During Wednesday’s talks in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered perhaps the clearest public confirmation yet of what many Armenians have long understood: once Nikol Pashinyan recognized Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan in Prague in 2022, he stripped away even the formal basis for CSTO intervention. Putin stated plainly that after that decision, any CSTO involvement would have been “completely inappropriate,” because the issue had effectively been turned into an internal Azerbaijani matter. Pashinyan, in turn, did not dispute the essence of that reality, instead trying to shift blame by claiming Yerevan made that recognition only after prior statements from Russian leaders.
Putin’s remarks amounted to a direct political verdict: Artsakh was not simply abandoned by others, but was first surrendered by Armenia’s own leadership. That is the central truth Pashinyan continues to evade. A government that officially accepted Artsakh as Azerbaijani territory cannot now credibly complain that no one stepped in to defend it. Moscow’s message was unmistakable: the decisive concession was made in Prague, and the consequences that followed were the result of that surrender.
At the same meeting, Putin also warned against barring pro-Russian opposition forces from Armenia’s June 7 parliamentary elections, underscoring that Moscow is watching developments inside Armenia closely. But the most important point had already been made. In front of Pashinyan himself, Putin stated for the record that after Pashinyan recognized Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan, outside intervention was no longer possible on that basis. In other words, the man now complaining about the outcome is the same man who politically and diplomatically sold Artsakh in the first place.
