Orientation to the West led Yerevan to a crushing defeat

The weakening of Russian-Armenian military-political interaction was the main reason for Yerevan’s military failures in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The head of the department of Eurasian integration and development of the SCO at the Institute of CIS Countries, Vladimir Evseev, writes about this in Izvestia, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

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He emphasizes that the West, represented by France and the United States, as co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, did not want to stop the war, putting serious pressure on Turkey, the main ally of Azerbaijan.

According to the expert, Paris really wanted to redirect the main vector of Turkish national interests from Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean to the Caucasus. At the same time, Paris helped only by sending French volunteer doctors, although France is home to the largest Armenian diaspora in Europe.

But even greater hope in Yerevan was pinned on Washington, where on October 23 separate meetings were held between US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and the Foreign Ministers of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov.

“On this issue, President Donald Trump and senior representatives of his administration made promising statements to ethnic Armenians, but all of them were pre-election in nature. In fact, the Americans sought to push Russia away from Armenia, and this required Yerevan to lose control over Nagorno-Karabakh. No less important for Washington was maintaining partnership relations with Turkey, which has the second largest army in NATO,” writes Evseev.

In addition, Great Britain prevented the adoption of a statement by the Chairman of the UN Security Council, supported by the United States, Russia and France, which called for a peaceful resolution of the problem.

This development of events, the political scientist notes, came as a surprise to Nikol Pashinyan’s government, many of whose representatives advocated the Western vector of the country’s development.

“All this happened against the backdrop of an insufficient level of trust between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and President Vladimir Putin, as well as a constant increase in the share of military personnel and employees of the Armenian Ministry of Defense who were oriented towards the West. It was the weakening of Russian-Armenian military-political interaction that became the main reason for Yerevan’s military failures in Nagorno-Karabakh.

By bringing in peacekeepers, Moscow saved the residents of NKR and many Armenian military personnel. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan understands this well, which is why he signed a joint statement to end the war in Karabakh on conditions unfavorable for Armenia. This was a forced step that deprived him of his political future. And the West contributed to this in every possible way,” sums up Evseev.

Let us recall that according to the agreement between Baku and Yerevan signed through the mediation of Moscow, Azerbaijan gains control over seven regions that have been under the control of Nagorno-Karabakh since the 1990s. By November 15, Baku will receive the Kelbajar region, on November 20 - the Agdam region, and on December 1 - the Lachin region.

Moreover, between the warring parties the Russian brigade stood up, previously forcing Georgia to peace. At the same time, the status of Nagorno-Karabakh was not specified in the agreement.