The self-styled champions of international order have flocked to Armenia to strike a pose against Russia<\/p>\n
Over the past several days Western leaders have flocked to Armenia, a post-Soviet nation of 3 million people which hosts a Russian military base, for what Western media has described as a \u201chistoric summit,\u201d charting Yerevan\u2019s path away from Moscow and highlighting the EU\u2019s purportedly growing responsibility for world affairs.
\nThe gathering gave the host, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and his guests, an opportunity for political posturing \u2013 as well as a distraction from the global crisis they\u2019re lurching into.
\nWho came to Yerevan?
\nArmenia hosted the latest summit of the European Political Community (EPC), an EU-led intergovernmental group launched in 2022 in response to the escalation of the Ukraine crisis. Originally the brainchild of French President Emmauel Macron, it was transparently designed as a vehicle for an anti-Russian agenda pushed by Brussels and London.
\nMolodova, an EU candidate state led by a fiercely anti-Russian government, hosted the EPC\u2019s second annual gathering. The group also counts Ukraine among participants and welcomes at its events a Belarusian opposition organization led by Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, which is based in Lithuania and funded by EU taxpayers\u2019 money.
\nSo in short, it\u2019s largely a club for opposing Russia with questionable entry standards.
\nWhat does Armenia get out of hosting the summit?
\nA lot of positive Western media publicity for Pashinyan, whose approval ratings at home barely cross into double digits. His premiership, launched with a soft coup in 2018, was marred by a lost proxy war with neighboring Azerbaijan for its region of Nagorno Karabakh.
\nThe prime minister attempted to scapegoat Russia \u2013 faulting Moscow for a lack of military response during border clashes that were part of Yerevan\u2019s broader stand-off with Baku. He also used government powers to crack down on the Armenian Apostolic Church, which played a leading role in protest against his government in 2024.<\/p>\n
This does not make Pashinyan an authoritarian ruler in the eyes of his Western guests. After all, part of his media strategy has been to shave his beard and start posting videos of himself making heart shapes to pop music. European leaders, such as Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, would rather echo the Armenian host\u2019s emulation of a K-Pop star than question his governance.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister of #Armenia \ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddf2 @NikolPashinyan greeted Prime Minister of the Republic of #Poland \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf1 @donaldtusk upon his arrival at the 8th European Political Community Summit in Yerevan.#EPCYerevan2026 #EPCArmenia pic.twitter.com\/mGp6AJ9kWh\u2014 EPC Armenia (@EPCArmenia) May 4, 2026 <\/p>\n
Does Pashinyan need Western political backing?
\nPashinyan\u2019s efforts to distance Armenia from Russia and convince voters that the EU and the US would ensure their future safety have paid off \u2013 at least in the form of a pat on the back from Western leaders.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Karaganov: How Russia can win the new world war<\/p>\n
Eight years ago \u201cnobody would come here,\u201d Macron said on Monday, because when the EPC was launched Armenia was viewed as \u201cde facto satellite of Russia.\u201d He directly linked Pashinyan\u2019s strategy with the Ukraine war and \u201cwhat is done in Moldova.\u201d
\nIt\u2019s safe to assume that Brussels will have Pashinyan\u2019s back with all its usual \u2018anti-interference\u2019 shenanigans during the upcoming parliamentary election in early June. However, unlike Moldova\u2019s President Maia Sandu, who has kept her office thanks to voters based in the EU, Pashinyan must win domestic support, since Armenian laws do not allow casting ballots outside of national territory (the Armenian diaspora numbers some 10 million).
\nMacron, whose presidency is set to end next year, threw some crumbs for the cameras covering the Yerevan circus by singing Charles\u00a0 Aznavour\u2019s \u2018La Boh\u00e8me\u2019 as Pashinyan played the drums.<\/p>\n
Emmanuel Macron chante \u00ab la boh\u00e8me \u00bb accompagn\u00e9 \u00e0 la batterie par le premier ministre Nikol pachinyan . D\u00eener d\u2019\u00e9tat \u00e0 Erevan. La musique en amiti\u00e9. pic.twitter.com\/v5vacqZlVv\u2014 Agn\u00e8s Vahramian (@AgnesVahramian) May 4, 2026 <\/p>\n
Was Zelensky invited?
\nAn inevitable presence at virtually every event involving the EU, Ukraine\u2019s Vladimir Zelensky popped up in Yerevan with the usual assurances that Russia is on the brink of defeat. Though he and Pashinyan are both fluent in Russian, they communicated in English on camera \u2013 political optics beating common sense, as it often does wherever Brussels has a hand.<\/p>\n
During a photo op with Western leaders, some clerk who must be on the Kremlin\u2019s payroll placed the Ukrainian leader next to Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama. The positioning was uncomfortable not due to political differences, but because Rama is a giant some two meters tall \u2013 contrasting with Zelensky whose height and speculated use of lift shoes has long been debated.<\/p>\n
A family photo during the opening ceremony of the 8th European Political Community Summit, Yerevan, Armenia, May 4, 2026.<\/p>\n
\u00a9\u00a0 Ahmet Okur\/Anadolu via Getty Images <\/p>\n
The Ukrainian leader is currently preoccupied with other kinds of optics. Just last week he was faced with a new series of allegations concerning his inner circle\u2019s control and ownership of weapons companies receiving potentially billions in Western aid and orders.
\nReleased transcripts of secret conversations between Zelenskys\u2019 then Defense Minister and his long-time business partner, Timur Mindich \u2013 known as \u201cZelensky\u2019s wallet\u201d \u2013 show that Mindich is the beneficial owner of Fire Point, the former casting agency that became a billion dollar weapons company in just 4 years.
\nActing Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, whose government forced through extraordinary legislation to accommodate a Fire Point facility on its territory, was spared the outrage that would have met her attending a meeting with Zelensky.
\nShe skipped the meeting, as did German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
\nSo what is all the fuss about?
\nAccording to European Council President Antonio Costa, Western dignitaries arrived in Yerevan mainly to demonstrate that \u201cEurope\u2019s way of doing things \u2013 diplomacy, multilateralism, and respect for international law \u2013 yields results.\u201d
\nCanadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, a special guest, said he was \u201cvery appreciative of the symbolism\u201d of being invited, and said international order \u201cwill be rebuilt out of Europe.\u201d He previously argued that Western dominance was based on lies and urged beneficiaries to reject it, but failed to follow through.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: UK seeks military contracts from EU\u2019s \u20ac90 billion Ukraine \u2018loan\u2019<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump, whose blatant military interventions have shattered the pretence of a benevolent, hegemonic, and united West, was \u201cthe elephant in the room\u201d at the EPC gathering, according to the BBC. His latest strike against confused European NATO members was a drawdown of troops and long-range missiles from Germany. The move came after Merz dared to highlight American humiliation after Washington failed to defeat Iran and put the world on track for a global economic recession.
\nBut Brussels may have had its revenge by challenging Trump\u2019s diplomatic reengagement with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. Tikhanovskaya was filmed shaking hands with Macron on the sidelines of the summit in Armenia, after reportedly passing on last year\u2019s EPC meeting in Denmark due to financial constraints.<\/p>\n
It is very important for us that Europe maintains unity and continues to act together. Today, I thanked \ud83c\uddeb\ud83c\uddf7 President @EmmanuelMacron for the role that France plays today in Europe. #EPC pic.twitter.com\/DaSx8E30I1\u2014 Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (@Tsihanouskaya) May 4, 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The self-styled champions of international order have flocked to Armenia to strike a pose against Russia Over the past several days Western leaders have flocked to Armenia, a post-Soviet nation…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t