By Ani Avetisyan
Armenian-Russian relations are experiencing another spike in tension. The Armenian government briefly pulled the plug on a major Russian propaganda platform, and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has accused two unnamed member states of a Moscow-led security alliance of conspiring to help Azerbaijan to reconquer Nagorno Karabakh.
Once strategic partners, Armenia and Russia have fallen out amid accusations by Yerevan that the Kremlin did not fulfill its obligations to defend Armenian security interests during the Second Karabakh War. The fighting ended in the fall of 2023, when Azerbaijani forces drove an estimated 100,000 Karabakh Armenians residents from the territory. Since then, Pashinyan’s government has downgraded relations with Russia, while forging stronger ties with the United States and European Union.
Officials in Yerevan announced May 29 the suspension of broadcasts by Russia’s state-owned broadcaster, Channel One, ostensibly citing unpaid debts to the Armenian agency that controls digital frequencies. But the move appeared to have a political connection too. The suspension followed Channel One’s broadcast of a talk show featuring fierce criticism of Pashinyan’s leadership. Russian lawmakers during the program accused Pashinyan of undermining the Russian-Armenian alliance and of making excessive concessions to Azerbaijan that weakened Armenia’s national security. Channel One broadcasts resumed in Armenia, according to multiple media reports on May 31, after Russia covered its payment arrears.
Days before the ban was announced, Pashinyan accused “two” members of the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) of supporting Baku’s war efforts. Armenia is also a CSTO partner, but as part of the chill that has engulfed bilateral relations with Moscow, Yerevan has frozen its active participation in the alliance.
“I know at least two CSTO member countries that participated in the preparation of the war against us. These countries may have created an illusion that they wanted to help us,” Pashinyan said on May 22. “The aim of this war was the non-existence of an independent Armenian state”.
