Washington Peace Deal Marks Russia’s Caucasus Humiliation
Betrayal in Armenia and Azerbaijan
Alexander Dugin denounces the Washington-brokered peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia as a brutal humiliation for Russia, a total collapse of its South Caucasus policy, and a betrayal that demands visible justice against those responsible.
The story of the peace agreement signed between Azerbaijan and Armenia in Washington is our shame. There are things that are better faced directly. If someone has humiliated us, insulted us, castrated us, raped us, then instead of saying “that’s how it should be” or “it’s nothing, it will heal,” it is better to look the truth in the eye.
This is a brutal humiliation of Russia. Not so long ago, we considered Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Nagorno-Karabakh as part of our territory. We administered there. Then we gave up those territories, but we believed we had retained influence — over Karabakh, for example, through an Armenia friendly to us. Then, under Pashinyan, Armenia stopped listening to us and began balancing its relations with Azerbaijan. We decided to befriend Azerbaijan. Now we have reached a catastrophic collapse of our policy in the South Caucasus. Yes, there is still Georgia, which under Ivanishvili has become less aggressive in its former Russophobia, but everything else is our complete failure.
That is exactly how this should be understood. That means there are those responsible. There are people who advised our president to act this way, to build relations in this manner with Baku, Yerevan, and Stepanakert. A failure is a failure. A humiliation is a humiliation. The fact that now Aliyev — whom we effectively assisted during the Karabakh war — and Pashinyan — who rose up against us — are working for our enemy is a slap in the face. This slap is not from America or the West, which are our enemies anyway. This is a blow from within.
Those same people inside Russia who engineered this, insisting “we’ll handle it ourselves” and rejecting outside involvement, should — if Putin had his way — face the ultimate punishment. However, we have a moratorium on the death penalty; we pride ourselves on being humane. After a catastrophic, monstrous, humiliating failure for the country and for our society, what often follows is only promotion. A man has stolen everything, ruined everything, and betrayed everyone — and receives a higher post.
Of course, this is an unhealthy position. Our people and our society want justice. We do not want blood, we do not want violence, but we do want justice. When we see that people remain completely unpunished for the total collapse of our policy in the South Caucasus, it is humiliating. The signing of this agreement in Washington points to our nullity, to the fact that we control nothing, even in the post-Soviet space. Who, in that case, will take us seriously at a higher level?
This pain, this insult, this slap must be understood precisely as a slap to each of us, to every Russian person. There is no point in saying:
“How bad they are! We told you Pashinyan is a Soros puppy, and Aliyev is a scoundrel who works for Erdogan and betrays our friendship.”
These are not arguments. Whatever one thinks of Pashinyan and Aliyev, their actions must be confronted head-on.
As my friend Yevgeny Vsevolodovich Golovin used to say:
“Face the external world as you would a strike: without turning away.”
You must not say, “So what if a tooth was knocked out? It had been aching for a long time and I was planning to remove it anyway.” Pain must not be euphemized. What happened with Aliyev and Pashinyan is our humiliation. That is exactly how it should be taken. That is healthier and more honest. We lost. We erred in entrusting work with Armenia and Azerbaijan to entirely the wrong people. There is no other way to explain it. If we do not regard this as a failure, if we do not accept this pain, we will cease to be human beings and a sovereign state-civilization.
Of course, justice is needed. Those who brought our country to such a result in foreign policy in our immediate neighborhood must be punished in a clear and visible way. This must end. It is time to confront everyone behind this disaster — the officials who shaped our South Caucasus policy, the diasporas that influenced it, and the external lobbyists who pushed it towards failure. Either we are an empire, a sovereign state-civilization, or we deserve everything we saw in Washington — when our two “allies” were licking the boots of our enemy.
Therefore, if the people responsible for all this walk away unpunished, then I have no good news. Of course, we are a great people. But if we do not regard failure as failure, betrayal as betrayal, and humiliation as humiliation, then we are worth nothing.
(Translated from the original Russian version on Tsargrad).
Alexander Dugin’s books can be purchased here.
 | A guest post by
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Honorable Mr. Dugin,
I read this post, and I felt something deep and conflicted. I’ve long respected your mind; your ability to see patterns, to speak with conviction, to wrestle with the souls of civilizations. But this time, I need to speak plainly, not as an adversary, but as someone who honestly pays heed to you and believes peace is sacred.
You called the Washington-brokered agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan a humiliation. You described it as a rape, a castration, a betrayal so profound it demands punishment. But I see something else. I see the end of organized mass murder. I see the possibility, however fragile, of lives spared, of families unbroken, of futures not buried beneath rubble. Surely, that counts for something, good sir.
Peace is not humiliation. It is, in fact, the highest calling of any serous statesman. It doesn’t matter who brokers it, who signs it, or whose flag flies over the table. If the killing stops, then something holy has happened. And if Russia wasn’t at the center of it this time, that’s not disgrace—it’s grace. It means someone, somewhere, chose life over legacy. We sure as hell could use the help of The Russian Federation in Gaza.
I understand the sting of geopolitical loss, the pride that comes with influence, and the pain when it slips away from time to time. But pride is not worth more than blood, and influence and ego are not worth more than breath. You say Russia has been slapped. I say Russia has been spared.
There’s a danger in your words, and I don’t think you mean to unleash such. When peace is framed as betrayal, it becomes harder to pursue. When diplomacy is treated as weakness, war becomes the only language left. If peace becomes shameful, then only war remains honorable, and that is a lie too many have died for. And when grief is weaponized, it stops being human; it becomes ideology that only brings more grief.
I’m not asking you to forget your pain, I’m asking you to remember what pain is for. It’s not for vengeance. It’s for awakening, for clarity, for choosing a different path that protects others from the pain we ourselves have suffered.
You once spoke of facing the world like a strike; without turning away. I ask you now to face peace the same way. Don’t turn away from it, good sir. Don’t flinch, or call it weakness. Call it what it is: a victory over death, a small victory for common humanity, when such victories are way to far and few between, these days.
Humanity lost nothing by ending a war. Rather, it has gained at least a little bit of sanity in a time of madness.
With deep respect and appreciation, I wish you the very best on this day.
The failure of your Foreign Affairs Department in dealing with Russia’s Caucuses regions of influence is indeed, an historical humiliation and, I congratulate Mr Dugin for showing the necessary courage to speak out the truth! It’s the internal enemies that have been put to some of the highest level of Government Officials that Russia should be aware of! The direct meeting between Trump and Putin on American Ground (Alaska),after fifteen years is ,actually, the continuation of the Deep Nazi Zionist State Project for the gradual partition of the Russian Federation! If Putin hasn’t yet understood it , he is to be considered the main traitor of the Russian People, of the Russian Civilisation State. He has already played with the Minsk Agreements, any one with real love for the Russian People should have be aware that USA and Nazi Christian Zionist Europe have never given up to the historical project to plunder the Russian Wealth, minerals, energy resources etc! The defeat it Hitler should have been only the first step towards a gradual elimination of the root causes of Nazi Zionist Imperial Project.