Sergey Markelov: Economic relations with Russia prevent the Armenian authorities from taking more drastic actions

Speaking with Alpha News, Russian political scientist Sergey Markelov commented on the statement of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan regarding a new Constitution, as well as Russian-Armenian relations.

“Any politician is very worried about how he will be treated in the future, especially when there are preconditions that it will be bad. And by making changes to the constitution and its preamble, Pashinyan’s current team and he himself will receive historical protection from further attacks,” the political scientist said.

“As for the conflict between Yerevan and Baku, I don’t see any end there, not even close. Negotiations are moving from one situation to another. Baku today is absolutely not interested in signing a peace agreement. Now it’s just a political cat-and-mouse game. Baku does not want to stop. It considers itself the stronger party in the negotiations since it has received Artsakh and therefore is expanding the list of its claims,” Markelov said.

Speaking about the crisis in Armenian-Russian relations, the expert noted that it is impossible to change political relations while maintaining economic ones.

“Most likely, there will be some changes in the political sphere. Yerevan behaved quite boldly, let’s say, emotionally, at the end of last year, refusing to join CIS events, but then Pashinyan traveled to Russia. Of course, economic relations with Russia today are the main obstacle to the Armenian authorities moving to more drastic actions. This keeps Armenia from the economic collapse that could come if Russia responds. But fortunately, the Armenian leadership has enough common sense not to destroy the republic and relations. If there are economic problems between Armenia and Russia, Armenia will face economic paralysis in the next 2-4 years,” Markelov concluded.