On May 24, the Russian Ambassador to Armenia, Sergey Kopirkin, was summoned to Moscow for consultations as confirmed by Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry. The details of the meeting were not disclosed.
Armenia’s relations with Russia and the CSTO have deteriorated, particularly following Azerbaijan’s attack in September 2022. Despite Armenia’s calls for condemnation from the CSTO regarding the attack against a member of the alliance, Azerbaijan and the occupation of territories from Armenia, no formal action has been taken by the CSTO. In response to this, Yerevan rejected the proposal to deploy CSTO observers on the border. In 2024, Prime Minister Pashinyan announced that Armenia’s membership in the bloc was essentially frozen, leaving open the possibility for Armenia to leave the alliance.
Additionally, President Putin’s spokesperson confirmed that during a meeting between leaders of Armenia and Russia on May 8 in Moscow an agreement was reached for withdrawal of Russian soldiers and border guards from certain regions of Armenia. Russian border guards will remain stationed at Armenian-Turkish and Armenian-Iranian borders.
