Behind closed doors in Moscow: Kocharyan’s political comeback and the Kremlin’s role
Former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan recently made a short trip to Moscow, despite having visited the Russian capital just 1–2 months earlier. Following his previous visit, Kocharyan held a press conference announcing his return to active politics.
This time, according to some reports, the topic of discussion in Moscow was the possible impeachment of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. It is not excluded that public statements and corresponding political actions may follow soon.
Interestingly, the meeting did not take place with Sergey Kiriyenko, the newly appointed Kremlin official overseeing Armenian affairs and the First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Russian Presidential Administration. Instead, it was reportedly held with another high-ranking Kremlin official who specializes in Armenian issues.
Source: News.Am
Sources indicate that Kocharyan returned to Armenia the same evening and has not yet briefed his political team on the details of the discussions in Moscow. There is speculation that he may have been advised to exercise restraint on the impeachment issue. Potential alternative candidates for the position of Prime Minister were also reportedly discussed.
Previously, in an interview on May 19, Kocharyan described the likelihood of a successful impeachment of Pashinyan as "close to zero," stating that only a "pre-revolutionary street situation" could make such an outcome feasible.
Meanwhile, Armenia’s opposition has initiated two efforts to impeach Prime Minister Pashinyan. In April, opposition activists Narek Malyan and Edgar Kazaryan called on parliament members to support impeachment. The opposition bloc “I Have Honor” expressed readiness to back the initiative, while the “Armenia” bloc questioned the sincerity of its authors and called for street protests instead.
Subsequently, two MPs — Hakob Aslanyan and Hovik Agazaryan — who had previously left the ruling “Civil Contract” faction, proposed Edmond Marukyan, former ambassador, as a potential new Prime Minister and launched negotiations with other parliamentary factions.
These developments underscore Russia’s growing interest in Armenia’s internal political dynamics and suggest possible Kremlin involvement in shaping the country’s future political landscape.
In an interview with News.Az, Russian political analyst Sergey Markov stated that Robert Kocharyan's visit to Moscow was aimed at strategizing amid shifting Russia-Armenia relations, a change underscored by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's recent visit to Yerevan.
According to him, Robert Kocharyan's visit is connected to his intention to hold meetings with his counterparts in Moscow and determine what his strategy should be in the newly changed circumstances.
“Apparently, relations between Russia and Armenia have indeed begun to shift. This was seemingly confirmed during the recent visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Armenia. In this context, several important factors can be identified. First, Armenia’s leadership continues its course toward closer ties with the West, and the Russian side is trying to assess how serious and long-term this western pivot truly is. Second, Armenia has not yet received any substantial support from the West. Therefore, Moscow considers it quite possible that Armenia's westward orientation could be reconsidered or slowed down. It appears that this was, in fact, registered during the latest visit. Sergey Lavrov stated explicitly that there had been misunderstandings between the two sides in the past, but that these have largely been resolved.”
Markov also stressed that amid rising tensions in Russian-Azerbaijani relations following recent aircraft crashes in Grozny and Aktau, Armenia appears eager to draw closer to Moscow—a shift that seemingly interests both Yerevan and the Kremlin.
“Moreover, tensions have arisen in Russian-Azerbaijani relations — against the backdrop of recent aircraft crashes in Grozny and Aktau. The Armenian leadership is likely seeking to take advantage of this situation to draw closer to Russia. However, it is not only the Armenian side that is interested in such a shift.”
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