Armenia absolutely does not need European integration — Alexander Semchenko

Speaking with Alpha News, political scientist Alexander Semchenko commented on Armenia’s European integration and the deterioration of Armenian-Russian relations.

“Armenia’s European integration, much like the European integration of my native Ukraine, is absolutely unnecessary, moreover, inadvisable. I once talked to a former vice president of the World Bank, who said many interesting things about economics, and he described the European economy as traumatic. It was 2013 and I asked him why Ukraine needed European integration. He was indignant and said, ‘How can you not understand that fresh blood will flow into Europe and it will develop at Ukraine’s expense?’ Europe, the European Union is like a conditionally dying stagnant old man that needs to consume others to support itself. Ukraine is being devoured, Moldova is being devoured, the Baltic States are too—very bright Estonia, native to Kaja Kallas, has been consumed. Europe doesn’t care who it devours; it seeks resources, especially human resources, above all. And the Armenian market is a very unnutritious product, Armenia is a rather poor market in terms of purchasing power. But, unfortunately, they will devour Armenia too. After all, what was the basis for the rise of Europe? Let’s take the history of European countries—they robbed the whole globe for centuries and lived at the expense of it,” the expert noted.

According to the expert, the deterioration of relations between Armenia and Russia will eventually worsen the lives of the Armenian residents.

“Now Russia is the one who opposes Europe and the one who can save Armenia. If these ties are broken, Armenia will have no one to lean on. It will rush into the arms of Europe, because there is simply no one to rely on, because Armenia is in a hostile environment. Of course, not all neighbors are enemies—Georgians are not enemies of Armenians—but they don’t really care what happens to Armenians. If Armenia collapses, I’m sure that Georgians will take a piece of it too, it always happens like that. So Armenia will simply have no other choice. Without Russia, Armenia will collapse. The deterioration of relations between Armenia and Russia will eventually worsen the lives of the people of Armenia. For many it will be like just the end of life. Look at Ukraine, it’s a very illustrative example—not just because of the ongoing hostilities, but because the nation faced significant issues even before. Basically, this is the impoverishment of Ukraine,” Semchenko said.