DISINFO: The West wants Armenia and Azerbaijan to be on fire
SUMMARY
The US does not want peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The US and all other Western countries want countries bordering Russia to blaze. Their goal is to have Russia’s neighborhood destabilised. It would make the West easier to rule such countries and use them in its own geopolitical interests.
RESPONSE
This unfounded and recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation claim accuses an allegedly ever-aggressive West of having an anti-Russian agenda in the Caucasus and other post-Soviet countries, of an attempt to encircle Russia. See also Russian Myths: no.5 Encirclement. This claim is made in the context of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Treaty, initialled by Armenia's Prime Minister Pashinyan and Azerbaijan’s President Aliyev, in the presence of US President Donald Trump in the White House, on 8 August 2025.
Pro-Kremlin outlets frequently promote the idea that the Caucasus is exclusively within Russia's zone of geopolitical dominance and attempt to discredit any other cooperation between Western countries and Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has further altered the power balance in the South Caucasus region, creating a dangerous security vacuum and intensifying the need for renewed international mediation toward a comprehensive political settlement.
Western countries support peace and security in the South Caucasus region. The EU has a strong interest in a politically stable and economically prosperous Southern Caucasus in full understanding with the states there. It took a prominent mediation role in negotiation and is committed to it. The EU's High Representative said in her statement of 8 August 2025 that: “The EU fully supports the Armenia-Azerbaijan normalisation process and has been working for years with both parties and our international partners to create the conditions for lasting peace (...) We strongly commend both sides and the US Administration for using the momentum and making progress possible.”
Relations between Russia and Azerbaijan strained in late June 2025 following the deaths of two ethnic Azerbaijani men during police raids in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg. In recent years, Yerevan has been seeking to reduce its dependence on Russia and exploring closer ties with the EU. A bill, signed into law by the Armenian President on April 4, 2025, formally declared Armenia's intention to begin the process of becoming an EU member.
See earlier disinformation cases claiming that the EU is not in interested in peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, that Western countries intended to provoke a conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, that Anglo-Saxons might be undermining Russia’s relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan, and that the West seeks to destabilise the situation in post-Soviet territories.