The U.S. seeks to force Armenia down an anti-Russian path and towards “national suicide,” the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) announced on Thursday.

Russian state media reports that the SVR has accused the U.S. State Department of creating “pro-Western structures” in Armenian civil society with the aim of reorienting Yerevan to a Western oriented development format.

US-affiliated personnel will train Armenian officials in key government agencies and “ensure wide representation of foreign advisers” to guide Yerevan down Washington’s preferred route, the SVR claimed.

“To achieve this 'lofty goal’ of joining the US-led so-called civilized society, the Armenian people… will have to renounce its own traditions, national societal norms, and stable commercial ties with other countries in the region," the SVR statement said. 

Relations between Armenia and Russia have soured since 2022 when Yerevan accused Moscow of failing to honor its defense commitments to defend Armenia’s borders.

Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan, earlier this year, suspended Armenia’s membership in the Russian-led CSTO military alliance and has looked to the West and elsewhere for new defense backers.