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Armenia’s ambassador to Belarus will remain in Yerevan for consultations until Armenia receives clarification or an apology from Belarus over President Alexander Lukashenko’s statements regarding the 44-day war, Speaker of Parliament Ruben Rubinyan (Civil Contract) has said.
Rubinyan spoke on the issue at a plenary session after opposition Strong Armenia faction MP Edgar Ghazaryan asked Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Armen Ghazaryan how long Armenia’s ambassador to Belarus would remain in Yerevan for consultations.
“I want to continue on this topic that has left me astonished, because I think something very strange happened in this chamber. The Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs reports on the issue, and in that context, one of the leaders of Strong Armenia asks him, sarcastically, how long the ambassador of Armenia to Belarus whom you have summoned for consultations will remain [in Yerevan], saying, ‘Tell us so that we know,’” Rubinyan said.
The speaker said he was surprised by the opposition MP’s approach.
“I was genuinely astonished on the spot that a member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, or the largest opposition faction in the Armenian Parliament, could have such an attitude,” he said.
Rubinyan recalled that Armenia’s ambassador to Belarus was summoned for consultations in 2024 following statements by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko regarding the 44-day war.
“Do you know why Armenia’s ambassador to Belarus was summoned for consultations? After the president of Belarus publicly stated that they had planned the 44-day war together with Azerbaijan. Belarus is a country that is a member of the CSTO, a member of the same defense structure as us,” Rubinyan said.
According to him, summoning the ambassador for consultations was Armenia’s response to that statement.
“In response to that, Armenia’s ambassador to Belarus was summoned for consultations. And yes, the consultations will last until we hear an explanation or an apology. It is clear—they will last that long,” the National Assembly speaker stressed.
Armenia recalled its ambassador to Belarus, Razmik Khumaryan, to Yerevan for consultations on June 13, 2024. The move was prompted when, visiting Azerbaijan in 2024, Lukashenko declared that he had not only been aware of Baku’s plans to try to capture Karabakh by force but also approved them during his meetings with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev held before the 2020 war.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that no official representative of Armenia would visit Belarus as long as Alexander Lukashenko is in power.