Armenia, historically a close ally of Russia, has boosted ties with the West in the wake of the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine, sending humanitarian aid to Kyiv, staging joint exercises with U.S. troops, and freezing its membership in Moscow’s military alliance, the CSTO. Pashinyan’s government has said it may even one day seek to join the EU.
Armenia’s break with Russia comes after the Kremlin refused to take its side in a simmering conflict with neighboring Azerbaijan, which Pashinyan this week said could descend into another bloody war between the two former Soviet republics.
An Azerbaijani offensive in September last year conquered the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, triggering a mass exodus of its 100,000 Armenian residents as Russian peacekeepers watched on. Azerbaijan denies it has plans to launch an attack on Armenia itself.
While European Council President Charles Michel had historically handled talks with Armenia and Azerbaijan before the events in Nagorno-Karabakh, his team did not immediately respond to requests for comment or confirm whether he would attend the meeting with Pashinyan.
