Vigen Hakobyan: Pashinyan chooses a pro-Western vector

In an interview with Alpha News, Russian journalist and expert Vigen Hakobyan emphasized that the countries with real mechanisms of influence set their own conditions, showing that the balance is no longer acceptable.

“Pashinyan’s refusal to go to Bishkek is due to the strategic calculation of the current Armenian government to revise the foreign policy priorities and formats in which Armenia worked for many years after gaining independence. These are the CIS, CSTO, and EAEU, that is, formats dominated and coordinated by Russia.

We know that after the 2018 revolution, the government in Armenia has changed, leading to the emergence of new priorities. Before that, we also talked about the European integration of Armenia, about association with the European Union, exercises with NATO, signing an agreement under the Partnership for Peace program, and so on. I think that now, when very serious changes are taking place in the region in the wake of the last Karabakh war, the situation for the Armenian authorities has reached the point where it is necessary to take specific actions, because we observe a serious confrontation on the global stage.

The complementary policy, which at some time could help Armenia balance between great powers, has lost its relevance because on the world stage, there is a confrontation between Russia, the USA, China and other powers.

In addition, there is a regionalization of the influence of states, that is, those countries that have real mechanisms of influence in the region—and in our region these are Turkiye, Iran, and Russia—set their own conditions, showing that the balance is now unacceptable for them. But, since we are already associated with these programs, and since the current government in Armenia has obligations, it is obliged to make a choice.

We understood clearly from Nikol Pashinyan’s words that Armenia is choosing a pro-Western vector, because if the country claims that its partner is trying to expose its weaknesses in security and forces it to renounce independence, then participate in some integration processes with this partner will be somewhat illogical,” the expert noted.

Commenting on relations with Russia, Vigen Hakobyan said that it is wrong to assess Russia’s policy unilaterally and completely ignore our own Armenian policy.

“I think that in general it is extremely wrong to assess Russia’s policy towards Armenia and the region and completely ignore our own Armenian policy. That is, Russia’s policy towards not only Armenia, but also other post-Soviet countries is based on the policy that this or that country pursues towards Russia.

I want to remind you of the story when the speaker of the State Duma came to Yerevan and declared, assuming that everyone would be happy, that Armenia is an outpost of Russia. The scandal erupted as everyone said that Russia was an outpost of Armenia, while Armenia was a sovereign state.

If you look from today’s point of view, against whom did Russia set up this outpost? Against Turkiye and Azerbaijan, which are one nation according to their ideology. One nation, two states, they say. We must consider all Armenian-Turkish and Armenian-Azerbaijani conflicts and relations from the point of view that Turkiye and Azerbaijan are one nation. And this outpost, in fact, serves to contain their rather powerful influence.

But we did not want to be an outpost of Russia in the region. We wanted European integration and relations with NATO. And this worked until there were acute global contradictions between the great powers. As soon as the contradictions appeared, this sovereign choice of ours began to play against us. Why? Because the political, economic, and military potential of Armenia does not allow it to be a confident player in a region such as the South Caucasus,” the expert said.