Armenia remains within Russia’s sphere of interests only in formal sense – Alexey Anpilogov

Speaking with Alpha News, political scientist Alexey Anpilogov commented on the announcement that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is traveling to Moscow for a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council.

“This is a continuation of maneuvering by the Armenian leadership, because Yerevan is objectively faced with the fact that Washington is far away, and Brussels sees Armenia as nothing more than a resource in countering Russia. Moreover, there is already talk in Europe about extending secondary sanctions to all sorts of evaders like Kyrgyzstan and Armenia, which provide a technological window for Russia, essentially serving as gray zones through which various technological purchases by the Russian state are funneled. Therefore, the idea is to punish such evaders. In other words, life in a small state is generally difficult and fraught with all sorts of dangers, and, in fact, Pashinyan and the Armenian leadership as a whole have finally come to terms with this,” Anpilogov said.

According to the expert, in Anchorage, Russia and the United States could have agreed—under certain conditions—to delimit spheres of influence, securing Georgia for the Russian side.

“Where will this lead? From my perspective, a certain division in Transcaucasia has already been established, and Russia and the United States appear to have agreed in Anchorage to divide spheres of influence under certain conditions, largely reserving Georgia, which—as we see—is adopting increasingly pro-Russian laws. We’re now hearing about the construction of a new Georgian military road, something unimaginable just five years ago. Meanwhile, Armenia remains within Russia’s sphere of interests only in a formal sense: yes, there’s still the base in Gyumri, and there are certain shadow schemes that further support the countries’ economic cooperation, acting as a kind of glue. But overall, Russia doesn’t object to the Americans assuming all these peacemaking functions, since Russian involvement is causing such a mixed reaction, I would say, from Yerevan. Because peace in Transcaucasia is truly important to Russia. And we must understand that Armenia has a host of issues that need to be resolved with Russia,” Anpilogov concluded.