News - Newspaper: Why is Armenia PM returning to Russia's ‘bosom?’

Hraparak daily of the Republic of Armenia (RA) writes as follows, in particular: In July, we had written that [Armenian PM Nikol] Pashinyan could "return to the bosom of mother Russia like a prodigal son." He had said in a narrow "circle" that there could be surprises in the fall. Those who criticized us in those days, that Hraparak had a bad dream, today they themselves write that a step back is being taken [by Armenia]. The first swallow was the bow [by Pashinyan] addressed to the RF at the press conference on August 31, and yesterday we learned that Armenia will participate in the unofficial summits of BRICS and CIS. The BRICS meeting is scheduled for October 22-24 in Kazan [in Russia]. Some see a connection between the change in Nikol Pashinyan's rhetoric and the telephone conversation with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin on August 23, which took place 4 days after the latter's visit to [Azerbaijani capital] Baku. 4 days after that, Putin spoke also with [Azerbaijani President Ilham] Aliyev, and 1 day later, the border delimitation regulation [between Armenia and Azerbaijan] was signed, which was being prolonged for 2 months. According to some sources, Putin told Pashinyan that he urged Aliyev to ease the pressure on the RA. Perhaps this is also the reason why Pashinyan, who is boycotting the Russian platforms of the CIS, CSTO, has decided to participate. And [Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria] Zakharova announced yesterday that they expect Yerevan to resume full participation in the CSTO work.