“We are not Russia’s ally in the war with Ukraine. And our feeling from that war, from that conflict, is anxiety because it directly affects all our relationships,” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told CNN Prima News in an interview, adding that Armenia felt caught between the two sides.

“In the West they notice that we are Russia’s ally … in Russia they see that we are not their ally in the Ukraine war, and it turns out that we are not anyone’s ally in this situation, which means that we are vulnerable,” he said.

Asked about Pashinyan’s remarks on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded with caution, saying Moscow had taken note of what he called “an important statement”.

“We know that there are certain nuances in Armenia’s approach to the conflict over Ukraine. We take them into account, we know them, but at the same time we continue to develop our allied relations with Armenia,” Peskov said.

Former Kremlin adviser Sergei Markov, commenting on Peskov’s statement, said on his Telegram channel that Moscow was “hinting that it sees that Pashinyan is leading Armenia away from friendship with Russia into the arms of Russia’s enemies”.

Also Read: Russia War: Ukraine FM Urges Africa To End Neutrality

The tiny ex-Soviet nation in the southern Caucasus region has close security and economic ties to Russia, which have been further strengthened by its decades-long dispute with neighbouring Azerbaijan over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armenia is a member of the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) military alliance, while Azerbaijan is not.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have resumed talks aimed at clinching a peace accord to resolve their dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, which is recognised as part of Azerbaijan but is populated mainly by ethnic Armenians.

Azerbaijan recaptured in 2020 chunks of territory lost in a conflict as Soviet rule collapsed in the early 1990s.

“There have always been attempts to (bring about) the CSTO’s disintegration,” news agencies quoted Peskov as saying in an interview broadcast on state television.

“But at least now we see that, despite all the difficulties, despite the possible contradictions even between member countries, this structure remains in high demand.

 “And it fully demonstrated its relevance and effectiveness, meaning the resolution of the situation in Kazakhstan.” Peskov said.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called into question the effectiveness of the CSTO at a summit this week.

Armenia requested assistance from the organization in September but received only a promise to send observers.

Also Read: Kremlin Denies Using Iranian Drones in Attack on Ukraine

Pashinyan contrasted that with the alliance’s rapid decision in January to send troops to CSTO member Kazakhstan to help President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev survive a wave of unrest.

Kazakhstan’s Tokayev, who has openly defied major ally Russia over its actions in Ukraine, won re-election this month and is set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Russian city of Orenburg on Monday.

Russia, the dominant player in the CSTO, risks losing influence in parts of the former Soviet Union that it has long seen as its sphere of influence, as the conflict in Ukraine drags into its 10th month.

Reuters/Zainab Sa’id

Armenia’s defence ministry said in a statement that Azeri forces had attacked Armenian positions near the border between the two countries. Two Armenian servicemen had been injured in the same incident, it said, and “fighting continued”.

Azerbaijan’s defence ministry accused Armenian forces of what it called “provocations” in the Kalbajar district and said its army would continue to retaliate, Russia’s TASS news agency reported.

Interfax later reported that Azerbaijan had however accepted a Russian proposal to enforce a ceasefire in the area. It then reported that Armenia’s defence ministry had also accepted the ceasefire.

The incident was one of the deadliest since a six-week war between ethnic Armenian forces and Baku over the Nagorno-Karabakh region and surrounding areas ended last year.

In six weeks of fighting last September to November, Azeri troops drove ethnic Armenian forces out of swathes of territory they had controlled since the 1990s in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh region, before Russia brokered a ceasefire.

A simmering border dispute between the two has since flared up, with both sides accusing each other of separate incursions into each others’ territory in recent months, highlighting the fragility of the ceasefire.

Reuters

With 75 percent of results declared, Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party had 55.61 percent of the vote on Monday. The electoral alliance of his top rival, former President Robert Kocharyan, had 20 percent of the vote, according to the Central Election Commission (CEC).

Voter turnout was about 50 percent, with some 2.6 million people eligible to vote.

“The people of Armenia have given our Civil Contract party a mandate to lead the country and personally me to lead the country as prime minister,” Pashinyan said early on Monday.

Kocharyan’s bloc, however, questioned the credibility of the preliminary results and said it would not recognise Pashinyan’s quick claim to victory, which came when just 30 percent of precincts had been counted.

“Hundreds of signals from polling stations testifying to organised and planned falsifications serve as a serious reason for lack of trust,” the bloc said in a statement, adding it would not “recognise” the results until the “violations” were studied.

Earlier on Sunday evening, the general prosecutor’s office said it had received 319 reports of violations. It said it had opened six criminal probes, all of which concerned bribes during campaigning.

The election is being monitored by experts from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which recently assessed the voting as largely fair and free. They will deliver an overall verdict on Monday.

Aljazeera

Pashinyan, who has lost much of his appeal since last year’s military defeat, is hoping to renew his mandate but is in a tight race with former president Robert Kocharyan.

His critics accuse him of ceding swaths of territory in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan in a truce agreement that ended last year’s fighting and of failing to deliver on reform promises.

During an aggressive campaign marred by polarising rhetoric, Pashinyan said he expected his Civil Contract party to secure 60 percent of the vote, though some pollsters say those estimates are far-fetched.

The election in the South Caucasus country of around three million people will be watched by Armenia’s Soviet-era master Russia as well as Turkey, which backed Azerbaijan in last year’s six-week war over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Kocharyan appeared in good spirits as he showed up at a Yerevan polling station.

By contrast, Pashinyan did not address reporters at a polling station but wrote on Facebook: “I am voting for the future of our state and people, for the development of Armenia.”

Political observers say the election result is hard to predict with voter apathy running high and both Pashinyan and Kocharyan drawing massive crowds in the final days of the race.

Armenian President Armen Sarkissian, largely a ceremonial figure, decried attempts “to incite hatred and enmity” and urged law enforcement to prevent any violations.

Around 2.6 million people are eligible to vote to elect for a five-year term the minimum number of 101 parliament members under a proportional electoral system.

A winning party needs to obtain at least 50 percent of seats plus one and can be assigned additional seats in order to form a government.

Polls will close at 1600 GMT in an election being monitored by observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Aljazeera

Armenia accused Azerbaijan of sending troops across the border last week, highlighting the fragility of a Russian-brokered ceasefire that halted six weeks of fighting between ethnic Armenian and Azeri forces last year.

Azerbaijan has denied crossing the frontier and said its forces only defended their side of the border. But Armenia said on Friday that Azerbaijan had failed to fulfil a promise to withdraw troops that had crossed the border.

“Russia has offered first of all to provide assistance with the delimitation and demarcation of the border,” Lavrov said. He added that Moscow had proposed setting up a joint Armenian-Azeri commission which it could serve in as a mediator.

Moscow has in the past played a mediation role between the former Soviet countries. It helped secure a ceasefire in November after fighting saw Azeri troops drive ethnic Armenians out of swathes of territory they had controlled since the 1990s in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Russia, which has a military base in Armenia, sent peacekeepers to the area last year to help enforce the ceasefire.

It has strong ties and a mutual defence pact with Armenia but is also on friendly terms with Azerbaijan.

Reuters

Pashinyan, the embattled leader who has faced a wave of anti-government protests in recent weeks, said on Wednesday that Onik Gasparyan, the army’s chief of the General Staff who earlier joined calls for him to resign, has been relieved of his duties, according to Russian news agency RIA.

Hours later, Armenia’s army leaders reiterated their call for Pashinyan to step down, TASS news agency reported.

Pashinyan announced the move in a statement published on a government website, days after Armenian President Armen Sarkissian refused to sign the premier’s draft decree to dismiss Gasparyan.

The statement said because Sarkissian had not sent documentation pertaining to his rejection of Gasparyan’s dismissal to the Constitutional Court, the chief of staff was therefore automatically “relieved of his post from March 10 [Wednesday] by force of law”.

Pashinyan, in power since 2018, had accused Gasparyan of leading a coup attempt after he called for the leader’s resignation.

The prime minister has been under increasing pressure to step down following the latest conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which saw Armenia suffer heavy losses and agree to return swaths of territory to Azerbaijan.

Last month, large protests flooded the streets of the capital Yerevan – some came out against the PM but many others heeded Pashinyan’s call to rally in support of the government.

The dispute with top generals began when Pashinyan fired the deputy chief of the general staff after he ridiculed claims by the prime minister that Iskander missiles supplied by Russia – Armenia’s main military ally – had failed to hit targets during the war for Nagorno-Karabakh.

Pashinyan issued a subdued retraction on Monday, with his office saying he had been “incorrectly briefed on this matter” and had no doubts about the quality of Russian military production.

The Russian-brokered deal that ended the conflict secured significant major gains for Azerbaijan in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, a region internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but populated and until recently fully controlled by ethnic Armenians.

Thousands of soldiers and dozens of civilians on both sides died during the war.

Pashinyan, who has rejected calls to resign, said he had been compelled to agree to the peace deal to prevent greater human and territorial losses.

Aljazeera

Putin brought together the leaders for the first time since the truce sealed in November ended six weeks of fighting over the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Putin has said it is time to discuss “next steps” regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh truce Moscow brokered, including the work of Russian peacekeepers stationed in the region, demarcation lines and humanitarian issues.

Pashinyan and Aliyev did not shake hands, only exchanging curt greetings as they sat down at an oval table opposite Putin.

Putin said the peace agreement has been successfully implemented, “creating the necessary basis for a long-term and full-format settlement of the old conflict.”

The Russian-brokered peace agreement halted 44 days of conflict between the Azerbaijani army and Armenian forces over the mountainous region and surrounding areas, locking in territorial gains for Azerbaijan.

But tensions persist, with sporadic fighting, prisoners of war continuing to be held by both sides, and disagreements over how a prospective new transport corridor cutting through the region will work.

The region is within Azerbaijan’s borders and is not recognised as Armenian land by any country, including Armenia.

But it has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces and self-appointed Armenian officials, backed by Armenia since a war between the rivals that claimed thousands of lives resulted in a ceasefire 1994.

Hostilities over Nagorno-Karabakh flared up again on September 27, 2020.

The Azerbaijani military pushed deep into the region and surrounding areas in fighting involving heavy artillery and drones that left more than 6,000 people dead on both sides, the majority of them soldiers.

Under the peace deal, Russia has deployed about 2,000 peacekeepers to Nagorno-Karabakh for at least five years.

The truce was celebrated in Azerbaijan as a major triumph, but sparked outrage and mass protests in Armenia, where thousands repeatedly took to the streets demanding Pashinyan’s resignation.

Many protesters on Monday tried to block a highway linking the Armenian capital with the airport to prevent Pashinyan from travelling to Moscow, but police dispersed them.

The Armenian prime minister has defended the deal as a painful but necessary move that prevented Azerbaijan from overrunning the entire Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Aliyev has meanwhile cast the war victory at home as an historic righting of wrongs, something Armenia rejects.

Azerbaijan and its ally Turkey have shut their borders with Armenia ever since the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict erupted, a blockade that has weakened the economy of the landlocked country.

For Russia, the conflict highlighted the rising influence of Ankara in the South Caucasus, part of the former Soviet Union that Moscow has traditionally seen as its own sphere of influence.

But by brokering the deal and getting Russian peacekeepers on the ground, Putin has thwarted a stronger Turkish presence for now while expanding Moscow’s own military footprint.

Dmitri Trenin, a political analyst for the Moscow Carnegie Center, said the Kremlin hoped Monday’s talks would allow it to reaffirm its influence in the region.