Armenians take to the streets asking PM Pashinyan to resign over border dispute
Thousands of people took to the streets of the Armenian capital, Yerevan, on Thursday, demanding Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's resignation over his government's decision to hand over control of border villages to Armenia's long-time rival Azerbaijan.
That decision came after Azerbaijan in September waged a lightning military campaign in Nagorno-Karabakh, a majority-ethnic Armenian region inside Azerbaijan.
That caused tens of thousands of people to stream into Armenia, sparking demonstrations as protesters called for the prime minister to be ousted.
Protesters led by a senior cleric in Armenia's church walked a distance of around 160 kilometres from villages near the border with Azerbaijan to Yerevan, where they gathered Thursday in Republic Square.
Videos shared on social media showed thousands of people waving Armenian flags. A senior Armenian cleric said a prayer and told the protesters he gave Pashinyan one hour to resign, blaming him for the loss of Armenian territory.
Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan told protesters they should “engage in peaceful acts of disobedience,” if Pashinyan did not listen to their demands.
Pashinyan visited Moscow Wednesday and held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid spiralling tensions between the estranged allies. The meeting took place a day after Putin began his fifth term at a glittering Kremlin inauguration, which the Armenian leader did not attend.
Putin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was quoted Thursday by Russian state news agency Tass as saying the two leaders had agreed to the removal of Russian forces from some Armenian regions.
In brief remarks at the start of the talks, Putin said that bilateral trade was growing but acknowledged “some issues concerning security in the region.”
Pashinyan, who last visited Moscow in December, said that “certain issues have piled up since then.”
While Pashinyan was visiting Moscow, Armenia’s foreign ministry announced that the country would stop paying fees to the CSTO, a Russia-dominated security pact.
Armenia has previously suspended its participation in the grouping as Pashinyan has sought to bolster ties with the European Union and NATO.
