Russia has a fairly large potential for tools of influence on Armenia, says political scientist

Political scientist Denis Denisov commented to Alpha News on the statement of the Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision (Rosselkhoznadzor) about violations in goods imported from Armenia.

According to the expert, it is impossible to politicize the situation and say that these are Russia’s retaliatory measures for Armenia’s foreign policy strategy.

“When we talk about such measures on the part of Russia, in no case should we immediately radicalize the situation and say that these are Russia’s retaliatory measures for the position that Armenia takes and that this is a stage of sanctions policy on the part of Russia or pressure from Russia to force Armenia to somehow change its foreign policy.

We are all adults, and we understand perfectly well that it does not work like that. If it were possible through Rosselkhoznadzor to change Armenian domestic and foreign policy, then such measures would have been applied much earlier, several years ago, from the moment Pashinyan came to power and started actions that are interpreted as unfriendly in Moscow,” Denisov said.

According to Denisov, Russia has a fairly large potential for tools of influence on Armenia, especially socio-economic factors and, to a lesser extent, political factors.

“The Russian leadership definitely has neither interest nor desire to somehow worsen the lives of ordinary citizens of Armenia. This is such an insignificant factor, which, of course, cuts off some economic ties or complicates them, but at the same time there is an issue related to hydrocarbons, as well as a big business. If Russia really wanted to ruin the lives of ordinary citizens of Armenia, it would have dealt a hard, serious blow to these areas.

And Russia, as far as I understand, now has the resources to bring down the economy of Armenia, but this is not happening because everyone perfectly understands and divides the political elite of Armenia and the citizens of Armenia, the population of Armenia, which is a friendly and fraternal nation to Russia. The fact that, in the current conditions, the political elite of Armenia, to put it mildly, directs its main vectors to the West, of course, does not satisfy Moscow. It causes concern—a certain concern.

Everything here is logical, but these methods cannot change it. If we look at the political elite of Armenia and at its key positions, then these are definitely not the methods that need to be used to influence these people. But this surely may make people angry, especially if experts interpret these actions in such a way that Russia begins its sanctions policy,” Denisov concluded.