When [Armenian PM] Nikol Pashinyan was in the opposition and was leading the movement he created, which everyone knew was connected to the Soros Foundation, the slogan of his movement was "Exit;" exit from the CSTO and the Eurasian Economic Union. With this slogan, he brought crowds to the streets, demanded the election of the prime minister—at them the prime minister is elected by the parliament, at the same time announced that if these elections end with him not being elected, he will raise the people to their feet. Well, democracy in its highest manifestation. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated this in an interview to Izvestia daily.

"After becoming the Prime Minister, I remember very well, [Russian President] Vladimir Putin met with him several times, emphasizing in every way that we will not be guided by some previous [experience], but by how exactly the leadership of Armenia will build relations with Russia. In response, Nikol Pashinyan said that both the CSTO and the Eurasian Economic Union are fundamental organizations for Armenia, for the development of its economy, for preventing its isolation in the South Caucasus.

And it was in this direction that relations were developing all the years until 2020, when the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia flared up. And then Pashinyan turned to Putin, both as an ally of Russia and as a member of the CSTO, and you know how our president was negotiating—literally nightly, tirelessly,, and sparing no effort—with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to stop this war.

And then the tripartite agreements on the delimitation of borders, restoration of economic relations, unblocking of transport communications, normalization of relations, including the signing of a peace treaty; all this was agreed upon by our [i.e. Russia’s] active proactive role.

And parallel to this, the European Union was drawing in the Armenians and Azerbaijanis to its side, and Pashinyan was the main supporter of the idea of working on the platform of the EU and the USA. They went there on a regular basis—to the detriment of the meetings that were planned in the territory of the Russian Federation," Lavrov added.

According to the Russian FM, when in Prague in 2022, at the European Political Community Summit, which, as per Lavrov, is also French President Emmanuel Macron's “invention,” they signed a document with the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, in the presence of the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, that Nagorno-Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan, " No one notified us," Lavrov added.

"Then Putin told Pashinyan during the next meeting: ‘We were surprised that you decided that way.’ There were no explanations, as Pashinyan always asked us not to forget that in parallel with the efforts of the last three years, the issue of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh should be somehow resolved, and we were doing it.

But when he signed that this territory is part of Azerbaijan, the issue of status disappeared. And when [Armenian] people started leaving Karabakh, Nikol Pashinyan asked Vladimir Putin: ‘Vladimir Vladimirovich, why did you abandon the people of Karabakh, leaving them to the whims of fortune?’ I'm sorry, for God's sake, it was you who decided that they are not citizens or claim some kind of citizenship of Azerbaijan," added Lavrov.

The Russian FM noted that he also communicated with Nikol Pashinyan when he went to Yerevan to participate in various meetings.

"It seemed to me that he still understands the benefits for Armenia from continuing allied relations with the Russian Federation, from cooperation within the CSTO, EAEU frameworks.

But now the Armenian officials, both in the Security Council and in the parliament of Armenia, directly say that ‘we should rely more on the European Union,’ that the CSTO allegedly does not fulfill its obligations to the republic. That is, in essence, the circle is closing, and the leadership of Armenia begins to express such thoughts with which Pashinyan created his ‘Exit’ movement.

I am convinced that this does not correspond to the to the Armenian people and our interests, from the point of view of historical friendly ties with Armenians, the huge Armenian diaspora living in Russia, and stability in the South Caucasus. The objective of those who are now luring the leadership of Armenia to the side of the West is clear: to not allow stability in the South Caucasus, to try to turn this region into a zone of their dominance, as the West is doing in Central Asia and in many other parts of our shared continent," the Russian FM concluded.