Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said on March 7 that Armenia no longer needs the Russian "peacekeepers" that have long been stationed at Yerevan's international Zvartnots Airport.
Armenia has long been an ally of Russia, especially vis-a-vis its primary regional foe Azerbaijan, and has thus largely refrained from getting involved in Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine. The calculus changed after Russian "peacekeepers" failed to prevent Azerbaijan's offensive into the Nagorno-Karabakh region, primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, in September 2023.
Russian forces been stationed at Zvartnots Airport since Armenia's independence from the Soviet Union and outbreak of war with neighboring Azerbaijan.
Russian troops also continue to guard Armenia's borders with Turkey and Iran, and a "peacekeeping" contingent remains in Nagorno-Karabakh, although Azerbaijani authorities have signaled their presence could end in 2025.
Russian troops also have a base in the Armenian city of Gyumri.
"The Armenian side has informed (the Russian side) that it does not need (anymore) the border guard service of Russian border guards at the airport; of course, thanking the Russian side," Mirzoyan said at a press conference on March 7.
He added that the request for the Russian contingent to leave referred only to those stationed at the airport, and that there was currently no plans for Russian soldiers to leave their posts from Armenia's borders with Turkey and Iran.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in February that Armenia had "frozen" its participation in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) because it failed to uphold its objectives regarding Armenia.
The CSTO, a Russian-led defense alliance of six countries, did not intervene during Azerbaijan's offensive in September 2023.
Armenian officials have previously snubbed a CSTO summit in Minsk in November 2023, as well as a Moscow parliamentary meeting a month later.
Pashinyan and other Armenian officials have repeatedly accused Moscow of being an unreliable partner and sought to foster security ties with other countries, such as France, the U.S., or India.
Francis Farrell
