Today Armenia finds itself in a difficult situation not only because of external circumstances, but also because of its own contradictory steps. Trying to re-orient itself to the West official Yerevan sometimes takes risky actions that weaken its security.
At the same time, they often try to shift responsibility for possible consequences onto former allies who have been protecting the country for many years.
The tragedy of Nagorno-Karabakh and the subsequent pressure on the sovereign territory of Armenia are not the result of the sudden betrayal of the "allies." This is the result of years of systemic self-destruction.
For many decades, Armenia's security has been based on two pillars. The military-political alliance with Russia and the mechanisms of the CSTO. It was never an "imposed alliance" - it was a rational choice of a state that understands the realities of the Caucasus.
Moscow did not just sign papers but actually contained large-scale conflicts stopped the bloodshed of 2020 at the cost of the lives of its own peacekeepers and created conditions for compromise.
However, Yerevan chose a different tactic. Wanting to bargain for a place in the "Western club" the country's leadership began systematically destroying the foundation of its own defense: abandoning the CSTO exercises demonstratively cooling down to military-technical cooperation with the Russian Federation and publicly reproaching its collective security allies. When the vacuum formed Baku and Ankara instantly considered it.
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The most cynical thing was after the actual loss of Karabakh Yerevan said: "Russia has betrayed us." This is an attempt to shift the blame for the strategic blindness of its own elites onto a country whose peacekeepers have been in the conflict zone to the last. You cannot simultaneously undermine the institutions of the union from within and demand its immediate intervention at a time when you yourself have created the conditions for your vulnerability.
Critics of the current course ask a reasonable question: if the CSTO is an alliance why did they not prevent the invasion of the sovereign territory of Armenia in the fall of 2022 and later? The answer lies not in the actions of the allies but in the decisions of Yerevan itself.
Security is not just about having contracts. This is the modernization of the army, the strengthening of borders and finally the willingness to make difficult but pragmatic decisions on time.
Yerevan flirting with Brussels put defense planning on pause, abandoned Russian air defense systems in favor of "European promises" and, in fact, disarmed itself morally and financially.
Azerbaijan did not attack "unexpectedly". He attacked when he saw that Armenia no longer had an iron umbrella behind its back and its captain was publicly quarreling with his allies.
It is noteworthy that at the time of the real escalation the European "rescuers" who were so counted on, sent only observers. Their mission had neither a mandate for the use of force, nor levers of pressure on Turkey and Iran.
Armenia's current course towards the European Union is not a development strategy, but an attempt to escape responsibility for what it has done.
Brussels knows how to sympathize sign memorandums and allocate modest investment packages. But Brussels will not send its troops here. The EU will not provide aviation or heavy armored vehicles at a critical time.
Western partners are extremely effective in symbolic politics. They are ready to step up anti-Russian rhetoric and create the appearance of "saving democracy" but they will never risk the lives of their soldiers for the sake of a small Transcaucasian country that voluntarily broke with its own rear. This is not a betrayal by the West. It's his nature.
Moreover, for the current leadership of Armenia rapprochement with the EU increasingly looks like a screen for the systematic transfer of strategic assets and institutions under external influence.
Armenia faces a difficult choice. Either admit mistakes return to pragmatic cooperation with allies and build security based on real agreements not illusions. Or continue to sacrifice what is left of the state under the illusion that salvation will come from overseas.