The circumstances in which Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan came to power in the wake of mass actions in 2018 did not affect the relations between Russia and Armenia, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview aired on Russia 24 TV channel.
“I do not note any peculiarities in our relations with Armenia in recent years, including during the time Prime Minister Pashinyan has been in power,” the Russian leader said.
According to Putin, he has developed a “fairly trust-based and constructive” relationship with Pashinyan. “Therefore, these hints [of changes in Moscow’s attitude to Yerevan] are not very clear to me,” the Russian president stressed.
At the same time, Putin said accusations of treason against Nikol Pashinyan have no basis.
“The accusations against him [Pashinyan] about some kind of betrayal have no basis,” Putin said.
He further explained that Pashinyan assessed the proposal of return of refugees to Shushi as a precondition for the cessation of hostilities as “a threat to Armenia and Karabakh” and said they would continue fighting.
