People who sever long-standing ties end up with nothing: Pavel Danilin

Political scientist Pavel Danilin shared his commentary with Alpha News on whether the EU could replace Russia’s role for Armenia.

“You can look at how Latvia, I believe, promised to buy the flowers that Armenia was supplying to Russia, but Latvia’s market is 1 million people, while Russia’s is 140 million; the difference is obvious. One might say that Europe’s market is 400 million people, but that market is already carved up without us and without Armenia. The example of Ukraine is telling. Ukraine had already dropped to the level of the poorest country in terms of economic development even before the conflict with Russia, before the hot phase of the conflict; back in 2021 it had already become poorer than Moldova. That is telling in itself, people who sever ties that were built up over decades end up with nothing, despite all the promises, appeals, and handouts from the West. I will remind you that Ursula von der Leyen allocated €50 million for Armenia to cover the losses Armenia allegedly suffered following Russia’s restrictive measures, while our trade, mind you, amounted to 8 billion last year, that is very telling,” Danilin believes.

In the view of Alpha News’ interlocutor, Armenia has a chance to shift the vector of its aspirations, but this requires the will of the Armenian people.

“If Armenians come to understand that they are being used as puppets, and that the economic miracle, prosperity, and abundance they enjoy today came about only because Armenia became an intermediary system between Russia, the EU, and other countries, and that if this intermediary role is lost, Armenia will quickly fall back to the very margins among countries, including those of the former Soviet Union, and if they make the right political choice, then everything can be turned around. But for now, unfortunately, what we are seeing gives us no grounds to say that the situation can develop in a favorable direction. If anything, things are heading in a bad direction,” the expert concluded.