Lukashenko attacked Pashinian as he secured his seventh term in office in a weekend presidential election that EU leaders have denounced as a “sham.”
“Armenia’s leadership is to blame for what happened,” he told journalists, referring to Azerbaijan’s recapture of Karabakh in September 2023. “They recognized Nagorno-Karabakh, Stepanakert as part of Azerbaijan. We, I and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, were astonished.”
“Pashinian himself abandoned Karabakh, even though [Azerbaijani President Ilham] Aliyev was ready at that point to agree that it’s a territory where Armenians should have serious influence. But there was the gift [to Azerbaijan.] Who wouldn’t take it?”
The Belarusian strongman, in power since 1994, went on to slam Pashinian for “flirting” with the EU.
“It’s a dangerous game,” he said. “He will destroy Armenia. Calm him down.”
Neither Pashinian’s office nor the Armenian Foreign Ministry reacted to the verbal attacks as of Monday evening.
Armenian parliament speaker Alen Simonian, a key Pashinian ally, said Lukashenko is trying to justify his earlier admission that he “supported and participated in the large-scale killing of Armenians in Karabakh.” He did not exclude that Armenia will downgrade or even sever diplomatic relations with Belarus.
“I think that can be discussed,” Simonian told journalists. “I don’t want to express my opinion.”
Yerevan already recalled its ambassador from Minsk last summer as tensions between the two nominal ex-Soviet allies rose after Lukashenko made fresh pro-Azerbaijani statements during a visit to Azerbaijan. He said there that he had approved Baku’s plans to try to reconquer Karabakh by force during his meetings with Aliyev held before the 2020 war. Pashinian declared at the time that no Armenian official will visit Belarus as long as Lukashenko remains in power.
The two leaders publicly traded barbs last month during a Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) summit in Saint Petersburg which Pashinian attended via video link.
Lukashenko has a long history of supporting Azerbaijan in the conflict with Armenia. He had an uneasy relationship with Armenia’s former leadership as well.
