Alen Simonyan in Moscow for CIS security meeting after his clash with Zakharova
- Published
- Place
- Moscow, Russia
- Event date
- Past event —
Summary
Armenia’s Security Council Secretary Alen Simonyan has been taking part since 9 November in the 14th meeting of the secretaries of the security councils of CIS countries in Moscow, his office announced. His Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu read out a message from Vladimir Putin calling for stronger security within the Commonwealth, Azerbaijan’s APA agency reported; Ramil Usubov represents Azerbaijan. The trip comes two days after a sharp exchange with Moscow. On 7 November, at the World Armenian Summit in Yerevan, Simonyan said he had “fallen at the feet of the Russians” in 2020, begging them to stop the war, to no avail, and said he opposed any move to bring Armenia into the Union State of Russia and Belarus. The same day Maria Zakharova replied that “it was Russia, and no one else” that stopped the bloodshed.
Analysis
The Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman’s reply turned personal: “We don’t know at whose feet he was falling then, and perhaps he still is.” Zakharova recalled the trilateral statement signed on the night of 9-10 November 2020 and the role of Russian peacekeepers. She also accused Yerevan of recognising Karabakh as Azerbaijani territory in Prague in October 2022. Simonyan is nonetheless keeping Armenia’s seat in CIS formats, travelling to Moscow despite the row.
Possible consequences
The sixth anniversary of the 10 November 2020 statement, on Tuesday, is likely to revive this debate on Moscow’s role.
