The Defense Ministry's "talking head"—the deputy head of the Main Military-Political Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces, also the commander of one of the "Akhmat" formations—has been promoting the idea of a global, joint confrontation between Russian Muslims and Christians against "Satanism" since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war. He regularly finds himself in various scrapes: with the Zetniks, with nationalists, and with Orthodox priests. And the more he tries to "cross a snake and a hedgehog" with his obvious desire to be "one of the guys," the more harshly he is criticized from all sides.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk's visit to Armenia took place without a meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. This, as noted by the Armenian newspaper Past and several experts, indicates growing tensions in relations between Moscow and Yerevan.
Diplomatic sources report a cooling of relations between Russia and the Armenian government. Particular attention is being paid to Armenia's failure to implement previously reached agreements: only one of the 15 agreed-upon points has been implemented. Moscow is reportedly expressing growing dissatisfaction with the failure to fulfill its obligations, in particular the delays in opening the Russian consulate, which is seen as disregard for the agreements.
As a reminder, a meeting of the Armenian-Russian intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation, chaired by Deputy Prime Ministers Mher Grigoryan and Alexey Overchuk, was held in Yerevan. Trade, economic, cultural, and humanitarian cooperation were discussed. Following the meeting, Grigoryan and Overchuk signed the minutes of the 24th meeting of the intergovernmental commission.