Political instability attempts
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan claims certain circles in Russia and Armenia seek to "eliminate" Armenia’s de facto independence. He says these groups want to provoke domestic instability through political means rather than economic ones. He identified the current Russian restrictions on Armenian products as the third attempt in three years to cause such unrest. These trade restrictions started in April and intensified before the June parliamentary elections. Pashinyan argued that these measures aim to deprive Armenia of its independence. He said the first attempt occurred in September 2023 when Azerbaijan launched an offensive to take control of Nagorno-Karabakh, prompting more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia within a single week. During that crisis, pro-Kremlin figures used Facebook to call on people to take to the streets to remove the anti-national government. Pashinyan said the aim then was to direct the flow of people toward Armenia while making calls to change the political authorities. He identified the June parliamentary election as the second attempt at domestic destabilization. He believes the current situation regarding trade restrictions is a political component designed to incite instability. He said the aim of these certain circles is to exploit the working situation to incite instability.
Military failures and Russian media
Russian state-run Channel One called Pashinyan a "harbinger of trouble" during a 23 October broadcast. The hour-long program focused on the idea that the Armenian leader sold the country. Pashinyan noted that while personal relations with Vladimir Putin remain positive, Russia did not deliver the armaments Armenia paid for under 2021 contracts. Armenia received only a small portion of those supplies, so the state offset the remaining amount against its debt to Russia. During the 2020 Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, Azerbaijan used weapons from Russia and Belarus, yet the Collective Security Treaty Organisation failed to fulfill its obligations during attacks in 2021 and 2022. Pashinyan noted that Russian peacekeepers, deployed under the 9 November 2020 trilateral statement, were present when Azerbaijan took control of Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023. During the 2023 crisis, pro-Kremlin propagandists warned Armenians they would become "participants" in the genocide of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians if they did not join anti-government protests. At a Commonwealth of Independent States summit in Turkmenistan, Putin tapped Pashinyan on the shoulder for an informal conversation, but Pashinyan said this does not mean the history of 2020, 2021, or 2023 is being erased. He noted that not receiving the armaments Armenia paid for is a part of that history, and he mentioned that the events of September 2022 are not being erased. He argued that being dependent on one country for weapons, gas, and apricot poses a threat to the state. He said Armenia must manage that threat itself to protect its sovereignty.
