Russia withdraws its ambassador in Armenia for consultations

Russia has withdrawn its ambassador in Armenia to Moscow to conduct consultations without specifying the reason for this decision.

A short statement on behalf of Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Maria Zakharova has been published on the website. The statement said that Sergey Kopirkin, Russian ambassador to Armenia, was withdrawn from Armenia to Moscow on 24 May for consultations.

Russia’s decision is likely linked to an increasing tension in the relations between Moscow and Yerevan due to Armenia distancing itself from the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), a military-political block de-facto chaired by Russia, and is getting closer to the West.

At the beginning of May Armenia stated that further on it would not participate in the funding of the activity of CSTO.

Then the Kremlin claimed that Moscow and Yerevan had coordinated the withdrawal of Russian troops from a number of regions of Armenia but Russian forces would still remain on Armenian borders with Türkiye and Iran.

Recently Nikol Pashinyan, Prime Minister of Armenia, stated that at least two CSTO member states had helped Azerbaijan to prepare for the war against Armenia which started in 2020.