RUSSIA “INEFFECTIVE” AND “INSUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT ARMENIA: PM PASHINYA

Civilians get out of a truck during an evacuation performed by Russian peacekeepers at an unknown location following the launch of a military operation by Azerbaijani forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, a region inhabited by ethnic Armenians, in this still image from video published September 20, 2023. Russian Defence Ministry/Handout

Sun 24 September 2023:

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has signalled a major foreign policy shift away from Russia following Moscow’s refusal to enter the latest conflict over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region in the South Caucasus.

Pashinyan told the nation in a major television address that his former Soviet republic’s current foreign security alliances were “ineffective” and “insufficient”.

He added that Armenia should join the International Criminal Court, a tribunal that has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over his actions in Ukraine.

Armenia is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, a Russian-dominated group comprised of six former Soviet states. The group pledges to protect other members that come under attack. But Russia is bogged down in a war in Ukraine and has grown more isolated on the international stage.

Armenians expected to flee Nagorno-Karabakh

Tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians are likely to flee Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia says it is prepared to take them in after Azerbaijan’s military victory last week in a conflict dating to the fall of the Soviet Union.

About 120,000 civilians in the region in the South Caucasus will leave for Armenia because they do not want to live in part of Azerbaijan and fear “the danger of ethnic cleansing”, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Sunday.

“The likelihood is increasing that the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh will see expulsion from their homeland as the only way out,” he said.

Armenia “will lovingly welcome our brothers and sisters from Nagorno-Karabakh”, Pashinyan added, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.

Armenia said more than 200 people were killed and 400 wounded in Azerbaijan’s military operation last week. The fate of the ethnic Armenian population, which make up the majority of Nagorno-Karabakh’s population, has raised concerns in Moscow, Washington and Brussels.

Separatist fighters from Nagorno-Karabakh – a territory internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but previously governed by the breakaway Republic of Artsakh – were forced to declare a ceasefire on Wednesday after a decisive 24-hour military operation by the much larger Azerbaijani military.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev declared victory over the enclave on Thursday, saying it was fully under Baku’s control and the idea of an independent Nagorno-Karabakh was finally confined to history.

He promised to guarantee the rights and security of Armenians living in the region, but years of hate speech and violence between the rivals have left deep scars. Azerbaijan, which is mainly Muslim, has said the Armenians, who are Christian, can leave if they want.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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