Pashinyan Sent A Very Clear Message To Moscow
- 7.09.2026, 16:13
The Kremlin is getting nervous.
At the SCO+ summit, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan delivered his speech in Armenian, which provoked a nervous reaction in the Kremlin. Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov called this “a signal” regarding Armenia’s sovereignty.
What did Pashinyan want to convey to the Kremlin with his speech in Armenian? The website Charter97.org discussed this with one of the leaders of the democratic movement in Armenia in the 1990s, a former deputy of the Republic’s Supreme Council and ex-Armenian ambassador to Russia Stepan Grigoryan.
— Of course, it was a message to Russia: we will fight for our sovereignty. That’s my interpretation. I should note that it’s important to understand the context here. Prior to this summit, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization had two official languages: Russian and Chinese. But on September 1 of this year, amendments were made to the SCO Charter to include English as an official language.
At the same time, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization allows representatives of member states to speak in their national languages and provides interpretation. Pashinyan did not violate any SCO rules.
But in a certain sense, he went beyond the usual format. The Armenian side surely gave advance notice that he would speak in Armenian, and the SCO provided simultaneous interpretation. For me, this is a telling moment, especially considering that Nikol Pashinyan previously spoke in Russian at similar events.
So yes, I believe this was a clear message to Russia: Armenia is striving to assert its sovereignty. And this begins, in part, with language. For Russia, this is, of course, a major source of irritation. You quoted Peskov, but before him, immediately after the summit, Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov reacted. He also noted that Pashinyan spoke in Armenian and said that it struck him as strange.
At the same time, no one else paid much attention to this detail, except for the Russian state media.
— Armenia has, in fact, has stopped referring to Russia as a strategic partner and did not mention it as a strategic ally in the government’s program for 2026–2031. What does this mean for the country?
— I think it’s simply a statement of fact: Russia is no longer Armenia’s strategic partner. Because when military or other hostile actions are taken against their partner, strategic partners at least issue political statements.
What am I talking about? When troops from a neighboring country entered Armenian territory in 2021 and 2022, we didn’t expect anyone to fight on our side. Armenia expected that its strategic partner, Russia, and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (since Armenia is a member) would at least offer a political and diplomatic response. That they would simply say: it is unacceptable to occupy the territory of a CSTO member state.
We also expected that Russia—as a country with which Armenia has a bilateral 1997 Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance—would provide us with political and diplomatic support, rather than military support. But Armenia did not receive this support.
Therefore, our government’s decision not to include Russia in the five-year government program as a strategic partner is entirely logical. If Russia does not fulfill its alliance obligations, what can be done? There’s no need to take offense. We need to take practical steps. And the most important of these steps is that Russia is no longer considered a strategic partner of Armenia.
One trigger for this was that Putin literally just recently returned to this topic. Essentially, he reduced the incident to border issues and the lack of border demarcation and did not recognize it as an act of aggression against Armenia. In other words, the Russian position boils down to this: why is Armenia taking offense when, from our perspective, there were no grounds for a CSTO response?
But in reality, everyone knows that as far back as 2021, troops from a neighboring state entered Armenian territory in several places. I’m referring specifically to territory that is indisputably part of Armenia. You see, border disputes can always arise. But here we’re talking specifically about indisputable territory. And in September 2022, Azerbaijani troops advanced deep into Armenian territory and approached Jermuk.
That is why what Putin said just recently on this matter is very important. He stated that the border had not been demarcated and that the CSTO could not act as Armenia had expected. What does this mean for us? In effect, Putin does not recognize the Armenian position regarding this territory. And that is a very serious message.
From this perspective, I believe that our government made the only correct decision. Russia is not fulfilling its alliance obligations, which means it is no longer one of Armenia’s allies. There’s no need to take offense or make a fuss about this. It’s completely pointless. Russia has simply been excluded from the list of strategic partners—and that’s all there is to it.