The West’s Caucasus circus: how has the Yerevan Summit looked from Moscow?

Over the past several days Western leaders have flocked to Armenia, a post-Soviet nation of 3 million people which hosts a Russian military base, for what Western media has described as a “historic summit,” charting Yerevan’s path away from Moscow and highlighting the EU’s purportedly growing responsibility for world affairs.

The gathering gave the host, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and his guests, an opportunity for political posturing – as well as a distraction from the global crisis they’re lurching into.

Who came to Yerevan?

Armenia hosted the latest summit of the European Political Community (EPC), an EU-led intergovernmental group launched in 2022 in response to the escalation of the Ukraine crisis. Originally the brainchild of French President Emmauel Macron, it was transparently designed as a vehicle for an anti-Russian agenda pushed by Brussels and London.

Molodova, an EU candidate state led by a fiercely anti-Russian government, hosted the EPC’s second annual gathering. The group also counts Ukraine among participants and welcomes at its events a Belarusian opposition organization led by Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, which is based in Lithuania and funded by EU taxpayers’ money.

So in short, it’s largely a club for opposing Russia with questionable entry standards.

What does Armenia get out of hosting the summit?

A lot of positive Western media publicity for Pashinyan, whose approval ratings at home barely cross into double digits. His premiership, launched with a soft coup in 2018, was marred by a lost proxy war with neighboring Azerbaijan for its region of Nagorno Karabakh.

The prime minister attempted to scapegoat Russia – faulting Moscow for a lack of military response during border clashes that were part of Yerevan’s broader stand-off with Baku. He also used government powers to crack down on the Armenian Apostolic Church, which played a leading role in protest against his government in 2024.

This does not make Pashinyan an authoritarian ruler in the eyes of his Western guests. After all, part of his media strategy has been to shave his beard and start posting videos of himself making heart shapes to pop music. European leaders, such as Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, would rather echo the Armenian host’s emulation of a K-Pop star than question his governance.

Does Pashinyan need Western political backing?

Pashinyan’s efforts to distance Armenia from Russia and convince voters that the EU and the US would ensure their future safety have paid off – at least in the form of a pat on the back from Western leaders.