MOSCOW – Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that his country’s military had attempted a coup on Thursday, the most recent event in a country still recovering from last year’s lost war with Azerbaijan.
Now politicians and political analysts are talking about Russia’s hand in the coup attempt, pointing to President Vladimir Putin’s tense relationship with Pashinyan. On Tuesday, Pushinyan insulted Moscow by complaining about Russian missiles, an indirect criticism of the Kremlin’s strategy of waiting to intervene until Armenia was weakened in the conflict, despite its official status as a military ally.
“They didn’t explode, or maybe 10% of them did,” Pashinyan said of the missiles on Tuesday. The military generals – already angry at Pashinyan’s dismissal of military generals in an effort to modernize the force – objected, starting the conflict.
According to political analyst Artur Paronyan, Russia’s chief of staff, Valery Gerasimov, had made a call to his Armenian counterpart, General Onik Gasparyan, earlier in the day. “Moscow has clearly signaled General Gasparyan to get rid of our prime minister,” Paronyan told the Daily Beast.
Led by Gasparyan, dozens of generals signed a declaration calling for the removal of Pashinyan for his alleged inability to “make appropriate decisions in this crisis”. It was the military’s first direct intervention in Armenia’s domestic policy since 2008, when 10 protesters were killed after the military suppressed a protest at Freedom Square in Yerevan.
Armenia has cured itself of this tragedy and has since changed course. In the past decade, the country has developed a vibrant civil society, tackling some of its most acute social issues. But the threat of a war with Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave has been in the air for decades. Generations grew up preparing for the next war and, in September, the struggle began. This went on for six weeks, and Armenia turned upside down.
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After the war, thousands of bitter protesters filled the center of Yerevan, blaming the government for the defeat and demanding Pashinyan’s resignation. A Russian-mediated ceasefire saved Armenia from defeat in Nagorno-Karabakh, but it also left Armenia desperately dependent on Russia for its security.
The opposition called for the overthrow of Pashinyan and joined the army on Wednesday. Many men in the crowd of protesters wore military uniforms and said they would not leave Liberty Square until Pashinyan left. On Thursday, Gasparyan published his statement formally calling for the prime minister’s resignation and criticizing him for “discrediting” the military.
In an exclusive interview with The Daily Beast, Pashinyan’s main rival, former Defense Minister Vazgen Manukyan, said he had powerful support from the Armenian military. “We blame Pashinyan for the total diplomatic failure in peace negotiations with Baku and for our defeat in the war against Azerbaijan’s aggression.” He added that he was “in contact with all commanders” and that he knows that “some operations [led by Pashinyan] they were more than doubtful. “
“Everything my army managed to gain from 1992 to 1993, it lost. We intend to put Pashinyan on trial and investigate why we lost territories and 5,000 lives, ”he said. Manukyan also emphasized his support only for peaceful demonstrations, as a civil war would devastate an already vulnerable Armenia.
Many of Manukyan’s supporters are openly defending Russian support for the coup. “The war showed us that neither the United States nor France were here to save us. Moscow negotiated peace for us. Even now, Russian peacekeepers are on guard in the conflict zone, ”a pro-Manukyan analyst, Stepan Danielyan, told The Daily Beast.
Armenian leaders find it difficult to gain the trust of a disillusioned audience. The public demanded justice for years after the Freedom Square massacre, blaming then-president Robert Kocharyan for ordering the shootings. A velvet revolution brought Nikol Pashinyan, once a political prisoner, to power in 2018. In the same year, a court ordered former President Kocharyan to be arrested on charges related to the shooting.
“Putin considers Pashinyan to be a traitor and an enemy who has failed in his promises many times,” Kremlin analyst Sergei Markov told The Daily Beast.
Markov explained how the conflict between Putin and Pashinyan goes beyond missile insults. According to media reports, Putin lobbied unsuccessfully for the release of his friend, former President Kocharyan, after his arrest in 2019.
“Putin called Kocharyan on his birthday a few months ago to demonstrate what he thought of that prison,” said Markov. “Now the Kremlin would like to see [Pashinyan] drink the whole cup of shame so that everyone can see what happens to an american puppet. “
Correction: Former Armenian Defense Minister Vazgen Manukyan told The Daily Beast that he had powerful support from the Armenian military in his conflict with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, an important political rival. An earlier version of this report incorrectly stated that Manukyan said he had support from the Russian military due to a report error.
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