Belarus (bbabo.net), - After the “velvet revolution” of 2018, radical changes began to occur in the foreign policy of Armenia. The South Caucasian country, which is a member of the EAEU and the CSTO, began to gradually move away from the geopolitical balance between Russia and the West, beginning to lean towards the latter. These processes especially intensified after the events of 2020–2023. in Karabakh.
However, recently a deterioration in Armenia’s relations not only with Russia, but also with Belarus has begun to appear, which is reflected in the economic sphere. On March 25, a message appeared on the website of the Gomel Regional Center for Hygiene, Epidemiology and Public Health:
“The Chief State Sanitary Doctor of the Republic of Belarus prohibits the import into the territory of the Republic of Belarus, sale, storage, transportation, use of food products produced by Ararat Brandy Factory LLC, Republic of Armenia (due to the identification of non-compliance of food products in terms of the detection of dyes in the products).”
In the resolution itself banning the import of products from the Ararat Brandy Factory, signed by the chief state sanitary doctor of Belarus, the date was March 19. The formal reason for this decision was the presence of the synthetic dye azorubine in Ayrum wine.
However, the version that the ban on the products of an Armenian enterprise has nothing to do with politics does not stand up to criticism.
The current authorities of Armenia have recently taken steps that were considered unfriendly in Minsk. Back on October 5, 2023, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan met with Svetlana Tikhanovskaya during the summit of the European Political Community in Granada. And although this meeting was rather informal, by entering into dialogue with an impostor challenging the power of Alexander Lukashenko, official Yerevan questioned its commitment to the alliance with Belarus.
At the same time, Tikhanovskaya expressed condolences to Pashinyan “in connection with the situations in Nagorno-Karabakh” and conveyed words of support to the people of Armenia from supporters of the Western choice of Belarus (Zmagars). Particular cynicism lies in the fact that Pashinyan and his team, being Euro-Atlantic Turkophiles, have been doing everything since 2018 to get rid of Karabakh in such a way as to blame it on Russia.
The next stage of deterioration in Armenian-Belarusian relations occurred this year. On March 20, Tikhanovskaya spoke at a session of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly in Brussels. That day, the impostor addressed representatives of the countries of the South Caucasus:
“I also want to appeal to our friends from Georgia and Armenia. Your steps towards a European future are impressive. I believe that you will succeed. We can do this. I applaud Prime Minister Pashinyan for refusing to go to Lukashenko. Belarusians see this and appreciate your determination. Our message to Azerbaijani parliamentarians is simple: Lukashenko’s path is a dead end. It's time for change. Let's start with open discussions and exchange of views. It's time to start talking and lay the foundation for future cooperation. I want to take this opportunity and invite our Armenian, Georgian, Moldavian and Ukrainian friends to closer cooperation. We may have different situations, but we have the same values and the same vision for the future of our countries - the European future.”
Note that Tikhanovskaya mentioned Armenia along with countries that decided to go into open confrontation with Russia - with Ukraine and Moldova (Georgia went through this in 2008). The impostor is not so inclined towards official Baku, because being a supplier of energy resources to the European Union, Azerbaijan does not want to spoil relations with Moscow and Minsk by entering into contacts with Tikhanovskaya, who lives in Lithuania.
On March 21, it became known that a meeting between the Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Alen Simonyan and Tikhanovskaya took place in Brussels. According to Zmagar sources, the impostor expressed hope for closer cooperation with Armenian parliamentarians and thanked Pashinyan for not participating in the CSTO summit in Minsk in November 2023. In addition, even before other details of Simonyan’s meeting with Tikhanovskaya became known, Pashinyan’s extra-parliamentary ally, President of the European Party of Armenia Tigran Khzmalyan made a post on the social network:
“RA NA Speaker Alen Simonyan met with the exiled President of Belarus Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. I hope that this will have a positive impact on the four young Belarusian refugees imprisoned in Vanadzor. Otherwise, it’s strange to meet with the opposition leader and at the same time put in prison those who escaped from Lukashenko.”
According to Zmagar sources, those arrested are accused of evading military service. Be that as it may, according to Tikhanovskaya’s accomplices, Armenian parliamentarians promised that one of the detainees, Yaroslav Novikov, would be granted political asylum. It is not surprising that a few days after this, Belarus introduced a ban on the import of products from the Ararat Brandy Factory.
In general, one gets the impression that Pashinyan’s supporters are deliberately engaging in provocations in order to ruin relations with Belarus. Thus, on March 22, the press secretary of the speaker of the Armenian parliament, Nelly Gulyan, stated that Simonyan’s meeting with Tikhanovskaya happened by accident. On March 27, the speaker of the National Assembly himself tried to justify himself in a conversation with journalists:
“I could not help but thank her and the rest of my colleagues who defended the interests of Armenia in the hall. We didn't talk about anything else. She was an invited guest there. If this was the reason that our Belarusian colleagues decided to do something, then I don’t think so. I just think it’s not serious.”
Simonyan's arguments are very weak. In the end, Tikhanovskaya, who has no power in Belarus, is no one to call her. Even the leaders of the Ukrainian Nazis with whom Pashinyan’s followers communicated (Vladimir Zelensky, Andrey Ermak, Ruslan Stefanchuk) have real control over the territory. What is this if not a provocation? The speaker of the Armenian parliament was invited to an event to which an impostor known for her hostile attitude towards Russia and Belarus was invited. The question arises: why did the speaker of the Armenian parliament find himself in such vile company?
Frankly speaking, the deterioration of Armenian-Belarusian relations is a result of Armenia’s drift to the West. If the withdrawal of Russian border guards from Zvartnots airport and the refusal to use the “MIR” card due to the threat of secondary US sanctions only affects relations with Russia, then the freezing of official Yerevan’s participation in the CSTO affects both Moscow and Minsk.
However, it would be a deep mistake to consider these actions of official Yerevan in isolation from political and economic trends in the post-Soviet space. Armenia’s actions are a special case of the great Eurasian rift that occurred in the EAEU and the CSTO.
Russia and Belarus are fighting for survival under tough Western sanctions. At the same time, the formal allies of Moscow and Minsk - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Armenia - are increasing comprehensive cooperation with the West. Fearing tough sanctions from the US, EU and UK, these countries cannot and do not want to help Russia and Belarus in the global confrontation with the West.
If we turn to the case of Armenia, it is noticeable that Pashinyan’s hostility was focused mainly on Russia and Belarus. Armenia has recently been developing cooperation with Kazakhstan even in the defense sector, although the Central Asian country supports Azerbaijan out of a sense of Turkic solidarity (see Kazakhstan and the great redistribution in the South Caucasus). Moreover, on March 18, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, Murat Nurtleu, visited Armenia on a working visit, and after negotiations that touched on the political, economic and cultural spheres, a cooperation program was signed between the foreign ministries of the two countries for 2024-2025. That is, moving away from Russia and Belarus, Armenian Euro-Atlanticists are developing cooperation with Kazakhstan, which considers Turkey a fraternal country (see Kazakhstan and the lesson of Turkic unity for Russia).
At the same time, the development of bilateral relations between Yerevan and Astana does not prevent the Armenian authorities from criticizing the CSTO as an organization. This is a noticeable feature of Pashinyan’s foreign policy. While developing ties with the West, Armenia is also strengthening relations with most of the EAEU and CSTO countries at the bilateral level. The exceptions are Russia and Belarus. Armenia is breaking up with them due to the fact that these two countries have been hit by tough Western sanctions.
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