President Vladimir Putin of Russia and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan agreed, during their meeting Wednesday at the Kremlin, that Russia would withdraw its troops from the Armenia-Azerbaijan border.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Thursday confirmed to reporters the decision reached during the talks between Putin and Pashinyan.
“In the fall of 2020, at the request of the Armenian side, our military and border guards were deployed in a number of Armenian regions,” Peskov told Russian news agencies. “Pashinian said that there is no such need anymore due to the changed conditions. President Putin therefore agreed, and the withdrawal of our military and border guards was agreed.”
The Kremlin spokesperson also revealed that at the “request of the Armenian side,” Russian border guards will remain stationed along Armenia’s borders with Turkey and Iran.
While no timeframe for the border guards withdrawal was announced, on April 20, Pashinyan, in response to a question from Azatutyun.am, hinted for the first time that after the delimitation and demarcation of borders with Azerbaijan, the Russian border guards will leave.
“The border is a sign of peace, and this means that the border guards of Armenia and Azerbaijan will be able to independently protect the border by cooperating with each other,” Pashinyan told Azatutyun.am last month.
There was no official readout of the meeting by Pashinyan’s office, nor the Kremlin.
Instead, Hayk Konjoryan, a leading lawmaker representing Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party, confirmed the decision. In a Facebook post, he said the agreement also stipulated the removal of a small number of Russian border guards from Yerevan’s Zvartnots international airport.
Pashinyan was in Moscow on Wednesday to chair the Eurasian Economic Union council meeting. It is Pashinyan’s first visit to Moscow and first in-person meeting with Putin since December 2023, when Armenia assumed the presidency of the EEU.
“Since then,” Pashinyan said during public comments ahead of the meeting, “several issues have accumulated that need to be discussed. Of course, the economic aspect of those issues were discussed at the [EEU] council meeting. And now I hope we can discuss important issues of bilateral relations, regional issues.”
Putin praised relations with Armenia, saying that they are progressing well, adding that “we always, first and foremost, focus on economic relations.”
The Kremlin on Monday announced that Putin and Pashinyan would meet following the EEU summit.
Relations between Yerevan and Moscow have deteriorated simnifically, with Pashinyan and his allies often accusing Russia and Putin of not fulfilling their responsibilities as outlined in various agreements and treaties.
