Russia can do more for Armenia than any other partner, expert says

Academic Director of the Russian International Affairs Council Andrey Kortunov commented to Alpha News on Armenia’s rapprochement with the EU and further relations with Russia.

According to the expert, the European Union, for all its advantages, is not a military-political union and cannot guarantee Armenia’s security.

“Armenia’s desire to strengthen its ties with Europe is understandable and justified, and, probably, no one will object to this. However, we must take into account at least two circumstances. Firstly, even receiving the status of a candidate for EU membership does not mean that there is some kind of schedule for joining the European Union. We know that talks on accession in, say, Turkey have been going on for many decades, and so far they have not made much progress. Of course, there is no need to have illusions here. Secondly, the European Union, for all its advantages, is not a military-political union; that is, it cannot act as a guarantor of Armenia’s security.

In order to guarantee Armenia’s security from the West, Armenia must be accepted into the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) so that Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty applies to it. But, as far as I understand, this is not planned. I believe this is a hypothetical option that probably will not be discussed in the near future. Therefore, here, of course, the Armenian leadership must realistically assess the capabilities of Europe, especially with regard to providing Armenia with security guarantees,” Kortunov said.

According to the expert, Armenia and Russia are connected by strong ties not only at the level of states but also at the level of society.

“I would really not like this relationship to become the victim of some political situation. I think that, after all, if Armenia sees a potential threat to its independence or territorial integrity from Turkey or Azerbaijan, then Russia can probably do more here than any other partners that are not from the region. In my opinion, it would be more logical to solve the security problem of Armenia within the framework of the proposed 3+3 format, with all existing restrictions,” Kortunov concluded.