Will Armenia’s economic ties with Russia also be severed?

In addition to participating in negotiations with Baku on the delimitation and demarcation of the state border, as well as lobbying the interests of the banking system within the Armenian government, Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan also performs other functions. In particular, it became known the day before that Grigoryan would represent Armenia at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

Grigoryan’s importance to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan lies in the fact that he replaces the head of government at those events in which Pashinyan does not want to participate—ranging from receptions at the Russian Embassy for Russia Day to the St. Petersburg Forum itself.

It is worth saying that the forum is important for Russia, especially amid widespread sanctions and efforts to isolate Moscow.

The “effectiveness” of the isolation attempts is evidenced by the fact that in 2024, 21,800 people from 139 countries and territories attended the event. The forum resulted in the signing of 1,073 agreements totaling 6.492 trillion rubles, 55 of which involved foreign companies.

Pashinyan prefers to participate, for example, in the European Community summit, which he has not missed since 2022. The European Community Summit is a format created against Russia since the beginning of the Ukrainian war, aimed at isolating Moscow and Minsk from other European OSCE countries. The European Community Summit is a format in which, in October 2022, Pashinyan recognized Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan in Prague, and after the summit in Tirana (after coffee with Ilham Aliyev), he intensified attacks on the Armenian Apostolic Church.

In St. Petersburg, Pashinyan could have addressed numerous economic topics, including securing Russian investments for the construction of the Ajapnyak metro station, which has an estimated cost of around $50 million, and finalizing plans for the development of a new nuclear power plant.

Last year, it was announced that if a new large nuclear power plant is built in Armenia, Rosatom is ready to export part of its electricity. Moreover, it was noted that the revenue of local Armenian companies can reach about $2 billion during the construction period alone and up to $6 billion throughout the plant’s 60-year operational lifespan. Or, why not, Pashinyan could have addressed the topic of securing Russian investments for Armenia’s military-industrial sector, rather than focusing exclusively on investments in India’s military-industrial complex.

However, the forum is held in St. Petersburg—not Istanbul or Ankara. Perhaps for this reason Pashinyan has opted not to travel to Russia’s northern capital.

Think about it…