“There is nothing worse than a Russian who feels at home in the Caucasus,” jokes a waitress in a downtown cafe in Armenia’s capital Yerevan, angry as a new influx of Russian customers expect her to be fluent in the language.
Since late February 2022, thousands of Russians have arrived in Armenia, a country of 2.5 million people. They walk in silence in central Yerevan, often with pushchairs, heads buried in their phones checking maps for orientation, avoiding chit chat with local residents. They sit quietly in downtown restaurants, making work for hospitality staff who have been largely idle since COVID and war hit Armenia. Most of the new clients left overnight in fear that the Russian government would introduce martial law and close its borders in the wake of the Ukraine invasion.
As well as the sudden influx of Russians, Russia’s war is bringing up some hard choices for Armenia as it tries to retain control of its borders – and future – after the devastating 2020 war with Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
