Armenia Ditches Russia for the EU and Azerbaijan (The Duran)

In this episode we break down Nikol Pashinyan’s dramatic push to pull Armenia away from Russia and the CSTO and toward the European Union, Azerbaijan and Turkey. We explain why this pivot threatens Armenia’s security and economy, from Nagorno Karabakh to Russian gas supplies and the powerful Yerevan diaspora. Is Pashinyan saving Armenia’s future or setting it up for disaster?



Time Stamps:

00:00:00 Pashinyan's push to take Armenia into the EU
00:00:29 Breaking from Russia and the CSTO security umbrella
00:00:58 Pashinyan's base of support and the NGOs
00:01:23 Armenia's lost security guarantee from Russia
00:02:09 Risk to Russia Armenia economic and trade ties
00:03:07 Russia's gas and export leverage over Armenia
00:03:58 Azerbaijan's territorial demands over Nakhchivan
00:04:24 Pashinyan conceding Nagorno Karabakh to Azerbaijan
00:05:15 Why Western security guarantees are an illusion
00:07:04 NGOs, the US Embassy and Armenia's powerful diaspora

[Posted at the SpookyWeather2 blog, August 31, 2026.]