YEREVAN, September 7. /TASS/. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has decided to change the country's politics in a move that benefits the West, as evidenced by his recent moves, Eduard Sharmazanov, a former deputy speaker of the country's parliament and member of the board of the Republican Party led by the third President, Serzh Sargsyan.

Last week, Pashinyan, in an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica, argued that Russia was distancing itself from the South Caucasus and that Russian peacekeepers were not controlling the Lachin corridor, because Russia was either unwilling or unable to do so. The day before, Armenia's Cabinet sent the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court to parliament for ratification. This week, Yerevan announced joint exercises with the United States, due to begin on September 11, and Pashinyan's wife Anna Hakobyan visited Kiev, where she took part in a "forum of first ladies and gentlemen" and was photographed with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.

"Nikol Pashinyan is changing Armenia's political course," Sharmazanov believes. "This is a continuation of his statements that Russia’s military presence in Armenia is a threat, that Russia wants us to provide them with a corridor (meaning a proposed transportation corridor from the main territory of Azerbaijan to Nakhichevan through the territory of Armenia - TASS) or is forcing us to join the Union State. This is a continuation of the statements about the issue of Lachin (Lachin corridor - TASS) being put under the responsibility of Russia."

He said this was not the first such attempt by the current Armenian authorities.

"Back in 2018, US presidential national security advisor John Bolton visited Armenia and said that the Armenian people should abandon their traditions. Among other things, he had in mind the destruction of Armenian-Russian relations. Pashinyan is consistently ruining Armenian-Russian relations," the expert believes.

"Pashinyan is taking advantage of the situation in Ukraine, trying to sign an agreement with Azerbaijan with the help of the West. As a result, Armenia sustains territorial losses," Sharmazanov warned.

Final decision

Hayk Naapetyan, a security expert and retired colonel, agrees. "The plans for ratifying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the Armenian-US military exercises, the statements about joining NATO, and the visit of Pashinyan's wife to Kiev indicate that the Armenian leadership has made a final decision to start the process of distancing itself from Russia and leaving the CSTO and the EAEU," he told TASS.

According to Naapetyan, in his interview with the Italian newspaper, Pashinyan clearly stated that security cooperation with Russia was the wrong architecture and that the CSTO was not fulfilling its legal obligations.

Russia's position

In Moscow, Pashinyan's statements to the Italian media sparked criticism. A diplomatic source told TASS that the Russian side regarded them "as unacceptable in tone and content and aimed at shifting the responsibility for its own miscalculations and mistakes onto Russia."

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, commenting on the news of the upcoming Eagle Partner 2023 exercises between Armenia and the United States, told TASS that Russia had made its allies in Armenia deftly aware of the fact that their military exercises with the United States were perceived in Moscow with certain concern. Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the information about these exercises was worrisome, and Moscow would deeply analyze this situation and keep an eye on what happened next.

Russia also paid attention to the statement made by the Chairman of the European Committee for NATO Development Gunther Fehlinger to the effect that Armenia should join the North Atlantic Alliance. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said in this regard that the Armenian people had enough wisdom "not to buy" NATO's attempts to draw their country into the alliance's sphere of influence. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told TASS that the statements made in the EU about Armenia's needing to join NATO were "grand fantasies."