On Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin held separate phone calls with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, congratulating him on his 50th birthday.
The Prime Minister’s office noted in their readout of the call that Putin ‘conveyed his best wishes’ on the occasion of Pashinyan’s birthday.
In addition to this, the two leaders discussed ‘issues related to bilateral relations and regional developments’.
The Kremlin readout offered more details about the call, saying that Pashinyan and Putin discussed ‘a number of pressing issues on the bilateral and regional agendas, reaffirming their mutual commitment to make an extensive effort to boost relations of strategic partnership and alliance’.
In addition to the phone call and congratulations, Putin also sent a ‘birthday greetings’ to Pashinyan.
In his birthday greeting, Putin expressed confidence that Armenia and Russia, which he said are ‘linked by a strong bond of friendship, could achieve the ‘further advancement of relations across the board’.
‘This undoubtedly meets the fundamental interests of our nations and will contribute to greater stability, security, and prosperity in Eurasia’, the message read.
Similarly, Mishustin, aside from extending his congratulations, also discussed bilateral issues with Pashinyan during the phone call, according to Pashinyan’s office.
Pashinyan also received birthday greetings from the Chair of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Commission, Bakytzhan Sagintayev, who praised Pashinyan’s ‘significant contribution to strengthening constructive and mutually beneficial cooperation in the Eurasian Economic Union’.
The talks with Russian top-officials came amidst difficult relations between Armenia and Russia.
In his speech on the occasion of Republic Day, Pashinyan criticised the Soviet Union, which took control of Armenia and brought the First Republic to an end in 1920.
Additionally, he called security guarantees by external forces ‘deceptive’ and reiterated his government’s policy of seeking to normalise relations with all neighbours and have a balanced foreign policy.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
Two days after Pashinyan’s statement, Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergei Kopyrkin said that Russia had observed the process of ‘attempts to rethink the history, identity of Armenia, the history of [bilateral] ties’, without clearly stating who was behind those attempts.
‘We see a direct connection between all these processes and what is happening in our relations, and in the region, and in the world’, Russian state-run media outlet TASS quoted Kopyrkin as saying.
Earlier, as both Armenia and Russia celebrated the USSR’s victory over Nazi Germany on 9 May, Armenia’s Public TV aired an interview with military expert Artsrun Hovhannisyan who questioned the importance of the Battle of Stalingrad for Armenia, sparking criticism online.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
Earlier in May, a joint press briefing in Yerevan featuring Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan highlighted one of the key disagreements between the two countries regarding the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO)’s lack of response to Azerbaijan’s attack on Armenia in September 2022.
Following this, Armenia criticised the CSTO for not fulfilling its security obligations, froze its participation in the bloc in February 2024, after previously skipping multiple CSTO events. This also heavily affected Armenia–Russia relations, resulting in a serious deterioration for an extended period. Nonetheless, in recent months, there have been signs of improvement despite the ongoing tensions.
Yousef Bardouka
