Armenian PM threatens Russian peacekeepers

By Trend

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, at the last government meeting, sharply criticized the activities of Russian peacekeepers temporarily stationed in Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region [following the trilateral statement of November 10, 2020, signed by the Azerbaijani, Armenian and Russian leaders after the second Karabakh war], and even threatened them, Trend reports.

During his speech, Pashinyan raised a number of issues, but his threats against the peacekeepers attracted particular attention.

The prime minister, referring to the unsatisfactory performance of Russian peacekeepers, proposed to involve other international structures in the settlement of the problem, for example, inviting UN peacekeepers to Karabakh.

Although Pashinyan tried to substantiate his proposals with various reasons, the reality is that the Armenian leadership is making obvious attempts to replace the Russian peacekeepers and bring additional forces into the region.

It was obvious that the current Armenian authorities worked in this direction for some time. This work included attempts to involve France in the negotiation process, bringing the EU border mission to Armenia [close to the border with Azerbaijan], with the subsequent prolongation of the activity of this mission, and so on.

Apparently, Pashinyan is seriously aiming to replace, in the near future, Russian peacekeepers with new forces in the region.

Thus, Pashinyan expresses extreme dissatisfaction with Russian peacekeepers and indirectly threatens Russia. That is, who would doubt that Pashinyan's government has only one expectation from peacekeepers - to serve Armenian interests. Since the reality is somewhat different, Pashinyan is trying to speak with Russian peacekeepers in the language of ultimatums and threats.

Considering that Armenia doesn’t have the opportunity to somehow influence the events in the region, the prime minister's recent statement [criticizing the peacekeepers] is absolutely meaningless and futile. Azerbaijan is the party that dictates the conditions in the region!