Pashinyan Attends Victory Day Parade in Moscow for the Second Time

Ties between Armenia and Belarus have been in freefall since spring 2024, leading to a statement by Pashinyan in June that no Armenian officials would visit Belarus while Lukashenka was in power, due to the latter’s support for Azerbaijan during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War.

Pashinyan only officially confirmed his visit to Moscow on Wednesday, May 7. However, prior to that, the Kremlin announced that during a March 13 phone call between Pashinyan and Putin, the former had “accepted” Putin’s invitation to take part in the Moscow celebrations.

Pashinyan also said that his government had adopted “a balanced and balancing foreign policy” and that “the logic” of the policy did “not imply that we will avoid visits to Russia […] or refrain from developing and deepening relations with it.”

Aside from emphasizing the importance of the May 9 commemorations, Pashinyan also said that such gatherings provide an opportunity to discuss bilateral issues.

Before the celebration, Russia published a list of 13 countries whose soldiers would participate in the parade — Armenia was not on the list, unlike Azerbaijan.

On Thursday, Parliamentary Speaker Alen Simonyan said during a press briefing that he was unaware why Armenia was not sending soldiers to take part in the parade, but said that he considered Pashinyan’s participation “more than enough.”