Russia Recalls Ambassador to Armenia for Consultations

MOSCOW — Russia recalled its ambassador to Armenia for consultations on Friday amid a continuing deterioration of relations between the two longtime allies.

“On May 24, the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Armenia Sergei Kopyrkin was summoned to Moscow for consultations,” the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Maria Zakharova, said in a short statement.

Zakharova gave no reason for the dramatic move. The Armenian government did not immediately react to it.

Kopyrkin was recalled two days after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan claimed that two member states of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) helped Azerbaijan prepare for the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh. He is believed to have to referred to Russia and Belarus.

Zakharova on Thursday challenged Pashinyan to name those countries.

Pashinyan’s comments came after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who recently visited Baku, was quoted by Azerbaijani media as recalling in conversation with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev their “philosophical conversation” before the 2020 war and their conclusion that “it can be won.”