Armenia has officially told Russia to withdraw its border guards from Yerevan’s Zvartnots international airport, a senior Armenian official said on Wednesday, writes Radio Liberty.

The border guards have for decades been stationed there as well as along Armenia’s borders with Turkey and Iran in accordance with Yerevan’s military and political alliance with Moscow. Armenian media outlets have reported in recent weeks that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government now wants them to leave Zvartnots amid a deepening rift between the two longtime allies.

“At the moment, Armenia has the capacity to fully carry out controls at the airport,” Armen Grigorian, the secretary of the country’s Security Council, told reporters. “Armenia has informed the Russian Federation about its clear position in an official letter”.

Some observers view the Armenian government’s move to force the Russians out of the Yerevan airport as a possible prelude for its demand for the withdrawal of all Russian troops from the country. Pashinian and his political allies have indicated no such plans yet.