Pashinyan: Armenia Seeks Balance Among Global Powers to Protect Its Sovereignty

Armenia is pursuing what Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan describes as a “balanced and balancing” foreign policy designed to protect the country’s sovereignty in an increasingly competitive and multipolar world.

Speaking at the SCO Plus meeting in Bishkek, Pashinyan argued that a multipolar international order could provide a more reliable foundation for global stability and peace. For smaller states such as Armenia, he said, the challenge is to navigate between competing centers of power without allowing any single geopolitical force to compromise their independence.

Pashinyan described Armenia’s approach as a practical response to that challenge.

“When the pull of any geopolitical pole becomes so strong that it could undermine our independence,” he explained, Armenia seeks to strengthen relations with another major center of influence in order to preserve its strategic balance.

The objective, he emphasized, is not simply to maintain good relations with different powers. It is ultimately about sovereignty and independence.

From geopolitical balance to regional peace

Pashinyan linked Armenia’s foreign-policy strategy closely to developments in the South Caucasus.

He argued that genuine independence cannot be sustained indefinitely in an environment of regional conflict. For that reason, he said, multipolarity must begin at home—with the creation of a regional environment in which neighboring states can maintain functioning political and economic relations.

Armenia has therefore been simultaneously deepening ties with friendly neighbors Iran and Georgia while seeking to establish interstate relations with Azerbaijan and Türkiye.

Pashinyan pointed to the August 8 peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, reached with U.S. President Donald Trump’s support and participation, as an important factor in making this regional opening more tangible.

The next test, he suggested, will be whether political agreements can be translated into infrastructure and trade.

A new map of regional connectivity

Among the projects highlighted by the Armenian prime minister was the TRIPP initiative, through which Armenia, Azerbaijan and Türkiye are working toward reopening interstate communications.

Pashinyan said practical work on the ground is expected to begin in the coming months, potentially creating transport routes extending beyond the immediate South Caucasus.

The proposed connectivity could link the Caspian Sea with the Mediterranean while also creating a north-south corridor connecting the Persian Gulf with the Black Sea.

For Armenia, such connectivity carries significance beyond transportation. It could give the landlocked country a more central position in regional trade while tying the interests of neighboring states more closely together.

“If implemented,” Pashinyan argued, “all countries of the region will benefit.”

Armenia's widening diplomatic network

The prime minister also used the Bishkek forum to underline the breadth of Armenia’s growing international relationships.

He said Yerevan has established strategic relations with Georgia, China, Kazakhstan, the United States, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Croatia, Lithuania and the European Union.

Pashinyan characterized Armenia’s relations with India and Iran as de facto strategic, adding that work is underway to formalize those relationships through official documents.

At the same time, Armenia is not abandoning its relationship with Moscow. Pashinyan announced that he would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the future development of Armenian-Russian relations.

The message is consistent with the broader philosophy he presented in Bishkek: Armenia does not intend to choose a single geopolitical camp at the expense of all others.

Instead, Yerevan is attempting to construct a foreign policy in which relationships with competing powers reinforce rather than diminish its room for maneuver.

A small state in a multipolar world

Pashinyan’s speech offered a particularly revealing picture of how Armenia views its place in the emerging international order.

For a country of Armenia’s size, geopolitical competition can be a source of vulnerability. But Pashinyan argued that a multipolar world can also create opportunities—provided smaller states are capable of maintaining sufficient balance among their external relationships.

That strategy now extends from Washington and Brussels to Moscow, Beijing and New Delhi, and from Armenia’s immediate neighbors to wider international institutions.

The approach carries its own challenges. Maintaining productive relationships with powers whose interests do not always align requires careful diplomacy and constant adjustment. Yet for Yerevan, Pashinyan presented that balancing act not as a temporary necessity, but as a central instrument of state sovereignty.

He concluded his remarks by reaffirming Armenia’s support for a multipolar world and highlighting the country’s role as host of the UN-backed Biodiversity COP17 conference, scheduled to take place in Armenia on October 16.

His invitation to world leaders was more than a formal diplomatic gesture. It reflected the larger message of his speech: Armenia wants to participate in shaping a multipolar order rather than simply adapting to one shaped by others.