Russian Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov demanded during a State Duma plenary session that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan no longer be received in Moscow.

According to Zyuganov, Pashinyan “humiliated and insulted Russia” in a way that was “hard to imagine on the eve of a major holiday,” Agents Media reported.

“I could imagine anything except hearing threats from Yerevan to shell Red Square,” he said, without mentioning Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by name, though apparently referring to his speech in Yerevan.

During the opening of the European Political Community summit on May 4, Zelensky had said that Russians “are afraid that drones will buzz over Red Square.”

“The question arises: why do they allow this in Yerevan, and why is Pashinyan received in Moscow? I will insist that this figure, regardless of how people vote for or against him, should no longer appear in our capital,” Zyuganov said.

During a May 9 press conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin was asked how Moscow viewed the fact that Pashinyan had “received Zelensky several days earlier and given him a platform to issue threats against our country.” Putin responded that it was “logical” for Yerevan to hold a referendum on closer ties with Europe, then compared developments in Armenia with those in Ukraine.

“We are now living through everything that happened in the Ukrainian direction. And how did it begin? With Ukraine’s attempts to join or move toward the EU… That is why the situation should not be pushed to extremes; it is simply necessary to say in time that this is how we are going to act,” Putin said.

Following Putin’s remarks, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin also commented on Armenia, writing on his Telegram channel that Pashinyan’s step could not be described as “friendly.”