Ter-Petrosian made the statement as het met with the Russian ambassador in Yerevan, Sergei Kopyrkin, at his home. According to his office, they discussed the current state of Russian-Armenian relations and the “the imperative of establishing lasting peace and stability in the South Caucasus region.”
“The first president [of Armenia] considered it necessary to emphasize the following: Russia's presence in the Transcaucasus is an urgent necessity and a reality confirmed by history,” the office said in a short statement. “Armenia's honest and reliable friends are Russia, Iran, Georgia, France, Greece, and in the near future, China and India.”
The 80-year-old ex-president, who led the country to independence in 1991, pointedly made no mention of the United States whose President Donald Trump brokered last month Armenian-Azerbaijani agreements which he claimed ended the conflict between the two South Caucasus states.
Later in August, Ter-Petrosian reserved judgment on those agreements that call, among other things, for a U.S.-administered transit corridor that would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave through Armenia. But leading members of his Armenian National Congress (HAK) party have criticized them, saying that further concessions to Baku made by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian will not bring real peace.
Like other opposition leaders, senior HAK figures have also been very critical of Pashinian’s pro-Western foreign policy which has added to heightened tensions between Armenia and Russia. They say that neither the U.S. nor the EU can offer Armenia real security guarantees.
Pashinian met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in China on August 31 for what were their first face-to-face talks in almost a year. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the talks as “very good” but did not give their details.
Pashinian suspended in early 2024 Armenia’s membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), accusing the Russian-led military alliance of not fulfilling its security commitments to his country. He also indicated earlier this year that Armenia will eventually have to choose between continued membership in another Russian-led bloc, the Eurasian Economic Union, and an official bid to join the European Union.