“On the whole, we are satisfied with the results of our negotiations,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told journalists. “We spoke frankly, not hiding the specificities of our national positions.”
Both Lavrov and his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan downplayed the lingering differences between Moscow and Yerevan while highlighting them during a joint news conference.
In particular, Lavrov again dismissed Armenian criticism of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), saying that the Russian-led alliance did not ignore Yerevan’s request for military aid following Azerbaijan’s September 2022 attacks on Armenian border areas.
By contrast, Mirzoyan insisted that Armenia’s ex-Soviet allies failed to honor their security commitments and defended the suspension of his country’s membership in the CSTO announced more than a year ago.
The two ministers also publicly disagreed on Russia’s role in Azerbaijan’s recapture of Nagorno-Karabakh completed in September 2023. Lavrov repeated the official Russian line that Pashinian predetermined such an outcome by officially recognizing Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh during Western-mediated talks in October 2022. Mirzoyan countered that Moscow itself had always recognized the disputed region as part of Azerbaijan.
Still, the top Armenian diplomat made clear that although Russian-Armenian security arrangements “have not worked in full,” Pashinian’s government is not planning to “reformat our allied relations with Russia” and will adhere to bilateral treaties instead. The two sides are engaged in “very constructive discussions” on all contentious issues, he said.
Armenia had minimized diplomatic contacts with Russia and reoriented its foreign policy towards the West since the end of 2022, causing an unprecedented rift between the two longtime allies. But in recent months, there have been indications that Yerevan now wants to ease the tensions with Moscow. Lavrov and Mirzoyan met in the Russian capital in January this year for the first time in 14 months.
“Our belief is that we are bound with the Russian Federation by strong partnership,” Mirzoyan said after their latest talks. “We have growing commercial ties, we have strong cultural ties, and we need to develop our relations based on these common positive perceptions and achievements.”
“We continue to consider the security sphere as one of the most important dimensions of our alliance,” Lavrov told him at the start of the talks. “We are ready to help in every possible way to ensure the protection, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Armenia.”
In that regard, Lavrov noted the long-standing presence of Russian troops in the South Caucasus country. It was not clear whether Moscow is now prepared to act more forcefully against what many in Armenia as the risk of Azerbaijani military aggression.
The Russian minister also acknowledged Moscow’s failure to honor multimillion-dollar defense contracts signed with Yerevan in 2021 and 2022, blaming that on the continuing large-scale war in Ukraine. He said most of between $250 million and $400 million reportedly paid by the Armenian side for Russian weapons has been “credited for other purposes” by mutual consent.
“But even in this situation, a number of [weapons] systems contracted by Armenian friends are being transferred, and we will continue this practice,” he added without elaborating.
Lavrov went on to stress that Moscow does not object to Armenian arms purchases from other countries, including France. He noted, though, that Yerevan should bear in mind that France currently leads the anti-Russian “enemy camp” in the West.