Armenian Diplomat: Lukashenka Has Crossed All Possible And Impossible Lines

Yerevan may freeze relations with Minsk.

A diplomatic scandal is brewing between Armenia and Belarus. Yerevan is recalling its ambassador for consultations, and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said that he will never visit Belarus again while Lukashenko is in power.

The Charter97.org website asked one of the leaders of the democratic movement in Armenia in the 1990s, former deputy of the Supreme Council of the republic and former ambassador of Armenia to Russia Stepan Grigoryan to comment on what is happening:

— Firstly, I welcome these words of Nikol Pashinyan. The self-proclaimed ruler of Belarus is taking steps in favor of Azerbaijan, he and Ilham Aliyev understand each other very well as dictators. But Lukashenka crossed the line, during his last visit to Baku he said that he and Aliyev had talked before the war in 2020 that the Karabakh problem could be resolved by force.

On the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh, Lukashenka welcomed the start of military action by Azerbaijan. He crossed all possible and impossible lines. Here the issue is not only that there is democracy in Armenia, and everyone knows what is happening in Belarus. Not only in this, but also in personal behavior with regard to such sensitive issues as the territorial integrity of Armenia, the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is sensitive for everyone.

Even if we now have problems with the CSTO, even if we have frozen our participation, it is unacceptable for a CSTO member country to make such attacks on a country that is not a member of the organization. Therefore, I definitely welcome Nikol Pashinyan's statement, but there is one remark about our government — they very often delay important steps, including diplomatic ones.

Lukashenka said such things a year ago, and two years ago, but only now Nikol Pashinyan's patience has snapped. That's why he gave such an assessment of relations with Belarus, and said that he would no longer go there. But the ambassador, as we know, was summoned to Yerevan for consultations. I would recall him altogether, it makes no sense for us to have relations with Belarus at the ambassadorial level at the moment, there is nothing in common in our interests. Such a strictly anti-Armenian policy, in which there are no boundaries, does not stand up to any criticism.

— How can events develop? Can relations between Yerevan and Minsk be frozen?

— I think so. Recalling the ambassador for consultations is a form of demarche, but it is a soft form. I think that the next step will be that ours will reduce the level of relations with Belarus to the level of deputy ambassadors, that is, at least lower these relations to a lower level.

I am not even talking about the fact that within the CSTO we have already frozen our relations, this also means that we have frozen cooperation with Belarus within the organization. So the development will go along such a curve that there will not just be a temporary recall of the ambassador for consultations, but a complete recall of the ambassador, that is, Armenia will lower the level of diplomatic relations with Belarus.

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