Russian is not going to leave South Caucasus - Kremlin

ArmInfo. The Kremlin on Tuesday rejected a suggestion by Armenia's prime minister that Russia  had failed to protect Armenia amid its standoff with neighboring Azerbaijan, and was winding down its role in the wider region.

In an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica published on  Sunday, Nikol Pashinyan accused Russia of failing to ensure Armenia's  security in the face of what he said was aggression from Azerbaijan  over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Pashinyan also said Armenia felt Russia was pulling back from the  wider South Caucasus region, which includes his country.

"...we see that Russia, thanks to a number of steps it is taking or  failing to take, is itself leaving the region.  We could just can  wake up one day and see that Russia is not here," he said.

Pashinyan had also suggested that Moscow did not regard his country  as sufficiently pro-Russian and was unable to meet all of Armenia's  security needs, even if it wanted to, because of its own requirements  for the war in Ukraine.

"We cannot agree with these theses," Peskov said. "Russia is an  absolutely integral part of this region ...  Russia plays a  consistent, very important role in stabilizing the situation in this  region ... and we will continue to play this role."

"Russia continues to play the role of guarantor of security," he  said. "Russia is not going anywhere and is not planning to leave."

Peskov also reminded Armenia's premier of "more Armenians living in  Russia than in Armenia."