Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and Armenian prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan are expected to meet in Bishkek next week on the margins of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov confirmed this according to the Russian agency, TASS. “We will have a conversation with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Our leaders have already spoken following the elections held in Armenia, so it is fairly clear what the conversation will be about,” Ushakov said. He added that, among other issues, the leaders will discuss Yerevan’s aspiration to join the EU and its cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union. “We continue to insist that Armenia cannot aspire to EU membership while at the same time receiving enormous benefits from its cooperation within the Eurasian Economic Union. This issue must somehow be resolved. And the President and the Prime Minister will undoubtedly discuss it,” Ushakov said. The meeting comes as Russia continues to put unprecedented pressure on Armenia. Using very undiplomatic language, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, on Friday (28 August), called on Pashinyan to stop shifting responsibility for Armenia's problems onto Russia and the CSTO. In 2022, the Armenian Prime Minister personally refused the deployment of the organization's mission, opting instead for Western mediation in Prague, where he officially recognized Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, recalled the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Yerevan's attempts to blame Moscow, the church, or its own citizens for the consequences of its own decisions are shameless and contradict historical facts, Zakharova emphasized. "Everyone is to blame in your view. Only you are not to blame." "Nikol Vovayevich, elections in your country have ended. You can stop hanging noodles on the ears of your people. Gather your courage and tell the truth at least once, as it actually happened," wrote Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, addressing Nikol Pashinyan’s statements yesterday. Earlier, in the five-year program of the Armenian government released this week, only speaks of releations with Russia as a "partnership" and omits the previously used term "strategic alliance". Pashinyan told the Armenian parliament this week, "The events of September 2022 took place right before your eyes. A strategic partnership should mean a strategic partnership. If we write 'strategic partnership' in the document now, you will ask why Russia and the CSTO did not fulfill their security obligations in September 2022. What else do I need to tell you?"

The number of provocations against Azerbaijan in Russia is increasing. Whilst official Moscow maintains a friendly tone towards Baku, daily incidents indicate otherwise. The latest incident involved the posting of provocative images against Azerbaijan by unknown individuals in front of the guest house of the Embassy of Azerbaijan in the Russian Federation on August 27 at around noon on 27th August The incident was strongly condemned by the Azerbaijan Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement issued shortly afterwards. "It is not excluded that this unacceptable provocation, in addition to serving to artificially strain Azerbaijani-Russian relations, is part of the dirty and biased campaign against Azerbaijan conducted in a number of Russian media resources in recent times. The Azerbaijani side calls on the relevant bodies of the Russian Federation to give the necessary legal assessment to such provocative actions, ensure a thorough investigation of the incident, and take necessary measures to prevent the recurrence of such cases. We expect the Russian side to fully fulfill its obligations to ensure the security of the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan and its employees at the appropriate level, as well as to prevent any provocative actions that may impede the normal activities of the diplomatic mission, in accordance with the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement said. In an editorial, the influential Azerbaijani website haqqin.az stated: "What happened on August 27, around midday, outside the guesthouse of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Moscow is disgusting. Hanging insulting notes on the walls of a foreign country's diplomatic building is cowardly, dirty, and petty to the point of disgust. And note where they ended up. The guesthouse is the same mission property and is protected by the same Vienna Convention as the embassy chancery on Leontievsky Lane; this is precisely why the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry cited the convention today. The difference between the two addresses isn't legal. The difference is in who's behind the door. Diplomats are in the chancery. People in the guesthouse are in Moscow on business.  This speaks volumes about the "courage" of the perpetrators and, more accurately, about the conscience of those who sent them.' Moscow works in mysterious ways, but one must ask, what's the point?

Christian Saunders, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, in an interview with the Qatari news channel, Al Jazeera, pushed back against Israeli claims regarding the seized Qalandiya training centre after authorities alleged the property was owned by the Jewish National Fund and allocated to the Jerusalem Municipality for a planned complex, citing October 2024 legislation restricting UNRWA’s activities. UNRWA firmly rejected the claims, maintaining that the centre is a UN facility protected under international law. “We’re a humanitarian organisation; we’re a development organisation. We are given our mandate by the United Nations General Assembly to provide critical services,” Saunders said. He added that UNRWA would continue doing so “until the General Assembly decides otherwise, or there is a durable solution to the Palestine question”. Saunders said UNRWA was doing what it could to protect its staff and facilities through security assessments, training and risk mitigation. He said the Israelis’ use of force was ill-advised and that the only solution was through dialogue. “I think it is long overdue for the Israelis and the Palestinians to sit down and to resolve these issues. We’re not planning on going anywhere,” Saunders said. Christian Saunders, accused Israel of trying to “eliminate the presence of the United Nations” in the occupied Palestinian territory. Saunders told Al Jazeera that while the raid displaced UNRWA employees and left at least seven Palestinians injured by live ammunition, the broader goal is to make the refugee issue disappear. “If UNRWA is defunded and eliminated, then they are hoping that the issue of the refugees, the Palestine refugees, will go away,” Saunders said. “Which means that the right of return, reparations, and compensation would go away as well.” Israeli forces seized the facility in the Kafr Aqab neighbourhood near occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday, with far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir participating and declaring that there was “no place for the agency in Jerusalem and Israel”. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the evacuation as lawful under Israeli legislation and accused the agency of aiding Hamas in the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel. Saunders expressed “disappointment” over the impact on local young people, noting that the facility previously provided essential education and training. Some “340 young people are not going to get the education, not going to get the training they need”, Saunders said, stressing that the programme gives students “the skills and an opportunity to lead a full and dignified life”.