April 22, 2026
Jamestown Foundation - Armenia Diversifies and Balances its Foreign Policy
On April 1, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow (Prime Minister of Armenia, April 1). Putin effectively issued an ultimatum to Yerevan, demanding that it choose sides in Armenia’s foreign policy. The warning highlighted Armenia’s dilemma in practicing a balanced foreign policy. A cornerstone of Armenia’s foreign policy of the past few years has been the signing of strategic cooperation agreements with multiple European and Asian countries. The development has been notable given Yerevan’s more traditional reliance on Russia since the early 1990s. Despite efforts to diversify its partners, Yerevan faces limits to how far it can go in balancing its interests.
A key driver behind the shift in Yerevan’s balancing of foreign policy was Armenia’s defeat in the Second Karabakh War in 2020 and the subsequent loss of the enclave in 2023. In Yerevan’s view, Russia failed to provide sufficient security guarantees to Armenia, especially in 2021 and 2022, when its territory came under direct fire from Azerbaijan (Prime Minister of Armenia, September 24, 2023). This pushed Yerevan to reformat its ties with its longtime ally.
Read the full article on Jamestown Foundation.
Emil Avdaliani is a Research Fellow at the Turan Research Center.