Gather Your Courage and at Least Once Speak the Truth: Zakharova to Pashinyan

“Nikol Vovaevich, the elections in your country are over. You can stop hanging noodles on your people’s ears. Gather your courage and at least once speak the truth, as it actually was,” wrote Maria Zakharova, representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, responding to Pashinyan’s statements yesterday.

“Nikol Pashinyan was asked yesterday: ‘Question to Nikol Pashinyan during a briefing for journalists on August 27. In the five-year program of the Armenian government from 2021, relations with Russia were described as a ‘strategic alliance’. However, this is no longer mentioned in the new government program. It only speaks of ‘partnership’ and ‘transformation’. What substantive changes does this formulation imply, and does it mean a renunciation of the status of a strategic alliance?’

To this, Nikol Pashinyan replied, ‘Dear colleagues, the events of September 2022 happened before your eyes. A strategic partnership must mean a strategic partnership. If we now write ‘strategic partnership’ in the document, you will ask why Russia and the CSTO did not fulfill their security obligations in September 2022. What should I tell you?’

“I still have questions/suggestions. Nikol Vovaevich, the elections in your country are over. You can stop hanging noodles on your people’s ears. Gather your courage and at least once speak the truth, as it actually was.

In September 2022, tensions arose at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Russia provided assistance to achieve a peaceful resolution.

Then Armenia appealed to the CSTO, and the CSTO, despite your lies, responded promptly: a mission was sent to the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, particularly to Armenian territory, to assess the situation, as stipulated in the organization’s statutory documents. You personally met with the CSTO Secretary-General in Yerevan. So, in your opinion, he came to visit and see the beauty of the South Caucasus? No, it was the CSTO mission tasked with protecting the territories of member states.

You did nothing to ensure Armenia’s security—neither legal nor political. Moreover, the CSTO Collective Security Council summit took place in Yerevan in November 2022. The day before, significant work had been done at the level of defense and foreign ministers to reach an agreement on the deployment of the organization’s mission. The text was ready; it only remained for the leaders to sign it. As we know, Nikol Vovaevich, you refused.

The decision included, among other things, immediate political and diplomatic measures to ensure Armenia’s territorial integrity, provision of military-technical assistance, support for border troops in their training and equipping with technical gear, as well as the development of a rapid deployment plan for CSTO collective forces in Armenian territory.

The main difference from European observers was that the CSTO mission would not only be authorized to ‘observe with binoculars’ but also to directly report on the situation at the border and propose measures to resolve possible crises.

Let’s recall other events of that autumn. On October 6, 2022, three weeks after the border incidents you mentioned, you personally signed the Prague statement under EU oversight, evidently placing your trust in Brussels and Paris, recognizing Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. You sincerely declared, ‘Azerbaijan’s territory is 86,600 square kilometers, including Nagorno-Karabakh.’

Nikol Vovaevich, if you are tempted to call the ambassador or, as you wish, write another note of protest, think twice. Because in that case, you will have to specify which of the above is incorrect. All these points are historical facts.

Every statement is substantiated by your own words, your own decisions. And when uncomfortable questions are posed to you, stop shifting the blame, offloading responsibility and placing it on all those you can reach, those you dislike personally—Moscow, the CSTO, the previous leadership of Armenia, the Armenian Apostolic Church, and the Armenian entrepreneurs you are now fighting against so actively, the Armenians of Karabakh, their ancestors, and their children. This is immoral.

Everyone is to blame for you. You are the only one not guilty,” she wrote.