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Putin seems to have been busy, absent from the G20 summit and APEC meeting, but on November 23 he went to Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, to attend the CSTO summit.
But one detail of the summit was very unexpected and dazzling.
At that time, it was a group photo session, looking at the arrangement, Putin stood in the middle, next to the host Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan and Tajikistan President Rahmon. But interestingly, when the leader stood to take pictures, Rahmon was a little far away from Putin, while Pasinian kept talking to the people next to him, even farther away from Putin.
Although it is a group photo, it seems that Putin is standing alone in the middle.
This may be an accident, but according to the analysis of the Western media, this is actually deliberately snubbing Putin, especially Armenian Prime Minister Pasinian.
You know, when Putin last visited Armenia in 2019, Pashinyan was also happy to take a selfie with Putin.
But now, things have changed a lot. In fact, in his opening remarks to the summit, Pasinian expressed strong dissatisfaction with Russia. He told the heads of state that "it is regrettable that Armenia's accession to the CSTO did not prevent Azerbaijan from carrying out aggressive actions. "To date, we have not been able to take a decision on the CSTO's aggression against Azerbaijan against Armenia. These facts have seriously damaged the image of CSTO on the continent and internationally. ”
Outside the venue, many people were protesting. Protest against Russia's inaction, protest Putin's betrayal of Armenian interests.
In 2020, a war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Armenia was defeated, the Nagorno-Karabakh region fell into Azerbaijan's hands, and more than 6,000 people were killed. In September, the two countries clashed violently again, killing another 200 people.
Armenia sought assistance from CSTO, which did not respond positively. Although in the end, under Putin's good offices, Azerbaijan and Armenia reached a ceasefire. But for Armenia, this is the inaction and betrayal of its ally Russia.
As for Rahmon, at the previous Russia-Central Asia summit, he bluntly told Putin that Russia does not respect the Central Asian countries enough, "why do we have to plead with Russia to participate in the forum in Tajikistan"? "We have a history, we have culture, we want to be respected by Russia... I ask you not to apply Soviet-era policies to the countries of Central Asia."
For Putin, there is no doubt that it will be a difficult time. Ukraine involves most of the energy, and Russia must also balance the positions of Turkey and Azerbaijan on the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict; Armenia's growing ties with the West have added concerns to Russia.
But for Azerbaijan, Armenia and other countries, historical problems, practical factors, all kinds of superposition, unhappiness and even dissatisfaction with Russia are increasing. Armenia, in particular, does not rule out that one day it will really part ways with Russia.