When Armenia was attacked by Azerbaijan, Russia stood at arm’s length and did not defend them. ===
There are 10 mils of Armenians in this world. But only 1.5 mlns live in Armenia. And they didn’t come to their motherland to defend her or live there.
Russia may HELP to defend Armenia but will not defend her if Armenians themselves not doing that. Russians are NOT Armenians and they don’t care about her if Armenians don’t care.
Armenians must come up to defend their land not Russians. Russia may provide weaponry for that and some instructors. But again Russians may NOT be more Armenians than Armenians themselves.
Russians are not Armenians and vice versa. Though there are close and longstanding ties between them. I think a lot of Armenians are Russian speakers, a lot have dual citizenship. Russia maintains an important base there, and Armenia looks to Russia to defend them from the Turks, Iran, and Azerbaijan.
But they had lately been flirting with the west, which annoyed Putin. And Russia has interests in Azerbaijan, which though it’s not a CSTO member, it is a major oil producer. So Armenia found itself hung out to dry when the Azeris attacked.
No real surprise. But conversely, no real surprise that Armenia returns the favor, standing at arm’s length from Russia now that they are looking for support from their friends.
In the end, Armenia has no choice but to depend on Russia for its defense and even its economy. But they are not happy, and they were making a point.