There’s no sense in Armenia quarreling with Russia – Boris Mezhuev

Speaking with Alpha News, political scientist Boris Mezhuev commented on Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s recent visit to Moscow and analyzed current Armenian-Russian relations.

“Pashinyan’s visit to Moscow was apparently a success. It’s safe to say that all the difficulties currently existing between our countries will not be resolved during a single visit. Clearly, they will remain, including the issue of the nuclear power plant that Russia is supposed to build, which will likely remain unresolved. However, it’s clear that neither Moscow nor Yerevan has much desire to escalate the conflict, and we’ve seen a decline in criticism of Pashinyan in the Russian media.

In other words, there’s a mutual understanding that the paths of the two countries may eventually diverge—but there’s no urgency to accelerate that process. This is, of course, a stroke of luck, a success. I believe this visit will lead to a reduction in criticism, especially considering Russia’s still-strained relations with Azerbaijan. But, nevertheless, it seems to me that no real problems have been resolved. Armenia is still moving away from Russia, not towards it,” the expert said.

According to the expert, Armenia has no reason to worsen relations with Russia at this stage, and the West has reasons not to make any drastic moves against Russia, trying to pull Armenia in its favor.

“Armenia isn’t suicidal! Why would it want to clash too much with its powerful neighbor? And since Russia has poor relations with Azerbaijan, and they’re unlikely to improve, why create unnecessary enemies in this situation when they could be turned into allies? I don’t think Europe will be particularly eager to turn Armenia against Russia and accelerate this process, as this could lead to some unclear consequences—especially in a context where Russia’s economic stability hinges more on other global players,” Mezhuev concluded.