Russia tries not to accentuate disagreements, says expert

Speaking with Alpha News, Russian political scientist Andrey Areshev commented on Pashinyan’s visit to Moscow and noted that security issues and political and diplomatic dialogue are important for bilateral Armenian-Russian relations.

“Pashinyan’s visit was discussed and planned quite a long time ago. We know that different points of view were expressed regarding the course of specific talks, including the bilateral meeting following the EAEU session on May 8. There are different assumptions because there is almost no official information. We only see that before the start of the talks, the sides noted the growth of Armenian-Russian trade and economic relations in quantitative terms.

I would like to note here that this data can be interpreted in different ways. We understand perfectly well that even a quantitative increase in trade and economic ties does not mean an increase in trust and mutual understanding at all. No less important for bilateral Armenian-Russian relations are, in particular, security issues as well as political and diplomatic dialogue, which, if present, have a rather chaotic manner.

Following the meeting, there were different statements from both sides, including Russia. We know that the withdrawal of Russian border posts from the Armenian-Azerbaijani border line in Syunik was confirmed, despite the fact that they remain in the border area with Iran and Turkey. That is, the provisions of the 1997 basic agreement and a set of other agreements have been preserved.

As for other speculations and various interpretations, it would not hurt to have more clarity here. It is obvious that the parties, at least Russia, are trying not to accentuate the disagreements, which certainly exist, and are focusing on the positive side, which is associated primarily with economic relations. The near future will show how effective this tactic is,” Areshev noted.