Bogdan Bezpalko: Pashinyan’s refusal to attend the CSTO meeting is an element of the pro-Western policy

Russian political scientist Bogdan Bezpalko commented to Alpha News on the refusal of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to attend the CSTO meeting in Belarus and Russia’s reaction to this step.

According to the expert, Pashinyan’s refusal to attend the meeting is just one of the elements of his pro-Western policy.

“In this situation, I believe that Russia will not react until this tendency leads to some significant steps. Such steps can be considered the beginning of the procedure for Armenia’s withdrawal from the integration unions of the CSTO, the Eurasian Economic Union, massive supplies of weapons to Ukraine, the signing of clearly hostile agreements with Russia’s opponents in the defense-economic and other areas, as well as the fulfillment of these agreements. In this situation, most likely, Russia will simply close the labor, financial, and other markets for Armenia. Armenia will subsequently begin to experience great economic difficulties, which the European Union will not be able to compensate for. And Armenia will plunge into a situation of economic stagnation and, probably, political instability.

But the steps that Pashinyan is taking now, obviously, can still force the Kremlin to hold back because these steps are more defiant than real,” the political scientist concluded.