MOSCOW, May 10 (Reuters) – Russia accused Armenia on Sunday of providing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy with “a platform for anti-Russian remarks”, in a further sign of a chill in relations between traditional allies Moscow and Yerevan.
On a visit to Yerevan last week, Zelenskiy said Russia feared “drones may buzz over Red Square” in Moscow during the annual parade on May 9 to commemorate the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two.
The parade went ahead as planned on Saturday in a scaled-back format without the usual display of military hardware due to the threat of Ukrainian drone attacks.
Moscow already summoned the Armenian ambassador on Thursday to protest over what it described as “terrorist threats against Russia” made by Zelenskiy in Yerevan.
“This is not normal, it is not in keeping with the spirit of our relations with Yerevan,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Russian news agencies.
“The main thing for us is that Armenia does not adopt an anti-Russian stance,” Peskov said, adding that Russia was awaiting an explanation from Yerevan on the matter.
Russia on Thursday also expressed concern that Armenia was being drawn into what it described as the European Union’s “anti-Russian orbit” after it hosted a meeting of the European Political Community on May 4.
More than 40 European leaders, including Zelenskiy, attended that event, which was followed up by an EU-Armenia summit.
Ties between Russia and Armenia, host to various Russian military bases, have grown increasingly rancorous since Azerbaijan forcibly retook its breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023 despite the presence there of Russian peacekeepers.
(Reporting by ReutersEditing by Gareth Jones)
