Armenia recalls its ambassador from Belarus for 'consultation'

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) – Armenia on Thursday called back its ambassador to Belarus for "consultation" shortly after Minsk summoned him to register a strong protest over his Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's remarks about his refusal to sit at the same table with the nation's President Alexander Lukashenko.

Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Ani Badalyan said in a statement on X that Ambassador Ramzik Khumaryan has been summoned to Yerevan for consultations.

This move came after the Armenian diplomat was summoned to the Belarusian Foreign Ministry earlier in the day, where he received a strong protest over Armenian Premier Pashinyan's remarks about his refusal to visit Belarus or sit at the same table with President Lukashenko, who had publicly supported Azerbaijan during a recent visit to Baku.

Earlier Thursday, Pashinyan declared in parliament that he and other officials would not visit Belarus while Lukashenko remains president.

Pashinyan accused Lukashenko, an ally in the Collective Security Treaty Organization, of participating in the preparations for the 44-day war in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020, as well as encouraging and wishing Azerbaijan victory.

During his state visit to Azerbaijan from May 15-17, Lukashenko visited the Karabakh region and stated that Minsk and Baku "equally understand the world and where it is moving," offering Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev assistance in the post-war reconstruction of Karabakh.

Relations between Baku and Yerevan have remained tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

Most of the territory was liberated by Azerbaijan during a 44-day war in the fall of 2020, and last September, Azerbaijan established full sovereignty in Karabakh following an "anti-terrorist operation" that led to the surrender of separatist forces in the region.