Former Foreign Minister: Armenia`s greatest threat: Pashinyan`s  leadership failures

ArmInfo. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan himself has become the greatest threat to  Armenia's security, enabling Azerbaijan's aggression through his own failures. Former  Foreign Minister of Armenia Vartan Oskanian  wrote on his Facebook page..

As Oskaiyan recalled, Azerbaijan's ambitions have been long  clear-leveraging military force and diplomatic pressure to  consolidate territorial gains. According to him, these challenges  have become a real threat not only because of Baku's aggression, but  the incompetence of Prime Minister Pashinyan.  "Armenia's sovereignty  and national security are threatened not only by external forces but  also by the failures of its own leadership. Azerbaijan's ambitions  have long been clear-leveraging military force and diplomatic  pressure to consolidate territorial gains. Yet what has turned these  challenges into existential threats is not merely Baku's aggression  but the incompetence of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, " Oskanian  emphasized.

The former head of the Armenian Foreign Ministry drew attention to  the fact that Azerbaijan's strategic objectives have remained  consistent, but Armenia's ability to counter them has erode due to  Pashinyan's leadership. His tenure has been marked by a series of  missteps that have weakened the country's military preparedness,  diplomatic leverage, and internal cohesion. At the same time,  according to Oskanyan, the errors of the current prime minister were  evident from the moment he took office in 2018, arme with  revolutionary rhetoric but devoid of a coherent foreign policy  vision.

In this regard, he assured that  the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, the  mass displacement of Armenians, and the country's growing  geopolitical isolation all stem from a single failure: a leader  lacking the diplomatic, strategic, and military-political acumen to  safeguard the nation's interests "His leadership has left Armenia   vulnerable to Azerbaijan's threats, transforming what could have  been a strong defensive posture into one of weakness and surrender.  Instead of formulating a realistic regional policy and a robust  defense strategy, Pashinyan oscillated between nationalist bravado  and conciliatory overtures-neither backed by a credible diplomatic  and security framework. His government ignored intelligence warnings,  failed to prepare for Azerbaijan's military buildup, and mismanaged  relations with Russia while alienating traditional partners without  securing viable alternatives," the expert explained.

Among Pashinyan's key mistakes, Oskanian singled out the belief that  political rhetoric could substitute for strategic foresight.  Pashinyan only strengthened the policy that further weakened  Armenia's position. " Now, as Pashinyan's personal security becomes  increasingly tied to his grip on power, his foreign policy decisions  seem driven more by self-preservation than by national interest. His  pivot toward the West has been executed recklessly, alienating Russia  without securing tangible Western guaranteesA practical realignment  could have benefited Armenia if approached strategically," Oskanian  noted. 

Instead, as the former foreign minister continued, Pashinyan's  government has relied on symbolic gestures-such as floating EU  accession-while failing to establish a concrete security framework.  His ill- timed adoption of Armenia's EU membership law coincided with  key geopolitical developments, including J.D. Vance's speech in  Munich and the start of Russia-U.S. talks, signaling a new  geopolitical realignment with undoubtedly significant implications  for the Caucasus.

 "This glaring miscalculation underscores Pashinyan's lack of  awareness of global dynamics. Rather than positioning Armenia to  maximize its leverage, he continues to act in a vacuum, blind to the  larger geopolitical forces at play.  For all its shortcomings, Russia  has historically been Armenia's primary security guarantor. While  grievances over Moscow's failures are valid, severing ties without  securing alternatives is strategically reckless. Diplomacy is not  about grandstanding; it is about leveraging relationships to maximize  national security. Under Pashinyan, Armenia has become  isolated-alienated from Moscow, unsupported by the West, and  vulnerable to Azerbaijani pressure," the former head of the Armenian  Foreign Ministry emphasized.

At the same time, he drew attention to the fact that  Azerbaijan's  demands continue to escalate. President Ilham Aliyev's ambitions  extend beyond Nagorno-Karabakh and the subjugation of its leadership;  they include Armenia's disarmament, the forced resettlement of  Azerbaijanis in Armenia proper, and territorial concessions that  undermine Armenian sovereignty.  "These are not mere aggressive  postures-they represent an existential challenge to Armenia's future.  Yet Pashinyan's response has been passive, failing to impose any cost  on Azerbaijan's actions. His government has absorbed one diplomatic  and military setback after another, eroding Armenia's deterrence  capabilities and leaving it increasingly exposed. Azerbaijan may be  the aggressor, but it is Pashinyan's failures that have made Aliyev's  ambitions achievable," the expert assured.

In this vein, he emphasized that Armenia needs new leadership - a  leader who understands the balance of power, who can craft  a  credible security policy, and who  can engage in diplomacy from a  position of strength, rather than desperation. According to him,  Pashinyan has demonstrated time and again that he is incapable of  fulfilling this role.  "The longer he remains in power, the greater  the risk that Armenia's sovereignty will erode-piece by piece,  concession by concession-until nothing remains of the state's  independence. The time for change is now. Armenia must reclaim its  agency, redefine its security priorities, and rebuild its diplomatic  credibility," Oskanian concluded.