Idea of breaking ties with Russia is suicidal for Armenia – Mikhail Tilman 

January 24 2025, 09:59

Opinion | Politics

 
Speaking with Alpha News, political scientist Mikhail Tilman commented on what to expect from Donald Trump’s presidency and how US foreign policy regarding the South Caucasus region will change. 

According to the expert, it is important for the normalization of Armenian-American relations not to become a factor that would negatively affect Armenian-Russian relations. 

“There will definitely be changes in US policy regarding the South Caucasus region. The new US administration will follow a different foreign policy strategy than the previous one. Moreover, judging by the statements of the new administration, they implicitly acknowledged that the period of complete US dominance in global affairs was over. The United States simply cannot control all processes everywhere.

They have set priorities. The first is that the United States will be the dominant power in the western hemisphere. The second is the control of world trade, where the overland route passes through the South Caucasus. It is important for Americans to have some kind of position on this path. Georgia has taken and escaped from the control of the United States, and Armenia is very convenient in this sense. It is important that the normalization of Armenian-American relations not become a factor that would negatively affect Armenian-Russian relations,” Tilman said. 

According to the political scientist, Americans have always viewed Armenia as one more front in the geopolitical struggle against Russia. 

“The new US administration’s position is that now the Americans will not enter directly, as they did before, and change regimes, but it is important for them to have certain levers of control over certain trade routes. Therefore, the assertive normalization of Armenian-American relations will be slowed down. But this does not mean that the Americans are abandoning their cooperation with Armenia.

The hostility of the current US administration towards Russia has been and will remain. Americans have always viewed Armenia as one more front in the geopolitical struggle against Russia, especially at a time when Russia’s efforts are aimed at a special military operation, that is, at the West. It should be understood that the idea of breaking ties with Russia is practically suicidal for Armenia. And the arrival of the Armenian foreign minister in Moscow shows that the Armenian leadership wants to emphasize to Moscow that rapprochement with the United States does not mean moving away from Russia,” Tilman said. 

Commenting on Trump’s statement on the Ukrainian conflict, the expert said that it would be best for Trump to end this conflict. 

“Trump has the intention to simply shift the Ukrainian conflict to Europe. The longer the conflict lasts and the more sanctions are imposed on Russia, the more Russia and other major countries switch to national currencies and do not use the dollar, and this threatens the dollar’s position. And if the dollar is ‘dumped’ as the world’s reserve currency, this will be followed by a sharp decline in the role of the United States in global affairs. Therefore, to avoid a further rollback process from the dollar in the global economy, it would be best for Trump to end this conflict,” Tilman concluded.