Pashinyan seeks to completely break away from Russia, says political scientist

Speaking with Alpha News, Russian political scientist Viktoria Fedosova commented on the visit of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to Moscow and its impact on Armenian-Russian relations.

According to the expert, the downward trend in military and political interaction has continued in Armenian-Russian relations.

“No changes followed after Pashinyan’s visit to Moscow. The downward trend in military and political interaction between Moscow and Yerevan continues. We saw the withdrawal of individual Russian units from the territory of Armenia. This course will be maintained. However, the focus of the meeting was on economic cooperation. This is logical because Armenia remains part of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) while still wanting to join the EU.

For Europe, of course, it becomes an object of possible influence since it can thus form both a counterweight to Turkey and Azerbaijan and a counterweight to Georgia, which is now pursuing a more sovereign policy, not wanting to sever ties with Russia that bring objective economic benefits,” Fedosova said.

According to the political scientist, Pashinyan is ready to comply with Azerbaijan’s ultimatums.

“Pashinyan expresses his desire to break away completely from Russia and is looking for partners among the Americans, the French, and Europeans in general in order to build this independent course along different tracks. Pashinyan is ready to comply with Baku’s ultimatums, and this comes into confrontation with the sentiments of the population. That is why we saw these opposition movements that were harshly suppressed,” Fedosova noted.

“Replacing Russia with the West in terms of the security and economy of Armenia will not bring positive results for objective geostrategic and geo-economic reasons. First of all, because this is a delayed result. Europeans and the West in general can feed Armenia with their promises. As we have seen more than once, this is part of their strategy, since if the political leadership agrees to move closer to the West at any cost, this cost grows over time until the country completely surrenders its sovereignty.

Armenia’s security can be ensured by the balance between the major regional players: Russia, Turkey, the West, and Iran. Maintaining ties with Iran is perhaps a more significant factor for regional stability than Pashinyan’s desire to get support from France. The presence of the West will rather be a destabilizing factor. A more subtle policy is needed here, and we don’t see it now,” Fedosova concluded.