Russia Rebukes Armenia Over Zelensky Remarks

Russia accused Armenia on Sunday of giving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “a platform for anti-Russian remarks”, in a further sign of worsening relations between the traditional allies Moscow and Yerevan.

During a visit to Yerevan last week, Zelensky said Russia feared “drones may buzz over Red Square” in Moscow during the annual 9 May parade marking the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

The parade went ahead as planned on Saturday, but in a scaled-back format and without the usual display of military hardware because of the threat of Ukrainian drone attacks.

Moscow had already summoned the Armenian ambassador on Thursday to protest against what it described as “terrorist threats against Russia” made by Zelensky in Yerevan.

“This is not normal, it is not in keeping with the spirit of our relations with Yerevan”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Russian news agencies.

“The main thing for us is that Armenia does not adopt an anti-Russian stance”, Peskov said, adding that Russia was awaiting an explanation from Yerevan.

Russia also expressed concern on Thursday that Armenia was being drawn into what it described as the European Union’s “anti-Russian orbit” after it hosted a meeting of the European Political Community on 4 May.

More than 40 European leaders, including Zelensky, attended the event, which was followed by an EU-Armenia summit.

Relations between Russia and Armenia, which hosts several Russian military bases, have become increasingly rancorous since Azerbaijan forcibly retook its breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023 despite the presence of Russian peacekeepers.

(reuters, max)