The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation criticized Pashinyan, and Biden gave him a message

US President Joe Biden – against the background of recent events surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh and the worsening of relations between Moscow and Yerevan – sent a personal message to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. On the same day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia lashed out at Pashinyan with unprecedentedly harsh criticism, responding to him with equally harsh statements directed at Moscow.

Biden’s message was delivered to Pashinyan by Samantha Power, director of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), who arrived in Armenia on September 25 together with Yura Kim, acting assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia.

Biden’s message, the text of which has been published, states that the United States supports “sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and democracy” in Armenia. The document also notes the desire of the Armenian leadership for peace and emphasizes that the United States will provide the country with humanitarian and other support. It also expresses condolences for the death of ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of “violence” (Azerbaijan is not directly mentioned in the text).

Anti-government protests have been going on in Armenia for almost a week – after the Azerbaijani military managed to achieve success in Nagorno-Karabakh – under the slogans of Pashinyan’s resignation. American Senator Gary Peters met with representatives of the Armenian parliamentary opposition in Yerevan on Monday.

On Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia published a sharp statement criticizing Pashinyan’s statements made the day before. “It is obvious that it is an attempt to absolve itself of responsibility for failures in domestic and foreign policy, shifting the blame to Moscow,” the statement says.

The Russian Foreign Ministry accuses the Prime Minister of Armenia of turning away from Russia, claims that he is “making the country hostage to the West’s geopolitical games”, considers unconvincing statements about mistakes made by Russia and the CSTO, and also insists that “in the fall of 2020 the efforts of the Russian Federation and President Vladimir Putin himself made it possible to prevent the complete defeat of Armenia” in Nagorno-Karabakh. The fact that Nagorno-Karabakh still returns to Azerbaijan’s control after three years is explained in the statement by the fact that Pashinyan “gave in to Western exhortations” and recognized Azerbaijan’s sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh. At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia asserts that there was a “gentleman’s agreement between the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia to leave the decision on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh to future generations.”

At the same time, both Armenia and Russia have never recognized the independence of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and, therefore, have not contested Azerbaijan’s sovereignty over this territory at the official level.

On Sunday, Nikol Pashinyan in a televised address again criticized Russia in connection with the latest events in Nagorno-Karabakh. He also stated that the events of recent years have shown the “inefficiency” of security structures, which include Armenia. According to Pashinyan, although Armenia did not violate its alliance obligations, “the analysis of events shows that the security systems and allies on which we relied for many years set the task of showing our vulnerability and justifying the impossibility for the Armenian people to have an independent state.” The prime minister called on the country’s residents to make a choice: do they support independence or “become a remote province.”