The invasion of Ukraine, launched in February 2022, bared the stark limits of Russian power in what Moscow considered its own backyard, The Wall Street Journal says in an article.
“Spooked by the bloodshed in Ukraine and by the international sanctions imposed on Russia, its neighbors and allies now are busy diversifying their relationships, hedging against Moscow by deepening ties with China and the West,” the article reads.
“The shift away from Russia is most marked in Moldova, which has severed its dependence on Russian energy, and in Armenia, disillusioned with Russia’s unwillingness—or inability—to protect ethnic Armenians in the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.”
According to the article, the mood has turned in Armenia, where resentment has surged at Moscow’s failure to help a “nominal ally” after Azerbaijan seized Nagorno-Karabakh, forcing out nearly all of its 100,000 ethnic Armenian residents, in September.
“The military operation to capture Nagorno-Karabakh and detain its leaders followed a monthslong Azerbaijani blockade of the enclave. Russian peacekeepers who were supposed to enforce a cease-fire reached in late 2020 didn’t intervene. Russia also didn’t react significantly when Azerbaijani forces killed several Russian soldiers, including the deputy commander of its peacekeeping group. Azerbaijan apologized and said the Russians had been killed by mistake,” The Wall Street Journal added.
In 2021, many ethnic Armenians had returned to Nagorno-Karabakh because they believed Russian assurances of protection, said former Armenian lawmaker Vahe Hovhannisyan. “Russia promised them peace…They were told, ‘The Russian flag is flying, the Russian contingent is in your hometown, you are safe,’ ” he said. “And then, on Sept. 19, as they sent their children to school, Azerbaijani missiles started falling down.”
Russia’s failure to live up to its obligations was “disappointing to the Armenian government and the Armenian people,” the country’s prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. He added that he didn’t see any benefit in Russian troops remaining on Armenian soil, or in the country retaining membership in the Moscow-led military alliance, the CSTO. Armenia, he said, is now seeking to diversify its security relationships. In October, the country signed a deal to purchase air defenses from France.
