minister of Transport Nurlan Sauranbaev are making official visits to Yerevan and Baku these days. The agenda of the Kazakh side seems to be broad, Kazakhstan has been frequently mentioned in Armenian official messages and speeches in recent months, taking a key role in establishing contacts between Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as in wider regional geopolitical and transport processes.

However, returning to the visits, we should mention that during the official visit to Yerevan on April 8-9, Minister Kosherbaev met both RA Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Nikol Pashinyan. Ararat Mirzoyan in the meeting with his Kazakh counterpart, he noted that the establishment of strategic partnership, which took place in November last year, when Nikol Pashinyan paid an official visit to Kazakhstan, became an important stage in the development of Armenian-Kazakh relations.

“In our broad agenda, I must emphasize one important, key direction for the economic development of our two countries and regions: interconnection. I am sure that the joint efforts towards the further development of transport and logistics infrastructures, including the logic of the “Crossroads of Peace” initiative of the Armenian government, will contribute to the best realization of the economic potential of the region and the strengthening of interregional cooperation,” Mirzoyan told the Foreign Minister of a country that has started importing wheat through Azerbaijan to Armenia in recent months.

Pashinyan, in turn, noted in the meeting with the Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan that the processes taking place in the region have a positive effect on the cooperation between Armenia and Kazakhstan, in particular, the railway communication established through Azerbaijan, Russia and Georgia gives a new impetus to the expansion of trade and economic ties.

Yermek Kosherbaev also said that the established railway communication will significantly expand bilateral trade and economic relations.

At the same time, Yermek Kosherbaev emphasized the unblocking of regional communication channels and highlighted Kazakhstan’s support for TRIPP and the RA Government’s “Crossroads of Peace” projects. He emphasized that Kazakhstan is also interested in the implementation of the above-mentioned projects and the expansion of regional trade and economic ties.

Nikol Pashinyan and Yermek Kosherbaev discussed issues related to the development of cooperation in the fields of infrastructure, construction, agriculture, technology, aviation and tourism. In that regard, the implementation of direct flights between Armenia and Kazakhstan, which will start in the near future, was highlighted. Kazakh officials are in Baku today, where they met with Ilham Aliyev, discussing the Middle Corridor, the Trans-Caspian Green Energy Corridor, and the fiber optic line on which Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are cooperating. Baku also mentioned the role of the process of normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia and the TRIPP project.

It was a short time ago when Nikol Pashinyan announced that Armenia is losing its competitive advantage in the general context of regional de-blockade due to the Russian management of Armenian railways.

According to Nikol Pashinyan, the solution to the situation should be for a country friendly to Russia and Armenia to buy the right of concession management from Russia. However, Moscow does not seem to be enthusiastic about this proposal of Yerevan. At the meeting with the Russian President in the Kremlin on April 1, Pashinyan most likely did not receive a positive response from Moscow in this regard. After that visit, on April 2, during the briefing following the Government session in RA, Pashinyan stated that they have no plans to unilaterally terminate the railway management contract. “The Republic of Armenia has that leverage, but we don’t plan and don’t want to go that way,” Pashinyan said.

To the question of whether it is possible for Yerevan, regardless of Moscow’s position, to try to negotiate and reach an agreement with the Kazakh side, Pashinyan responded by saying that they are not going to do anything behind Russia’s back and will continue to work against the Russian Federation, at least at this stage as long as the opportunities for dialogue are wide and open.

According to Pashinyan, the visit of Kazakh officials is related to the TRIPP project. According to him, the Kazakh side is interested in TRIPP. They are trying to understand what transport opportunities are opening up, including for themselves.

“We should also invite Kazakhstan to be ready to use the transit routes passing through Armenia to look at their exports, imports and the transport services they provide in the chain, because the business of the transport sector, which is private, but the state also has a certain role, cannot be taken separately, because very well, it was taken from one part of the country to another border, but in continuation, there must be a strong partnership in order for that sector to work,” Pashinyan said.

Today, during a joint press conference with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia, speaking about RA-US cooperation on TRIPP, RA Minister of Foreign Affairs Ararat Mirzoyan said that partners, that is, third parties, will be needed during the construction of TRIPP, as well as in the system management phase.

“It’s no secret that, as much as this is a bilateral project, it stems from and corresponds to the interests of many countries, starting from China, ending with Portugal, not to mention our immediate neighbors. Isn’t TRIPP on another planet? One end of TRIPP should touch the Republic of Azerbaijan, the other end should end in Nakhchivan, which is also the Republic of Azerbaijan, but the logical continuation, we have talked about this a lot, is Yeraskhov, the other network of Armenian railways, the Kars-Gyur railway junction and the Turkish railway network, the countries of Central Asia are especially very interested… a day ago we met here with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, who was also in Armenia accompanied by the Minister of Transport of Kazakhstan, therefore, there are discussions, the Middle Eastern countries are interested in these topics,” said Mirzoyan.

Kazakhstan has quite ambitious plans in the South Caucasus, striving to become an economic “guarantor” in the region, connecting its interests with the stability of the Trans-Caspian international transport route. In this context, Kazakhstan’s interest is not only political, but also strategic, aimed at the uninterrupted operation of alternative land routes and the suppression of Russian influence.

For the Kazakh side, TRIPP is considered as an element of the Middle Corridor. This interest acquires a systematic and more important character, especially in the light of the proposal made by the Armenian government to the Russian side regarding the transfer of the right of concession management of Armenian railways to Kazakhstan. This is an attempt to move the management of transport infrastructure away from the sphere of Russian influence. The Russian side’s disagreement shows that the Kremlin views control over regional communications as a cornerstone of its geopolitical influence. Kazakhstan’s entry into the Armenian infrastructural field can weaken Russia’s leverage in the region, which is perceived by Moscow as an undesirable change in the status quo, even taking into account the allied relations with Astana within the EAEU framework.

It should also be noted that Kazakhstan’s involvement in the transportation hubs of the South Caucasus significantly strengthens the Turkish factor in the South Caucasus. Astana’s ambitions are seen as the completion of a unified economic chain of the “Turkic world”, which is strategically beneficial to both Baku and Ankara. As a result, the replacement of Russian concession control by Kazakh may become the point where Moscow’s influence will significantly suffer, paving the way for new alliances and communication models where the priority is not post-Soviet ties, but deepening new relations between Turkic-speaking states.

Yerevan has obviously positioned itself in this field, contributing to the establishment of Kazakhstan in new transport projects, simultaneously pushing out the Russian presence from the Armenian transport network.

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On the evening of March 27, RA Defense Minister Suren Papikyan from France informed that by the decree of President Emmanuel Macron, he was awarded the “Legion d’honneur” medal of the French Republic, which was handed over by Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, taking into account Papikyan’s contribution to the development of Armenia-France relations.

 

It should be noted that Sebastien Lecorne will be the Minister of the Armed Forces of France in February 2024 had visited Armenia:

Anyway, hours after this information published by Papikyan, Nikol Pashinyan made the following post from the series of “lovely letters” on his Facebook page, saying:

“Such a lovely letter.

Hello Mr. Prime Minister, please consider your request to grant me another rank (major general). My title is colonel.

Thank you in advance.”

This post of a person who always hates the army, always has fears and complexes about the army is multi-layered, it has several footnotes.

First, this is perhaps the usual Pashinyan jealousy. That is, Nikol Pashinyan, who in 2025 by Kasim-Jomart Tokaev was awarded Turkic state with the highest state award of Kazakhstan – “Golden Eagle”, and in 2026 “Zayed” human brotherhood award had shared With Aliyev, he would very much like to have a high award from a country like France.

But here and there, until Pashinyan announces in Yerevan that he himself gives an account of what kind of state France is, and usually he himself asks for a meeting with the French leader, his party’s Minister of Defense is awarded the Legion of Honor (Legion d’honneur) by Macron’s decree. The same Macron that Nikol Pashinyan in 2025 had transferred France’s solidarity against attempts to destabilize Armenian democracy, but Armenia has promised and unfulfilled visits, always Pashinyan visited France and requested a meeting with Macron.

It should be noted that we have written many times about Suren Papikyan being targeted by Pashinyan and his followers, perhaps the forced fight against the gunners was one of those.

If it seemed to Suren Papikyan, or it seems that Pashinyan will spare him or trust him unconditionally because he is a party member, and the ministers who preceded him, the former heads of the RA Armed Forces were targeted because they were not members of the political or party team, or because Pashinyan did not trust them from the beginning, he is wrong.

Pashinyan himself chose all the former ministers of defense and the heads of the General Staff, and at least in the beginning he publicly appreciated and trusted him, but at some point that attitude and trustmy mood is gone. Pashinyan’s ministerial elections are a different matter were for a specific period and mission.

Secondly, in the logic of the above, let’s continue that this post by Pashinyan is dangerous, because even if there is no such letter, then this is a bad precedent and an impulse that one can bypass the Minister of Defense, his powers, to put it bluntly, “jump over his head”.

By the way, before Pashinyan, a member of the CP made a similar attempt When Lilit Minasyan said in one of the interviews that citizens can contact her and she will arrange for them to see the samples of the acquired weapons (there was no information about the public display yet), and there was no word about getting permission from Suren Papikyan or not. In other words, the members of the CP, who teach lessons to the opposition circles, the head of the government themselves do not respect the official status of their minister.

And what does the law define regarding the awarding of military ranks, in general?

“On military service and serviceman’s status” RA of the law Article 15 on regular military rank defines: «The procedure for awarding a military rank, the forms of presentation and orders for awarding a military rank shall be determined by the head of the state authorized body. And in Article 16 of the same law, under the heading “Bodies awarding military rank”, it is stated:

“1. Military rank is awarded:

1) The President of the Republic of Armenia – the military ranks of the highest officers on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia.

2) the head of the state authorized body – senior officer and “lieutenant” military ranks;

3) officials defined by the order of the head of the state authorized body – the military ranks of other officers, non-commissioned officers, non-commissioned officers not mentioned in point 2 of this part“Disciplinary Code of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia» Within the limits of the disciplinary law established by the law of the Republic of Armenia.

2. Clause 1 of Part 1 of this Article In accordance with the recommendation of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia on granting military ranks to the highest officers, the draft decree of the President of the Republic on awarding military ranks to the highest officers and the head of the state authorized body are attached. (the state authorized body is considered to be the structure managing the sector, the ministry and not only. – M.P.) appropriate petition.

3. After receiving the recommendation of the Prime Minister, the President of the Republic: within three days, signs the draft decree attached to the recommendation or returns it to the Prime Minister with objections.”

of the RA Armed Forces Disciplinary Code Article 11 clearly states:

– The incentive “Granting early regular military rank” is applied by order and: in the event that not less than half of the period of holding the military rank held by the serviceman has been completed in accordance with the law,

– «awarding a regular military rank one rank higher than the one provided for the post” incentive is applied by order and the term of the serviceman’s military rank and in the event that not less than half of it has been completed, in accordance with the law,

– the procedure for recording incentives is defined by the order of the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia”.

Of course, it should also be understood that not all colonels must necessarily become generals, the letter was written by a person far from the army.

In any case, apart from the mentioned ones, we are dealing with the violation of army subordination, pushing for it, and open contemptuous attitude towards state institutions, if not to say, this is another attempt to belittle and discredit the army, the military.

This was also expressed by the fact that for several years Nikol Pashinyan has not been going to combat bases on New Year’s Eve to congratulate and thank the soldiers and officers. And on Army Day, he visits the RA Ministry of Defense just to give lessons to the generals, to dictate his own agenda it was also this year in the context of which again Suren Papikyan message there was

And the targeting of the army and the military by Pashinyan started immediately after the change of power in 2018, former Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia Davit Tonoyan recalls a number of episodes about this: “Davit Tonoyan. Army, Politics and War” in the book.

Let’s not forget that on February 25, 2021, the RA Armed Forces will statement admitted that «For a long time, the RA armed forces patiently tolerated the “attacks” aimed at discrediting the armed forces by the current government, but everything has its limits.” It is a different matter that some of those who signed this demand were officially promoted in the army.

But it is after this incident that Pashinyan changed the model of army management with an unconstitutional step and made the head of the General Staff the Deputy Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia, which hints at his fears. Interesting (about this many times we wrote), that Pashinyan even saw dangers from time to time from the army led by Suren Papikyan. In particular, in the spring of 2024, from the podium of the National Assembly had announced.

“In February 2021, there was a failed attempt at a military coup. We have learned from what happened and must adopt additional mechanisms to rule out all further attempts to politicize the Armed Forces.”

Let’s go back to the at least publicly anonymous “lovely letter” of the general, and add that on one occasion we wrote also about Pashinyan’s policy of recognizing “advance heroes” and awarding corresponding titles.

And whether the letter is genuine or not has yet to be determined, by the way, under Pashinyan’s corresponding post, we have proposed to publicize the letter and the identity of its writer, we have publicly addressed the RA Defense Minister with the same issue, and we will pursue the issue of publicizing the truth. And as for Suren Papikyan, he still has many difficult days ahead of him.

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