Armenia once again demonstrates joining the anti-Russian camp, says political scientist

Political scientist Vasily Koltashov commented to Alpha News on Armenia’s accession to the ‘Magnitsky-style law.’

According to the expert, Armenia is fighting against the Russian state.

“The European Union has restrictions for Russian citizens, economic structures, law enforcement agencies, as well as companies from other countries associated with the so-called Magnitsky list. Armenia has joined this list and will now, most likely, also impose restrictions on Russian economic structures on the grounds that it participates in a Western political project that represses those who in the West are considered responsible for the death of this lawyer who worked for the American business, Magnitsky.

This is a very serious decision for Armenia, and it will affect a lot at once. Firstly, it will affect Armenia’s reputation. Armenia is once again demonstrating that it is joining the anti-Russian camp and fighting against the Russian state in this camp, not recognizing the investigation of the incident with the death of Magnitsky and all these complicated economic relations that led to this event as an internal matter of Russia,” Koltashov said.

According to the political scientist, Russia will take into account this unfriendly act, and, over time, the stance towards Armenia will be much tougher.

“Armenia thus shows its hostility to Russia in conditions when Russia shows its friendly attitude to Armenia; the recent statements made by Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk in Yerevan confirm this. Russia is trying to buy more Armenian goods and make the Armenian economy feel more confident in the Eurasian Economic Union so that the countries interact more actively. At the same time, trade turnover is growing, that is, in terms of the economy, for Armenia the decision to join these restrictive measures on the Magnitsky list is completely unprofitable and wrong. But this decision has been made, and it has been made behind the back of the people of Armenia.

The people of Armenia cannot change anything yet, but the consequences will have to be accepted because Russia will take into account this unfriendly act, and, over time, this will lead to much tougher relations with Armenia. Some people are mistakenly thinking that Armenian goods and the Armenian economy are somehow very valuable to the West. Here, we should rather prepare for the fact that Armenia may lose the positions it has in general in the entire post-Soviet space by continuing to play this game. The Armenian leadership is to blame for this, but this leadership did not appear out of nowhere, and Moscow understands this perfectly well,” Koltashov concluded.