Russian Deputy Foreign Minister: Armenia Avoiding Diplomatic, Defense Cooperation Due to Pressure from West

MOSCOW —  Armenia is no longer interested in cooperating with Russia’s Foreign and Defense Ministries due to pressure from the West, Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Mikhail Galuzin told state news agency TASS.

“Foreign Ministers [of Armenia and Russia] haven’t met since November 2023. Our [Armenian] partners showed no interest in our suggestion to work out a schedule of consultations between the Foreign Ministries. Contacts between the Defense Ministries have become much more rare through no fault of ours either. Our defense tech cooperation also stumbled. This happens because the West puts pressure upon Armenia, trying to keep Yerevan’s cooperation with us to a minimum,” Galuzin said.

“However, we hope that the promises made by the Armenian authorities to resolve all issues and irritating factors between us will turn out to be true. We are ready for this,” Galuzin stressed.

“No matter what the Westerners increasingly courting Yerevan promise, there are no viable alternatives to the CSTO as a mechanism for ensuring Armenia’s security,” Galuzin told the.

“The Armenian leadership seems to want to take advantage of the moment when the West is showing increased interest in strengthening cooperation, including in the security sphere, offering various forms and formats of cooperation. However, rash decisions that will give Westerners full access to national databases and information sensitive to the country’s security … could make it objectively impossible [for Armenia] to return to joint efforts to build a common defense space with Russia and other CSTO allies,” he warned.

The Deputy Foreign Minister noted that Moscow and Yerevan remain in touch anyway. “Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a thorough discussion at the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council on 8 May. Mikhail Mishustin, the Prime Minister of Russia, met with his Armenian counterpart in February,” Galuzin said.

“We have made significant progress in mutual trade,” he continued. “Our intergovernmental committee on economic cooperation works productively. Its co-chairmen, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk and his Armenian counterpart Mher Grigoryan, remain in touch and cooperate in the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union. We also cooperate with Armenia in cultural and humanitarian spheres,” Galuzin concluded.