Lavrov returns to the Caucasus: Moscow reclaims its backyard while Yerevan nods along

In a joint press conference that felt more like a geopolitical lecture than a bilateral exchange, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made his mission clear: Russia is back in the South Caucasus, and it’s calling the shots.

Flanked by Armenia’s visibly passive Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, Lavrov fired warning shots not at Washington—but at Brussels. He emphasized that regional security should be handled exclusively by the countries of the region and their immediate neighbors, dismissing European Union involvement as illegitimate and unwelcome. Notably absent? Any criticism of Washington. With a Trump-Putin thaw quietly underway, Lavrov kept his powder dry on the U.S., focusing his ire solely on Brussels. The message was unmistakable: the multipolar world Russia envisions has room for the White House—so long as it knows its place—but not for Eurocrats with delusions of grandeur.

Then, Lavrov turned to Nagorno-Karabakh, delivering a revisionist recap of Russia’s longstanding role in the conflict. He asserted that Moscow had consistently supported the return of five regions surrounding the enclave to Azerbaijan, while quietly accepting that Lachin and Kelbajar would remain under Armenian control. According to him, those two territories had been fortified so extensively by Armenia’s former presidents Kocharyan and Sargsyan that any future withdrawal became unrealistic—and, in his view, that was perfectly acceptable to Moscow. As for the fact that these fortifications were constructed with Russian military equipment, Lavrov made no apologies. He brushed it off as standard arms trade—Russia sells weapons, and that’s business.

But the most revealing moment came when he addressed the 2020 ceasefire. Lavrov confirmed that the agreement deliberately omitted any reference to Nagorno-Karabakh’s status, describing it as a calculated move rooted in a gentlemen’s agreement personally orchestrated by Putin. According to his account, this deliberate ambiguity was designed to maintain a delicate balance—one that, in Russia’s view, Armenia shattered by subsequently recognizing Karabakh as Azerbaijani territory.

Throughout the press conference, Mirzoyan offered little more than vague remarks and deferential nods. No challenge. No clarity. No pushback. Russia reasserts control. Brussels gets the boot. And Yerevan? It stands quietly at the podium—watching its sovereignty shrink by the minute.