Kremlin responds to PM Pashinyan, says no plans to leave South Caucasus

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 5, ARMENPRESS. Moscow has responded to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s recent statement that Russia itself is leaving the South Caucasus with its actions or inactions.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, reacting to the statement, said that Moscow has no plans to leave the region.

“We have deep respect for Prime Minister Pashinyan, we appreciate the working and very constructive relations between him and President Putin, but we can’t agree with those narratives. Russia doesn’t plan to go anywhere. Russia continues to play a consistent, very important role in stabilizing the situation and ending the conflict. In this context, what matters is the commitment of all regional countries to the trilateral statements on Nagorno-Karabakh. There’ve been new developments that have somewhat changed the situation, but this doesn’t mean that Russia is somehow deviating from its activity,” Peskov told reporters.

Peskov said that more Armenians live in Russia than in Armenia itself. Mentioning Armenia’s participation in integration processes, Peskov said that “Armenia has become the CIS champion with its pace of development.”