Political analysts point out disadvantages of sending Armenian troops to Kazakhstan

Nikol Pashinyan did not have a chance to refuse to send Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) troops to Kazakhstan, but the participation of the Armenian military forces in the peacekeeping mission will worsen the Armenia’s relations with Western countries and may lead to the Armenia’s withdrawal from the CSTO due to the confrontation between Russia and the West, political analysts suggest.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that analysts in Yerevan considered that sending the military forces to Kazakhstan would affect the image of Armenia as a democratic state and argued about the consequences of the operation in Kazakhstan for Nikol Pashinyan.

Armenia did not have a chance to veto the decision to send the CSTO troops to Kazakhstan, political analyst Benyamin Pogosyan believes. However, according to him, Armenia could refer to problems on its borders not to send its troops to Kazakhstan.

According to Benyamin Pogosyan, the Western countries believed that after 2018, Armenia would make a choice in favour of democracy. According to the expert, Azerbaijan and Turkey understand that if the image of Armenia finally deteriorates and the country is considered a pawn in the hands of authoritarian Russia, then it will be difficult to put pressure on Azerbaijan in international institutions, including the UN, EU, and European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), where the West has the greatest influence.

The main problem of the Armenian authorities is that they are afraid to do something that Russia might not like, Benyamin Pogosyan says.

Analyst Ovsep Khurshudyan called the decision of the Armenian authorities to send troops to Kazakhstan wrong. According to the analyst, the above measure was condemned by the civil society.

According to Ovsep Khurshudyan, when Armenia was involved in the CSTO operation, one of the goals of Russian President Vladimir Putin was to drive a wedge between Armenia and the West.