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Akbar Novruz

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Russia has accused Armenia's leadership of attempting to shift responsibility onto Moscow over the potential withdrawal of the 102nd Russian Military Base from Gyumri, as debate over the future of Russia's military presence in the country intensifies.

Mikhail Kalugin, Director of the Fourth Department for CIS Countries at the Russian Foreign Ministry, made the remarks in an interview with RIA Novosti.

According to Kalugin, Armenian officials are attempting to present the debate as though Moscow itself initiated discussions over the future of the Russian military presence.

“Attempts to shift responsibility for the possible withdrawal of the base to Moscow are consistent with a curious feature of current Armenian political thinking. The ruling elite in Yerevan often expects the most important decisions to be made by external players,” Kalugin said.

The Russian diplomat drew parallels with Armenia's increasingly complicated relationships with both the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

Kalugin argued that Yerevan has similarly sought to place responsibility for major strategic choices elsewhere, pointing to Armenian statements that a referendum concerning the country's European integration should follow a positive signal from Brussels.

He also cited discussions surrounding the CSTO, saying suggestions that Armenia could simply be excluded from the Russian-led security alliance would remove the need for Yerevan itself to decide whether to formally leave.

Despite the increasingly sharp rhetoric, Kalugin said Moscow remained prepared to discuss all issues surrounding the Gyumri base.

Any negotiations, he stressed, would have to proceed within the framework of the existing interstate agreements governing the deployment of Russian forces in Armenia.

The future of the 102nd Military Base has emerged as another point of friction between Moscow and Yerevan amid a broader deterioration in bilateral relations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in September that Moscow would not impose its military presence on Armenia and was prepared to withdraw its forces if Yerevan concluded that the base was no longer necessary.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan subsequently insisted that his government had never raised the question of removing the Russian base.

“Since 2018, I have been in contact with the President of the Russian Federation and other senior officials, and I have never, not even once, raised the issue of withdrawing Russia’s 102nd Military Base from Armenia,” Pashinyan told parliament in September.

He nevertheless said Armenia would not object if Moscow itself decided to withdraw the forces, arguing that developments in recent years had demonstrated that the Russian base was no longer of “vital importance” to Armenia's security.

Pashinyan has maintained that if Russia wants to retain the base, Yerevan remains prepared to discuss the matter.

The competing statements have therefore produced a dispute over who placed the future of the base on the political agenda, with Moscow accusing Yerevan of seeking to make Russia responsible for any eventual withdrawal and the Armenian government insisting that the issue was first publicly raised by the Russian side.

The 102nd Russian Military Base has been stationed in Gyumri under an interstate agreement signed in 1995. An amendment agreed in 2010 extended the deployment until 2044.