Yerevan /Mediamax/. Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that “the peacekeepers of the Russian Federation failed to implement the mission they have assumed under the trilateral statement.”

“And this is a matter of serious concern. One of the main objectives of the presence of the Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno Karabakh was to ensure the security of the civilian population. In this case security involves the freedom of movement, and this right is not implemented, Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview to Italian La Repubblica newspaper available fully on the official website of the Prime Minister.

“The Lachin Corridor that should have been under the control of the Russian peacekeepers is not under the control of the Russian peacekeepers. There may be two reasons, either the Russian Federation cannot maintain control over the Lachin Corridor, or it just doesn’t want to. Both are problematic from our perspective,” the Armenian premier said.

In response to a clarifying question from, he added:

“ I believe sometimes they cannot, sometimes they do not want.”

“Armenia’s security architecture 99,999% was linked to Russia, including in the logic of procurement of arms and ammunition, but today we see that Russia itself is in need of weapons, arms and ammunition and in this situation it’s understandable that even if it wishes so, the Russian Federation cannot meet Armenia’s security needs. This example should demonstrate to us that dependence of linkage in security matters from just one partner is just a strategic mistake. And after tasting the bitter fruits of this error post-factum, we are taking feeble attempts to diversify our security policy, including casting a different glance on own region,” Pashinyan stated.

He noted that there is a crisis in terms of Collective Security Treaty’s functionality and treaty-worthiness.

“The fact that the Armenian public is deeply disappointed and continues to be disappointed by the Collective Security Treaty Organization’s actions is obvious,” the Armenian premier said.

In response to the May statement of the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Pashinyan said:

“Our Russian colleagues talk a lot about that Armenia’s western partners, western countries work with Armenia or push the government of Armenia in order the Armenian government takes measures, pursuing the objective to push out Russia from this region. But when we talk with our Russian partners, sometimes we express our opinion that it’s the opposite, we see that Russia by virtue of a number of steps it takes or fails to take, itself leaves the region. As for the reasons, we are unaware. We can of course make interpretations, but I cannot make any statement. I can propose hypothesis, but I will refrain from that now.”

“Armenia is a member of the CSTO, Armenia is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, Armenia has a strategic partnership treaty with the Russian Federation, and all these leads all western countries or experts to qualify Armenia as a pro-Russian country. On the other hand, many circles in Russia consider Armenia or its government pro-Western. And here the biggest problem of our current position is as follows: if being pro-Russian could have some potential benefits, or if being pro-Western could have some advantages, Armenia does not take advantage of the benefits of being pro-Russian, because in Russia they do not consider Armenia enough pro-Russian, for example for the reason that Armenia in their opinion does not provide enough assistance to them in the Ukrainian issue. On the other hand, Armenia cannot take advantage of the potential benefits of being pro-Western, because in the West they consider Armenia not to be sufficiently pro-Western, because for example, from their perspective, Armenia does not sufficiently oppose Russia in the Ukrainian issue. This is exactly the hazard of our situation,” Pashinyan explained.

“But the characteristic of the contemporary world is that the world is small and even minor events in one region may result in global consequences. In this respect, the establishment of peace and stability in our region is also important from the perspective of global security. I am of the opinion that the processes which resulted in the escalation of the confrontation in Ukraine, those processes had in reality started much earlier, in 2020, in this region,” Pashinyan said.