ArmInfo.Today the acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan faces a rather difficult position. He is trying to demonstrate inside and outside Armenia a situation that does not exist for a long time already. Namely, the fact that Russia is the guarantor of ensuring the security of Armenia. The leader of the Constructive Party of Armenia, candidate for prime minister from the bloc Andrias Ghukasyan expressed a similar opinion to ArmInfo.
"But there are facts clearly spelled out in the agreements between Armenia and Russia, which cannot be hidden. First of all, I mean, the clause clearly spelled out in the agreement on the transfer of a joint Armenian-Russian military group on the territory of Armenia in the event of an external military threat under control of the military leadership of our country. The Azerbaijani military crossed our border, but we see that nothing of this happened. There is not even a reaction of the CSTO to Armenia's appeals for help, "he stressed.
Such realities, according to the politician's assessments, indicate that in the conditions of Russia's de facto leaving the security of Armenia to its fate, in today's conditions nothing prevents Yerevan from accepting the military assistance of France. Especially in conditions when the latter offers this assistance almost openly. In this light, he stressed that Pashinyan's recent visit to Paris took place at the invitation of President Macron, which, according to Ghukasyan, was due to Pashinyan's proposal to deploy OSCE MG observers on the border with Azerbaijan.
At a meeting of the Security Council on May 27, acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan presented his plan for overcoming the situation on the border with Azerbaijan. The essence of the plan is the immediate, parallel withdrawal of the armed forces of both sides from the border to the places of permanent deployment. International observers from the Russian Federation or other co-chairing countries of the OSCE Minsk Group should be deployed along the border. Pashinyan considers this plan the shortest path to de-escalation of the border situation. France and the European Union have already expressed support for Pashinyan's plan.
Thus, France, in his opinion, not only voiced support for Pashinyan's plan, but also expressed its readiness to support Armenia in the current situation of the Azerbaijani military invasion of the country. And according to Ghukasyan, the Armenian prime minister simply could not but to respond to a rather persistent invitation and go to Paris. In the politician's opinion, in the current situation it seems important for France and some other centers of power, to solve the problem of the Azerbaijani invasion of Armenia. In particular, it was important to demonstrate that Armenia is not alone, and there is also the OSCE MG-an alternative to demarcation and delimitation of the borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan in a trilateral format proposed by Moscow.
On June 1 in Paris, acting Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with French President Emmanuel Macron, Speaker of the French National Assembly Richard Ferrand, Senate President Gerard Larcher, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo. On June 2, Pashinyan went to Brussels, where he met with his Belgian counterpart Alexander De Croo.
"Another issue is the readiness of the Armenian leadership, which is deeply dependent on Moscow, to shake the hand outstretched to it and thereby dramatically change the current situation on the border. I personally do not see such readiness, unfortunately. Pashinyan hesitates, and the fact that even his Foreign Ministry spoke against his policy, speaks of the need for a change of power in our country. Real, and not a declarative deepening of relations with France will restore the security of Armenia. And French support will allow to restore, rearm and reorganize our Armed Forces. This is a real alternative, which we simply have no right to neglect in the current situation, "summed up Ghukasyan.