EU is enticing Armenia with ‘pies in the sky’ — Andrey Areshev

Speaking with Alpha News, Russian political scientist and expert at the Political Culture Foundation Andrey Areshev commented on Russia’s reaction to the statements by the Armenian authorities regarding Armenia’s accession to the European Union.

“We see that Russia’s stance is quite tough and definite around the intentions of the Armenian government, and Mr. Overchuk and other representatives of the Russian government react this way since we are already talking about a certain decision of the Armenian government, which approved this initiative of Armenian pro-Western forces. This initiative was initially agreed upon with the current Armenian government, and we see a certain sequence of actions, which are aimed at closer rapprochement with the European Union.

We know that last year there were some talks between Yerevan and Brussels regarding the synchronization of customs and tariff policies for a number of goods. I believe this also played a role in the fact that, on the one hand, Russia’s position is relatively calm, and on the other hand, it directly lists the costs that Armenia will have to bear.

The Armenian side still needs to decide what is more important: the ‘pie in the sky’ in the form of European integration, which is still at the level of rather abstract statements that should be considered in the context of current Armenian policy, or the specific benefits that Armenia as a whole and individual economic entities enjoy while they are in the Eurasian integration union,” Andrey Areshev emphasized.

“Representatives of certain pro-Western groups, in particular, the European Party of Armenia, directly mentioned the meetings they held with Mr. Pashinyan and the close coordination at the level of the prime minister’s office. So for certain forces, the ‘pie in the sky’ is probably quite big, in terms of those grant programs that are allocated by various European structures. This is a standard practice of working with elites, which has been carried out by Brussels quite competently for many years.

Unfortunately, this is the sad reality of our time. By the way, Russia has also been on this path for a long time, and we know that this could have led to quite serious negative consequences. How will this evolution end? I believe Armenia will be lured by European integration. It is already happening. Using information influence, European entities will pursue those interests in Armenia that are important to them. We know that the European monitoring mission will soon be extended for another two years, and other various projects, including those of a geopolitical nature, will be implemented in the South Caucasus,” the expert noted.