Armenia PM signals foreign policy shift away from Russia

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Sunday signalled a major foreign policy shift away from Russia following Moscow's refusal to enter the latest conflict over disputed Nagorno-Karabakh.

Pashinyan told the nation in a major television address that his former Soviet republic's current foreign security alliances were "ineffective" and "insufficient".

He added that Armenia should join the International Criminal Court (ICC) -- a tribunal which has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over his actions in Ukraine.

"The systems of external security in which Armenia is involved are ineffective when it comes to the protection of our security and Armenia's national interests," Pashinyan said.

His address aired just days after Azerbaijan claimed full control over Nagorno-Karabakh in a lightning offensive that forced the ethnic Armenian separatist territory to sue for peace.

The separatists' apparent capitulation could mark the end of a conflict between the Christian and Muslim Caucasus rivals that has raged -- off and on -- through the three decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Armenia is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) -- a Russian-dominated group comprised of six post-Soviet states.

The group pledges to protect other members that come under attack.

But Russia is bogged down in a war in Ukraine and has grown more isolated on the international stage.

It argued that Yerevan itself recognised the disputed region as part of Azerbaijan and refused to come to Armenia's aid.

"It has become evident to all of us that the CSTO instruments and the instruments of the Armenian-Russian military-political cooperation are insufficient for protecting external security of Armenia," he said.

"We must transform and supplement the instruments of Armenia's external and domestic security, in cooperation with all the partners who are ready for mutually beneficial steps," Pashinyan said.