Russian sources are attempting to portray Armenia as regretful for its “mistakes” in straying away from Russia while casting Russian-led peace negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan as more “promising” than Western efforts, the Institute for the Study of Way (ISW) said, Report informs.

According to the ISW, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed on January 18 that Western advice is hindering the normalization of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations and claimed that Russian-led negotiations are “promising.”

“The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) announced on January 17 that Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin met with Armenian Ambassador to Russia Vagharshak Harutyunyan to discuss Armenian-Azerbaijani normalization and the revival of the trilateral Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiation format. Russian milbloggers claimed on January 18 that the meeting indicates that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is ready to ‘grovel’ and ‘bow down to Moscow,’ although one milblogger warned that Armenia’s renewed interest in Russian-led negotiations could be a ‘diplomatic trap.”