Joining EU is not beneficial for Armenian citizens — Marat Bashirov
January 25 2025, 11:41
Speaking with Alpha News, Marat Bashirov, Professor at the HSE University in Russia, commented on Armenia’s accession to the European Union, Armenian-Russian relations, and the agreement on strategic partnership signed by Armenia and the United States.
“Joining the European Union is Armenia’s sovereign right; therefore, Russia has no right to dictate anything. Consultations regarding some issues that concern joint processes could take place, but nothing more. Russia always adheres to the principles of the UN Charter and the charters of those organizations that Armenia and Russia are part of. But the issue with the European Union is beyond the competence of the UN, bilateral relations, and the principles that are enshrined, for example, in the CSTO or within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union.
I do not believe that Armenia will join the European Union for a number of reasons. To join the European Union, it is necessary to change a huge number of internal laws of Armenia, change technical regulations, and agree to hand over part of Armenia’s sovereignty. And I, frankly speaking, am not sure that this is beneficial for the citizens of Armenia. It may be beneficial for the so-called elites who are ready to sacrifice the interests of their country for the sake of their own interests. This always leads to internal resistance,” Bashirov said.
According to the expert, Armenia has only one trump card for the EU, the so-called “Zangezur corridor.”
“Russia does not suffer from the fact that the Armenian leadership makes some decisions. But the Republic of Armenia, the citizens of this country, of course, can seriously suffer, because there are certain territorial restrictions, there are energy restrictions. Armenia has no access to the sea. The only thing that can be held on to within those global processes that are taking place today is the construction of the so-called multimodal transport corridors.
These multimodal corridors are currently one of the stumbling blocks in world trade, which is actively being addressed by the EU and the US. And Armenia has this one trump card – a section, the so-called ‘Zangezur corridor’, which can become part of this multimodal corridor, that is, it is possible to earn money on this. The European Union has no other interest except this corridor,” Bashirov noted.
According to the political scientist, the United States cannot influence Armenia’s security issues.
“The US has no capabilities to seriously influence Armenia’s security issues because, let me remind you, the US is part of NATO, which includes Turkey, and Turkey has friendly relations, including military relations, with Azerbaijan, while the main conflict situation for Armenia is developing precisely with Baku. The US is also constrained by certain limits. What does it mean to provide assistance in security issues? This could be consultations, assistance with some intelligence data; this is the complete prerogative of the US authorities, but the military intervention is simply impossible,” Bashirov concluded.