The Telegraph by Adrian Blomfield 5/17/2026
Armenia’s growing strategic importance is helping it move away from Russia’s grip and deepen its ties with the West What Emmanuel Macron lacked in talent, he made up for in enthusiasm.
As Armenia’s celebrated jazz pianist Vahagn Hayrapetyan struggled gamely to keep up with his offbeat tempo, the French president – eyebrows furrowed soulfully – warbled Charles Aznavour’s La Bohème into the microphone.
Mr Macron’s performance may have resembled Cacophonix, the tone-deaf bard from the Astérix comics, more than the “French Sinatra”, but if Nikol Pashinyan, Armenia’s prime minister, was grimacing inwardly as he accompanied his guest on the drums, he was not about to complain.
Seeking re-election next month after a campaign marred by alleged Russian interference, the pro-Western Mr Pashinyan was willing to endure musical pain for political gain.
The French president had come to Yerevan to offer more than karaoke diplomacy. Heading a delegation of European leaders, Mr Macron was staging a show of support for a prime minister determined to pull Armenia out of Moscow’s orbit and deepen ties with the West.
For Europe, the rewards could be considerable. As Russia’s war in Ukraine drains Moscow’s power and prestige, Western governments increasingly see the South Caucasus as a strategic trade, energy and critical-minerals corridor bypassing Russia and Iran.
Nor is it only Europe taking an interest. To Moscow’s growing alarm, Donald Trump has thrown his weight behind a proposed transport route – one that would inevitably bear his name – along Armenia’s southern border with Iran.
The so-called Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (Tripp) would provide the missing link connecting resource-rich Central Asia with Turkey and Europe, weakening Russia’s grip over east-west trade while boosting European access to energy and critical minerals.
The region’s growing strategic importance – heightened further by disruption from the Iran war – helps explain why 48 presidents and prime ministers, including Sir Keir Starmer, descended on Yerevan earlier this month for a three-day series of European summits that also gave Mr Pashinyan a timely political boost.
The jamboree highlighted how Armenia – long treated as a geopolitical backwater – now sits at the centre of a growing contest for influence.
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