Moscow, September 25, 2025
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan publicly exchanged a handshake on the sidelines of the Global Atomic Forum in Moscow, signaling a moment of civility after a year of strained relations.
A photograph released by the Belarusian presidential press-pool Telegram channel “Pul Pervogo” showed Lukashenko and Pashinyan sitting next to each other during an informal gathering with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Atom Museum on the VDNKh grounds.
The image is noteworthy given the sharp deterioration in Armenian-Belarusian relations in 2024. At that time, Prime Minister Pashinyan announced that no Armenian official would visit Belarus while Lukashenko remained in power.
Yerevan recalled its ambassador from Minsk after Lukashenko openly criticized Armenia’s handling of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and voiced strong support for Azerbaijan. The diplomatic chill was compounded by public anger in Armenia, where protesters pelted the Belarusian embassy in Yerevan with eggs.
Against this backdrop, the simple gesture of a handshake at a major international forum stands out. While neither side issued an official statement on the encounter, the imagery suggests that both leaders are willing to set aside tensions, at least in multilateral settings.
The Global Atomic Forum, hosted in Moscow, gathered heads of state and government, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, to discuss nuclear energy and security. For Armenia and Belarus, however, the sidelines offered an unexpected stage for a symbolic thaw in a frosty relationship.
