In an interview with the grant portal CCBS.news, Tigran Khzmalyan, chairman of the European Party of Armenia, states: ‘The Prime Minister Pashinyan’s statement about the mistake of relying on Russia as a guarantor of Armenia’s security has long been anticipated and long-delayed acknowledgment of the fact. At the same time, although Pashinyan is still refraining from a political assessment of the previous decades of Armenian-Russian relations as a history of imperial colonization, his recent statements and steps indicate the passing of the ‘point of no return’ and the preparation for a final break of Yerevan with Putin’s Russia.’
According to him, ‘Armenia is changing its political orientation of the last two centuries and is rejecting the dominant role of Russia in its fate and – more broadly – in the entire region. This has become possible not only because of the openly anti-Armenian position of the Kremlin, especially clearly manifested in the 2020 war, but also thanks to the support of Europe and the USA’ (obviously, the planes with weapons flying from Russia to Armenia on the eve and during the 44-day war were just a manifestation of not an anti-Azerbaijani, but an anti-Armenian position). Khzmalyan believes that ‘France plays a key role in the foreign policy support of Armenia’s democratic development and this is a historical tradition of recent decades. However, France is not alone in its position and Armenia has gained another important ally in Europe – Germany.’
In a conversation with the same portal, political scientist Ruben Mehrabyan notes: ‘In an interview with the Italian La Repubblica, the Prime Minister of Armenia assessed the entire security policy of the Republic of Armenia, carried out by it for the entire period of Independence, and it is difficult to disagree with this assessment. And this means that if the mistake is strategic, then leaving it uncorrected is an existential threat to Armenian statehood in general. This is in principle. And if more specifically, such statements by prime ministers are not made for the sake of simply stating, as this would be contrary to the nature of things, since the prime minister is not a private individual or a layman, but an acting politician. Especially in a country like Armenia, which is currently facing the consequences of this strategic mistake on a daily basis. And this, in turn, means that Nikol Pashinyan is not only intending, but is also obliged, in the shortest possible time, to carry out a radical change of political course and a strategic turnaround in all politics – security, foreign and defense policy, foreign economic, informational, etc.’
According to him, ‘Russia, which is waging a hybrid war against Armenia, in fact – hostile actions under the smokescreen of ‘centuries-old friendship,’ proves that being its ‘friend’ is more dangerous and toxic than being its enemy, for Armenia this is a deadly threat. Russia has no, and cannot have friends, it does not need them. It can have either agents or enemies, and, alas, there is no third option. And Prime Minister Pashinyan has no other choice but to take the country out of this ‘alliance,’ which has all the characteristics of a yoke.
