“Starting today, only the Border Guard Troops of the Republic of Armenia will carry out border control at the Agarak border crossing point on the Armenia-Iran state border,” Pashinian wrote on Facebook. He thanked the Russian border guards for their decades-long service there.
Pashinian and Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly agreed on the withdrawal during talks in Moscow in October. The agreement came just over two months after the Russians left Yerevan’s Zvartnots international airport.
Pashinian’s government demanded their departure in March amid heightened tensions with Moscow. The Russian Foreign Ministry criticized the move, saying that Yerevan risks inflicting “irreparable damage” on Russian-Armenian relations and jeopardizing Armenia’s security and economic development.
Under another agreement reported by Yerevan in October, starting from 2025, Armenian border guards “will also participate in the protection” of their country’s borders with Iran and Turkey together with their Russian colleagues. The latter have for decades been stationed there as part of close Russian-Armenian military ties. Armenian officials have said that Yerevan has no plans yet to remove them.
They have also said that the Russian withdrawal from the Yerevan airport and the Agarak checkpoint will boost Armenia’s sovereignty. Armenian opposition leaders have dismissed such claims, however, saying that Pashinian’s administration is only scoring points in the West.
Russia also has a military base in the South Caucasus country. In March, a senior Russian lawmaker said he “would not recommend that the Armenian authorities even think about” demanding an end to the Russian military presence. Pashinian has signaled no such plans either. Still, he has frozen his country’s membership in the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization.