Epoch defeat for Putin. Armenia, with only 3,000,000 inhabitants, drove out the Russian army

Epoch defeat for Putin. Armenia, with only 3,000,000 inhabitants, drove out the Russian army.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the agreement between the two countries in response to a question about whether Putin and Pashinyan had discussed the withdrawal of Russian military personnel during a meeting in Moscow a day earlier.

On Wednesday evening, Putin hosted Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on the occasion of a summit of the Eurasian Economic Union.

Epoch defeat for Putin. Armenia, with only 3,000,000 inhabitants, drove out the Russian army

During the meeting, Putin invited Pashinian to discuss security issues in the region, hoping to persuade him to back down on his decision to withdraw from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a Russian-led military bloc.

In the end, Pașinian was adamant and decided not to participate in financing the activities of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

The two leaders also agreed that Russia should withdraw military personnel from several regions of Armenia, the Kremlin announced on Thursday.

In February, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said his country had suspended participation in the CSTO. He then clarified that the country’s final decision on joining the organization will depend on whether it defines the “area of ​​responsibility” in Armenia.

According to Pashinian, Russia has consistently pursued a policy of “diversification of relations” in the South Caucasus, which is why it refused to provide military support to the country during the recent war with Azerbaijan.

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“The CSTO problem arose because of this, because now the CSTO and Russia put an equal sign and conduct an equidistant policy between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In our region, the policy of diversifying relations was launched by Russia,” Pashinian said.

He noted that until 2012-2013, Russia’s policy was to treat Armenia as an ally and Azerbaijan as a partner.

“In 2013, Russia and Azerbaijan signed an arms purchase agreement worth several billion dollars. This is the point where Russia began to diversify its relations with Azerbaijan. I would like to draw attention to the fact that on February 21-22, 2022, Russia and Azerbaijan signed a strategic partnership memorandum. This memorandum emphasizes the need for policy harmonization. This is a public document and it is implemented in practice,” said Pașinian.

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Armenia’s decision was the latest in a series of moves to distance itself from the Russian-led security alliance.

But, through the policy pursued, Russia also lost Azerbaijan, the first country from which Putin had to withdraw his “peacekeeping” troops, the country turning towards Turkey.

However, it appears that Moscow will keep some troops on Armenia’s border with Turkey and Iran.