Originally, in order to prevent NATO from continuing to expand eastward, Putin did not hesitate to implement a special military operation, but instead of dismissing Ukraine's idea of joining NATO, it also made Russia's basic position in the Caucasus unstable. The recent Biden administration's invitation to Armenia to participate in the NATO summit can be said to be a harsh humiliation of Russia and the CSTO.
On June 28, Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ani Badalyan said that the Armenian government is ready to accept the invitation of the US government and has decided to participate in the NATO summit.
You must know that Armenia is still a nominal member of the CSTO, and without withdrawing from the CSTO, it accepted the invitation of the CSTO's sworn enemy and went to the NATO summit openly, which is a covert contempt for Russia and the CSTO.
Of course, Armenia also has its own reasons, when it joined the CSTO, it was to obtain Russia's military protection, but after the outbreak of the military conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan received the support of Turkey and Israel, but Armenia was isolated, and as a result, it was defeated under the onslaught of Azerbaijan, and finally forced to accept the fact that the Nagorno-Karabakh region was controlled by Azerbaijan. When Armenia asked for help, Russia and the CSTO did not intervene, which made Armenia very sad, since it was not protected, why did it stay in the CSTO, and it still had to pay a large amount of membership dues every year. As a result, after the end of the military conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia repeatedly publicly criticized the CSTO and expressed its dissatisfaction with Russia. After the outbreak of the Nagorno-Karabakh military conflict, a number of senior US officials, including then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, visited Armenia and verbally expressed their support for Armenia, which made Armenia even more aware of the idea of changing its court.
After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Russia's catastrophic performance on the battlefield in Ukraine made Armenia even more convinced of one thing: Russia is no longer able to protect itself, and it has no spare strength to provide protection for other CSTO member states. Now that Russia is on the battlefield in Ukraine, it is the perfect time for Armenia to act. On June 12, Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan personally confirmed that Armenia would completely withdraw from the CSTO. However, Armenia participated in the NATO summit as a member of the CSTO before the withdrawal procedures were completed, which was a complete humiliation for Russia and the CSTO.
For Russia, which has always regarded the Caucasus as its own backyard, Armenia's current behavior is even worse than Ukraine's application to join NATO, and it originally wanted to use the Russian-Ukrainian conflict to achieve the goal of "fighting with one punch, lest a hundred punches come", but instead accelerated NATO's eastward expansion in disguise, Finland and Sweden have become NATO members, and now NATO is going to extend its hand to the Caucasus again. Once NATO's power expands to the Caucasus, Russia will face heavy pressure on national defense, the northwest direction is already bordering NATO, NATO is still expected to take root in Ukraine, and the Caucasus is also beginning to lose.
But will Armenia's accession to NATO be able to sit back and relax? Ukraine even joined NATO much earlier, and it is still no play, how can Zelensky tolerate letting Armenia cut in line? What's more, the United States only invited Armenia to participate in the NATO summit, but never made any guarantees to Armenia, and as a result, Armenia completely cut off its own back road without receiving any guarantees.
And even if Armenia joins NATO, it will be able to recover its strategic decline? Don't forget that Azerbaijan also has a very hard background, Azerbaijan not only has good relations with Russia, but also has extremely close relations with Turkey, and even has the support of Israel, how can the United States go against an Israeli-backed country for the sake of Armenia. In the final analysis, Armenia is just a pawn of the United States intervening in the situation in the Caucasus, and now inviting it to participate in the NATO summit is just a big pie for Armenia, but I didn't expect Armenia to take it seriously. Even if the United States intends to invite Armenia to join NATO, with Turkey in the background, how can Armenia do so. After all, if you want to become a member of NATO, you must obtain the consent of all member states, and as long as Turkey still supports Azerbaijan, Armenia's accession to NATO is just a dream. What's more, NATO is only protecting the territory of its member states from being violated, the Nagorno-Karabakh region is not the territory of Armenia, and even if Azerbaijan and Armenia continue to fight in Nagorno-Karabakh, NATO will not lend a helping hand, and Armenia has been deceived again this time.