Russia scolds ally Armenia for hosting Zelensky

Russia said Thursday that it was "incomprehensible" that its ally Armenia hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for a European summit earlier this week, and cautioned the country against deeper European integration.

Ties between Armenia and its former imperial ruler, Moscow, have frayed in recent years.

The former Soviet republic froze its membership in the Russian-led CSTO military alliance in 2024 over Russia's failure to defend it against Azerbaijan, and has expressed an interest in joining the European Union, angering the Kremlin.

"Russian society, with deep indignation and bewilderment, not only saw, but above all remembered, the fact that Armenia, which we are accustomed to considering a friendly, fraternal country, had served as a platform. For whom? For a terrorist," Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a weekly briefing.

Since launching its full-scale military offensive in February 2022, Russian officials have regularly hurled insults at Zelensky and routinely call Kyiv a "terrorist state" -- outbursts rejected and dismissed in Kyiv as baseless wartime propaganda.

"No one in Armenia's current leadership snubbed Zelensky. So whose side are you on, historically?" she asked.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told reporters Thursday: "Back in 2022-2023 I already stated that, on the issue of Ukraine, we are not an ally of Russia."

Zakharova also criticised a joint declaration that Armenia and the European Union adopted at their summit on Tuesday.

The document recognises Yerevan's aspiration to join the bloc, as well as deepens cooperation between the two sides in economic and security matters.

"Such a course on the part of the Armenian authorities will sooner or later lead to Yerevan's irreversible involvement in Brussels' anti-Russian line, with all the ensuing political and economic consequences for Armenia," Zakharova said.

The nation of three million people bordering Iran and Turkey passed a law last year formally declaring its intention to apply for EU membership.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Pashinyan in April that Yerevan could not be a member of both the European Union and the Russian-led customs bloc.

AFP