{"id":310045,"date":"2026-11-03T12:15:17","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T08:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abcmedia.am\/?p=310045"},"modified":"2026-11-03T13:08:32","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T09:08:32","slug":"the-national-interest-armenia-has-managed-to-expand-its-circle-of-partners-but-not-to-fully-eliminate-its-dependence-on-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abcmedia.am\/en\/politics\/310045\/","title":{"rendered":"The National Interest: Armenia has managed to expand its circle of partners, but not to fully eliminate its dependence on Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Multiplicity of partnerships is hardly unique to the Middle East. The states of the South Caucasus and Central Asia, wedged between Russia, China, Iran and Turkey, have practiced it for three decades under far heavier pressure, and their record shows more clearly what separates states that collect partners from those able to act on their own, The National Interest<\/a> writes.<\/p>\n

Armenia does not style itself a middle power, but it is now pursuing the multi-vector course its neighbors adopted long ago. Tensions with Russia have led Yerevan to accumulate an incredible number of strategic partnerships with European and Asian countries. It froze its participation in the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization in 2024 and says it will not return, launched a bid for European Union membership, signed a strategic partnership charter with Washington, accepted the US-backed Trump Route through its south, and turned to India and France for weapons.<\/p>\n

The pivot remains incomplete: Gazprom controls Armenia’s gas distribution, Russian troops remain in Gyumri, and Moscow is pressing Yerevan to choose between the Eurasian Economic Union and the EU. For the moment, Armenia has diversified its partners faster than it has reduced its dependence.<\/p>\n

The neighboring Azerbaijan provides a more relevant example. After Iranian drones struck the airport in its Nakhchivan exclave on March 5, President Ilham Aliyev called the attack an “act of terror,” put the army on full combat readiness, and closed the border with Iran.<\/p>\n

After Russian air defenses downed an Azerbaijan Airlines jet in December 2024, Baku pressed Moscow until Putin acknowledged responsibility and agreed to compensation. Azerbaijan holds strategic partnerships with both Washington and Beijing, and in October Aliyev called the United States and China the world’s only superpowers, leaving Russia off the list.<\/p>\n

Lately, Baku has slightly distanced itself from its closest ally, Turkey. The Azerbaijani president also told his party congress that Azerbaijan needs “no one’s help or patronage,” and on October 30 he skipped the Organization of Turkic States summit in Ankara despite Erdoğan’s personal invitation.<\/p>\n

Azerbaijan’s room for maneuver remains constrained by its large neighbors.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"