Does Armenia Still Need the Russian Base?

Asbed poses a clean, current question: with the geopolitics of the region shifting, who is Russia’s 102nd Military Base in Gyumri most important to now, Armenia or Russia? Aghajanian answers from the Armenian side. She says the base remains important because it keeps Turkey at bay and provides a sense that Armenia is not entirely alone. If it is taken out, she warns, the country will be totally alone.

She sharpens the point by tying it to the state of Armenia’s own army. She describes the current government’s policy as one that weakens the military, referencing a recent bill she says furthers the chances of leaving Armenia with only the name of an army and none of its substance. Against that backdrop, she argues, the Russian base offers at least some feeling of security, even amid open tensions between Yerevan and Moscow.

This moment is clip-worthy because it delivers a crisp verdict on a debate that took analysts by surprise when Vladimir Putin publicly raised the base’s future after the Bishkek summit. It speaks to the core anxieties of the South Caucasus: Turkey’s posture, the reliability of the CSTO, and whether Armenia under Civil Contract is dismantling its last external security guarantees. For viewers following Nikol Pashinyan’s shift away from Russia and toward the West, Aghajanian’s line, that removing the base leaves Armenia totally alone, is a memorable, shareable framing of the stakes. It captures the paradox at the heart of the episode: neither Moscow nor Yerevan wants to be the one to end the arrangement, yet both keep circling the question in public.