On 24 June, the Russian government hosted a grand parade to mark the 75th anniversary of the Allied victory in World War II with the absence of Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Their attendance declines came only a few days before, reported Eurasianet. 

Aliyev declined the invitation in a phone call to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on 18 June, stating as the reason “the extension of quarantine measures in Azerbaijan” (Caucasus Watch reported). Nevertheless, Aliyev sent his Minister of Defence Zakir Hasanov along with 75 Azerbaijani soldiers to participate in the event.

Eurasianet pointed out that Aliyev’s decision might be related to the issue of Azerbaijani citizens waiting for repatriation in Dagestan (Caucasus Watch reported), which was also a topic of their phone call. “Either Aliyev thought about a negative domestic reaction to his potential visit to Moscow after what happened in Dagestan, or it’s his own response to the Russian authorities about what happened in Dagestan,” said a Baku-based analyst, speaking to Eurasianet on condition of anonymity.

As for Pashinyan, his decline came on 19 June, stating the Covid-19 situation in the country as the reason for his absence. Ten days earlier though, Pashinyan’s spokesperson confirmed that he would be present at the parade. The Eurasianet article suggested that the most possible reason behind Pashinyan’s absence was the internal situation regarding the case of the opposition Prosperous Armenia party leader Gagik Tsarukyan (Caucasus Watch reported) and the Constitutional Court (Caucasus Watch reported). “Tsarukyan had recently called for the government to resign, and Pashinyan may have suspected Moscow’s hand behind that move. Given the escalating political crisis in Armenia, Pashinyan might also have been afraid that if he were out of the country this situation could spiral out of his control,” explained the head of the Yerevan think tank Centre for Political and Economic Strategic Studies Benyamin Poghosyan.