Russian border guards will leave a number of regions of Armenia

Russian military and border guards will be withdrawn from a number of regions of Armenia. Agreement on this has been achieved at the May 8 meeting in Moscow between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Messages from Armenian officials about this confirmed Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov.

According to Peskov, “at the request of the Armenian side,” Russian border guards will remain on the Armenian-Turkish and Armenian-Iranian border.” Soviet and then Russian border guards have not left there since the collapse of the USSR.

In 2020, after the start of the Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh, Russian border guards and military personnel, at the request of the Armenian side, were deployed in a number of southern and eastern regions of Armenia, in particular Tavush, Syunik, Vayots Dzor, Gegharkunik, and Ararat regions. Now, also at the request of Yerevan, they will be withdrawn from there. Even before Peskov, the leader of the pro-government faction of the Armenian Parliament “Civil Contract” Hayk Konjorian announced this.

Konjorian also stated that the decision to stop the activities of Russian border guards at Yerevan Zvartnots International Airport was approved at the highest level. Peskov did not mention this. It is known that the Armenian side has been raising this issue with Russia for some time.

The meeting between Putin and Pashinyan took place against the backdrop of emerging tensions in relations between Russia and Armenia. The Prime Minister of Armenia has repeatedly stated, in particular, that Yerevan cannot rely on the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) – against the background of Azerbaijan’s restoration of control over the territory of Karabakh and the current difficult negotiations between Baku and Yerevan. Moscow, in turn, accused Armenia of being pro-Western.

At the same time, Putin at the meeting highly praised bilateral relations and economic cooperation between Russia and Armenia, and Peskov said that “Moscow generally has a positive assessment of the prospects for further relations with Yerevan.”

Moreover, the day before, on May 8, the Armenian authorities announced the termination of financial participation in the CSTO. Previously, Armenia actually froze its membership in this military organization.