Sanctions against Russia may have no impact on Armenia – Alexander Perenjiyev

Alexander Perenjiyev, Associate Professor of the Department of Political Science and Sociology at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, spoke to Alpha News about the US sanctions imposed on Russia and the potential impact of these measures on the Armenian economy.

“The American sanctions imposed against our leading oil production and transportation companies, such as Lukoil or Rosneft, may, of course, have a damaging impact at some point, but I’d like to point out that this will be temporary. The Russian economy has learned to respond to any sanctions pressure and adapt quickly. Therefore, the real issue here is probably not how much this will affect Russia, but how much it will affect Western countries. Take Germany, for example, whose chancellor immediately started to get a bit flustered because, first and foremost, these sanctions hit Germany. He is already trying to negotiate with the Americans so they won’t touch Russian subsidiaries located in Germany, as they are operating successfully—not just for the German economy, but at the very least supporting that economy,” Perenjiyev said.

According to the political scientist, US sanctions against Russia could only impact Armenia if the country’s leadership shows weakness of will and pays excessive attention to Washington’s opinion.

“In this case, if we’re talking about Armenia, these sanctions may have no impact at all. Much depends on how they are psychologically perceived by the leadership in Yerevan. The question is whether Armenia will continue its economic engagement with Russia. Here, I believe Armenia simply needs to look at India and how it behaves. It is not afraid, despite various threats from the US, and it continues economic cooperation with Russia. Therefore, the sanctions may impact Armenia only in terms of how the leadership perceives them psychologically: whether it is prepared to not fear these sanctions or will it still be afraid. As the saying goes, the question is: to be or not to be?” the expert concluded.