Armenians want prime minister to step down over border village conflict with Azerbaijan

Many people in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, protested on Thursday against their Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, to quit because they are upset about his government’s choice to give control of some border villages to Azerbaijan, which has been a rival to Armenia for a long time.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two wars after the Soviet Union broke up, and in April, Armenia said it would give back the villages to Azerbaijan. That decision happened after Azerbaijan quickly fought a war in Nagorno-Karabakh, which is an area mostly populated by Armenians and is located in Azerbaijan. This made a lot of people go to Armenia and start protests to kick out the prime minister.

A group of people, led by a important religious leader in Armenia, walked about 100 miles from villages near the border with Azerbaijan to Yerevan. They gathered in Republic Square on Thursday.

Many videos on social media showed a lot of people holding Armenian flags and waving them. An older Armenian religious leader prayed and told the people protesting that he wanted the leader, Pashinyan, to step down within an hour. He said Pashinyan was responsible for losing Armenian land.

Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan said protesters should peacefully disobey if Pashinyan doesn’t listen to their demands.

Pashinyan went to Moscow on Wednesday and had a discussion with Russian President Vladimir Putin because their relationship is getting worse. The meeting happened one day after Putin’s fifth term began in a fancy ceremony at the Kremlin. The Armenian leader didn’t go to the ceremony.

Putin’s representative, Dmitry Peskov, said on Thursday that he and the leaders of Armenia agreed to have Russian forces leave some areas in Armenia. This was reported by Russian state news agency Tass.

In short, Putin mentioned at the beginning of the talks that trade between the two countries is increasing, but he recognized some problems with security in the area.

Pashinyan, who went to Moscow in December, said that some problems have built up since then.

Armenia and Russia have been friends for a long time, but their relationship has been getting worse because of Azerbaijan’s recent war to take back control of the Karabakh region from ethnic Armenian separatists.

Armenian leaders said that Russian peacekeepers sent to Nagorno-Karabakh did not do enough to prevent Azerbaijan’s attack. Moscow has a military base in Armenia. They say their troops didn’t have permission to get involved and are denying the accusations.

The Kremlin is upset because Pashinyan is trying to become closer to the West and move away from alliances with Moscow.

While Pashinyan was in Moscow, Armenia’s foreign ministry said that the country will stop giving money to the Collective Security Treaty Organization, which is a security pact dominated by Russia. Armenia has stopped being a part of the group because Pashinyan wants to make stronger connections with the European Union and NATO.

Russia was upset when Armenia decided to join the International Criminal Court. This is because the Court is looking into whether or not Putin committed war crimes in Ukraine.

Moscow is worried about the Ukraine situation. They are also concerned about Yerevan moving towards the west. But they are trying to not make a big deal out of it.

Kremlin spokesman Peskov admitted on Tuesday that there are some issues in our relationship with another country, but he also said that there is a desire to keep talking and working together.