Ex-Armenian Ambassador To Russia: Lukashenko Voiced The Kremlin's Threats

• 28.05.2026, 17:58

Yerevan is responding to Moscow's pressure and accelerating its exit from Russian dependence.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan harshly responded to Lukashenko after he said Armenia was "of no use to anyone." This came amid preparations for the June 7 parliamentary elections and Moscow's growing pressure on Yerevan.

Why did the Kremlin choose Lukashenko to voice its grievances against Armenia? What does such a harsh response from Pashinyan mean?

The Charter97.org website asked one of the leaders of the democratic movement in Armenia in the 1990s, former deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the republic and former Armenian ambassador to Russia Stepan Grigoryan to comment on what is happening:

- All these statements Lukashenko made somewhere around 2020-2023. That is, in the period when there was a war, when there were serious problems related to security for us, for Armenia. Then the questions were raised: if Russia does not fulfill its allied obligations to Armenia, if Russia does not protect the security of Armenia and Karabakh, then we should reconsider relations.

Then there was 2023, the expulsion of Armenians from Karabakh. These were major, heavy events. Subjective, objective. I don't want to analyze who is right and who is guilty.

But Armenia faced threats. And during these threats Russia as an ally did not fulfill its obligations. The CSTO, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, did not fulfill its obligations to Armenia as a member of this organization also did not fulfill its obligations.

Then there was criticism from both the Armenian government and the Armenian society. They criticized Russia's policy, the CSTO policy: they did not protect either Armenia or Karabakh. And when this criticism arose, Putin responded. But very often he answered through Lukashenko.

That is, roughly speaking, Putin told Lukashenko: "Now you say that Armenia is not going anywhere. If they don't like it, let them do what they want, but Armenia is not going anywhere." When we expressed our dissatisfaction with the Kremlin's policy, we were actually told: well, be dissatisfied.

But who voiced this "you won't go anywhere"? Lukashenko did. He also said that before the war in 2020 he gave advice to the president of Azerbaijan on what to do, how to act. Lukashenko said that too.

And because he said it, it remained in our society as a very negative behavior. As a behavior in which Russia and Belarus criticize Armenia, do not help Armenia, although they are its allies. And this was fixed.

That's why Nikol Pashinyan, remembering all this, returned to this topic at the rally in the town of Abovyan. When he made a big elaborate speech, he brought up this topic again. He said that we will no longer allow Lukashenko to tell us: nobody needs you, but where will you go?

We are now pursuing a foreign policy in which we have alternatives. We can make a different choice. And Lukashenko should no longer have the idea to say such things to us.

- Armenia is preparing for the parliamentary elections on June 7. Is Russian interference in this campaign possible and what could it look like?"

- Parliamentary elections in Armenia will be on June 7. On June 5, the election campaign ends.

That is, in fact, exactly one week of the election campaign is left. But to say that Russia is only preparing to interfere is not quite right, because it has been interfering for a long time. In fact, it has been doing so for the last three months. Especially in May this year, when the election campaign is underway, Russia's interference became quite obvious. They banned the import of Jermuk mineral water into Russia. Banned the import of flowers from Armenia to Russia. They banned many cognac and wine factories from supplying products to Russia.

This is an open pressure on Armenian society: they say, choose pro-Russian forces.

Where can we go from here? This is an obvious interference in Armenia's affairs, in the elections. When you ask the Russians why they interfere, they say: what do product quality standards have to do with Armenia's internal politics? But we all understand why these steps are being taken. To cause discontent in Armenian society with Pashinyan's policy. Russia says: we are dissatisfied with the fact that Pashinyan and his team decided to integrate into Europe. This was a parliamentary decision of 2024.

Russia is not satisfied with this, so it closes its market for Armenian goods. So Armenian producers suffer. And Russia tells them: it's because Pashinyan is going to Europe. It is clear that our citizens cannot look at this calmly. They start thinking: maybe Nikol Pashinyan is pursuing a wrong foreign policy? Russia is dissatisfied, we suffer, our business suffers.

Then the goal is to weaken Nikol Pashinyan's position in the electoral process and to hold pro-Russian political forces. Because today Nikol Pashinyan and his Civil Contract party, Samvel Karapetyan, a rich man from Russia, and his Strong Armenia bloc, Robert Kocharyan, the second president of Armenia, and his Armenia bloc, as well as Gagik Tsarukyan, the leader of the Prosperous Armenia party, can really enter the parliament.

You know what Gagik Tsarukyan is known for: he is a friend of dictator Lukashenko. That's why we are talking about the Belarusian-Armenian rich man.

Really these four forces have a chance to pass in the parliament. That is, if Russia puts pressure on Pashinyan and shows clear dissatisfaction with his foreign policy, it means it supports pro-Russian forces. And that means it is interfering in the electoral process.

Now the interference has become even stronger. Every day several Russian officials make statements in connection with Armenia's European integration. Now the Russian Ministry of Energy has already spoken: if Armenia continues its European integration, the agreement on gas and oil products signed in 2013 will be revised.

It is obvious that all this is connected with the elections. Everything is being done to make the people of Armenia dissatisfied with Nikol Pashinyan's policies.

- Indeed, Russia is increasing economic pressure on Armenia through gas, markets and the EAEU. How can Yerevan respond to this pressure and reduce its dependence on Moscow?"

- Part of this work is already underway. We already have products made in Armenia that meet the standards of the European Union.

That is, we have, for example, natural products that are supplied to Europe. But this process is long. Therefore, the closure of the Russian markets, of course, has a painful effect on us.

Armenia, you know, has already diversified its military cooperation. Today there was a big military parade. Nikol Pashinyan wanted to show the society that we are reforming the army, buying new weapons. And believe me, there were no Russian weapons there.

All the weapons that were demonstrated were from India, France and other countries that sell us weapons. Why am I saying this? We have started diversification in the field of military cooperation, we have started diversification in the energy sector.

Solar energy is developing rapidly in Armenia, including very active help from Europeans. Now 18% of our electricity is produced by solar energy. In other words, alternatives are developing.

But in the field of trade we are still lagging behind. Therefore, Russia is hitting these sensitive topics, trade. It is also hitting on such topics as gas.

I want to say that diversification is underway, but it is still not enough for us to be able to say: we are sovereign, independent of the Russian energy sector and the Russian market. We cannot say that yet.