As the standoff between the West and Russia continues to intensify, Moscow on Thursday sent a terse warning to its allies saying that their potential ties with countries that are “unfriendly” to Russia should not harm their strategic partnerships with Moscow.
“We think that contacts with countries not friendly to Russia should not harm the strategic partnership with our country and go against the obligations undertaken within the framework of common unions, including the CSTO and the EAEU, the CIS and the SCO,” Ivan Nachaev, the Russian foreign ministry’s spokesperson said at a briefing on Monday.
This message was in response to an inquiry regarding the participation of Central Asian countries in military exercises taking place in Tajikistan under the auspices of the United States. However, if viewed broadly it could also have its implications for other so-called strategic partners with Russia, including Armenia.
The most recent attack by Azerbaijan forces on Armenian positions in Berdzor, during which two Artsakh soldiers were killed, prompted the government to vocalize its concerns regarding the Russian peacekeeping forces in Karabakh.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, earlier this month, said that clarification was needed on the role and mission of the Russian peacekeepers, citing the loss of Armenian territory in areas that are directly under the supervision of the said troops.
Furthermore, the unusually active role the European Union and the United States are playing in advancing a settlement for the Karabakh conflict in recent months—since Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine—has received Moscow’s rebuke of the West.
President Vladimir Putin of Russia and his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, on several occasions, have accused the West of stepping in Moscow’s turf, since it was Putin who brokered three specific agreements with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan that ended the military actions in Artsakh in 2020 and mandated the creation of commissions to unblock transit links and advance the delimitation and demarcation of borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Moscow has also said that efforts by OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to mediated a settlement for the Karabakh conflict had effectively collapsed due the posturing of the U.S. and its European allies.