Armenia no longer refers to Russia as a strategic ally in its new government program.

The Armenian government’s approved program for 2026-2031 no longer mentions Russia as the country’s strategic ally.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this while commenting on Yerevan’s new foreign policy course.

According to him, after the events of September 2022, when Armenia expected security support but did not receive it from Russia and the CSTO, it became difficult to talk about a strategic partnership.

“If I write ‘strategic partnership,’ you’ll ask: what happened in September 2022? Did the CSTO and Russia fail to fulfill their security obligations? They didn’t,” Pashinyan said.

At the same time, Armenia is not announcing a complete severance of relations with Moscow. The government’s program states its intention to transform and deepen its partnership with Russia, but does not define Russia as a strategic ally.

As a reminder, in 2024, Yerevan announced the freezing of its participation in the CSTO, accusing the organization of failing to fulfill its obligations to Armenia’s security.

Thus, the new government program marks a significant change in the format of Yerevan’s relations with Moscow: Russia remains an important partner, but its status as a strategic ally is no longer used.

As a reminder, Armenia will soon begin the process of submitting an official application for membership in the European Union.