Russia will not forget about Armenia despite cooling relations – Pavel Dubravskiy

Speaking with Alpha News, Pavel Dubravskiy, political strategist and head of Dubravskiy Consulting, commented on Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s working visit to Yerevan and the protests planned by pro-Western forces in connection with the visit.

According to the expert, anti-Russian sentiments in Armenia are not widespread but rather limited to a particular segment of society.

“Despite the fact that we see anti-Russian posters in Yerevan today, I would still say that this is only a part of Armenian society that expresses its protest, but it does not reflect the consensus view of the entire Armenian people. A certain segment of Armenian society, after the conflict around the CSTO over Karabakh, was frustrated that, from their point of view, Russia did not support them. So I would not say that this is some kind of widespread sentiment. It seems to me that there is a separate group of people who are affected by the whole conflict and they think that Armenia and Russia should go their separate ways. That is, Yerevan should pursue Europeanization, strengthen ties with the EU and the US, and move away from cooperation with Russia. But I would not say that these sentiments are dominant,” Dubravskiy said.

According to the expert, Lavrov’s visit is an opportunity to look at the reaction of officials and Armenian society.

“I believe in any case Armenia remains within the sphere of interests of Russia. Despite the current cooling of relations between the two countries, this does not mean Russia will forget about Armenia and the Armenian nation but will most likely look for reasons and, moreover, wait for an opportunity to build a similar scheme as it did in Georgia. Georgia has been quite critical of the Russian government at the official level for many years, but the recent elections have shown that things are changing. I believe a similar scenario is theoretically possible in Armenia as well,” Dubravskiy emphasized.