Carl Bildt: Putin is repeating the same rhetoric on Armenia that he used against Ukraine in 2013

Sweden's former foreign minister Carl Bildt warns that Russian President Vladimir Putin is employing the same approach towards Armenia that he used before the Ukraine conflict in 2013. Meanwhile, global media is rife with speculation that the war in Ukraine could end before the onset of winter this year.

International political circles have been buzzing with speculation about a possible end to the Ukraine war before winter sets in this year. This has drawn attention from both Russian opposition figure Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Sweden's former foreign minister Carl Bildt, however, has highlighted a different and worrying development – namely that Russian President Vladimir Putin is employing precisely the same rhetorical pattern towards Armenia that preceded Russian aggression against Ukraine in 2013. Bildt is known as an expert on Eastern European politics, and his warning suggests that Armenia may be the Kremlin's next target.

The year 2013 was a turning point for Ukraine – it was then that Russia launched a pressure campaign that culminated in the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and a full-scale war in 2022. The repetition of the same pattern with respect to Armenia is considered a serious security threat to the entire South Caucasus.

In recent years, Armenia has taken remarkable steps towards the West, reducing its dependence on Russia and strengthening ties with the European Union and the US. This change of direction is clearly unacceptable in the Kremlin's eyes, which is why pressure on Armenia has increased noticeably.