This was symbolic step that underscored Armenia’s desire to strengthen ties with West – Dmitry Suslov on US-Armenia strategic partnership

 
Speaking with Alpha News, Dmitry Suslov, Deputy Director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at Russia’s National Research University Higher School of Economics and Deputy Director of Research Programs at the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, commented on the US-Armenia strategic partnership document.

“This was a symbolic step that underscored Armenia’s desire to strengthen ties with the West, to shift to the West, and one of the consequences of this will be a further deterioration and aggravation of Armenian-Russian relations. Moreover, this will happen in conditions where Armenia has no peace with Azerbaijan and no agreement on the border. On the contrary, we see an escalation of the situation, since relations with Turkey have not been normalized, and at the same time Armenia is escalating relations with Russia.

I would like to emphasize that this agreement is of a political and symbolic nature; that is, in accordance with this charter, the United States does not undertake any obligations to protect Armenia or to guarantee security for Armenia,” Suslov said.

According to the expert, the Trump administration will not become deeply involved in the affairs of the South Caucasus and, in particular, Armenia.

“With Trump in office, US policy for post-Soviet countries will not fundamentally change. Trump and his team view Russia as a rival and an adversary. There will be no fundamental rapprochement between Russia and the US. For Trump and his team, the post-Soviet area and Transcaucasia as a whole will be less of a priority than for the Biden administration. Why?

Because the Trump administration will focus as much as possible on fighting China in the Asia-Pacific region. People around Trump do not hide the fact that they need to freeze the Ukrainian conflict and end the Middle East conflicts to free up American resources to fight China. Therefore, the Trump administration will not be deeply involved in the affairs of the Caucasus, in particular, Armenia. But it will not abandon the fight against Russia and attempts to weaken Russian influence in the region either. It will basically follow the same path, but giving it less priority than Biden’s policy,” Suslov said.