Decline in trade with Russia will mean collapse of Armenian economy – Andrey Perla

Political observer Andrey Perla spoke to Alpha News about Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan’s statement that Russia remains Armenia’s close partner.

“The current Armenian government’s policy is one of so-called multi-vectorism. Under Pashinyan, Armenia is attempting to maintain relatively good pragmatic relations with Russia while simultaneously building ties with the European Union and Turkey. Unfortunately, this position is not without internal contradictions. When Ararat Mirzoyan says that Armenia maintains strong economic ties with Russia, he’s not exactly being disingenuous—he’s simply downplaying the scale of those ties. It is well known that 60% of Armenia’s GDP comes from trade with Russia. This cannot be forgotten, let alone overlooked, because a decline in this trade would mean the collapse of the Armenian economy,” the expert noted.

According to him, Pashinyan is pursuing a policy of replacing trade with Russia with trade ties with Armenia’s historical adversary, Turkey.

“At the same time, Pashinyan’s current policy is one of attempting to replace some of Armenia’s trade with Russia with trade with Armenia’s historical adversary, Turkey. Time will tell how successful this attempt will be, but in my view, multi-vectorism is not something Armenia can afford today,” Perla said.