Russia will not stand idly by watching the processes in Armenia – Konstantin Tasits

Political analyst Konstantin Tasits commented on Russian-Armenian relations and the prospects for their development given the current political landscape.

“Pashinyan’s visit, on the one hand, demonstrated the continued fairly high level of relations between the two sides. This is evidenced, in particular, by Pashinyan’s own statement that a number of agreements were reached in the humanitarian, military-technical, and other spheres.

At the same time, it also revealed a number of contradictions, which the Russian president voiced. These concern, among other things, Armenia’s foreign policy course, because, as we can see, despite the proclaimed diversification, what is actually happening is Armenia’s drift toward the West, meaning a weakening of ties with Russia in favor of strengthening them with the West. Armenia is meanwhile attempting to combine its participation in the EAEU with a movement toward the EU, which is not possible,” Tasits believes.

In the political analyst’s view, the EAEU will be forced to take measures to protect its economic jurisdiction should Armenia draw closer to European integration structures.

“From the Russian president’s words, it follows that Russia will not stand idly by watching the processes taking place in Armenia and will respond to them in order to protect its own interests. In particular, if Armenia moves closer to the European Union at the expense of its obligations within the Eurasian Economic Union, the EAEU member states will protect their markets: tightening inspections, introducing certain restrictions on Armenian goods. This will have a negative impact on bilateral trade and, evidently, on economic growth in Armenia,” Tasits emphasized.