We observe that Armenia is on its way to NATO, political scientist says

Political scientist Denis Denisov commented to Alpha News on the possibility of Armenia’s integration with the European Union or getting the status of a non-aligned state.

“If we look at the history of the last 30 years, associated with a number of post-Soviet countries, we will clearly understand that it is the path to NATO. We see similar changes and patterns in Moldova, Ukraine, even before the start of a special military operation, some countries of the South Caucasus, in particular a certain historical period in Georgia. So in this context, of course, it can be perceived as a slight movement towards NATO. That is, this is the work of the ‘Overton window’, when at the first stage neutrality and NATO are perceived as something extraordinary, then the neutrality is being discussed as the priority, and the next stage will be the launch of a campaign to promote Euro-Atlantic integration, that is, joining the North Atlantic alliance,” Denisov said.

According to the political scientist, Armenia’s vector towards European integration is of extreme concern.

“This is defending the position of government officials in the media space. So, we are no longer talking about what initiatives and mechanisms can be taken to make the CSTO general collective security agreement work more effectively. And the point is that Armenia can completely refuse and withdraw from this organization. Although we know that such statements have not yet been made, the refusal to attend CSTO meetings is already obvious to everyone. Indeed, the main vector towards European integration as well as the statement about neutrality cause extreme concern. Because, as a member of the CSTO, it is hardly possible, in parallel with this, to launch the process of formalizing neutrality.

I think this is definitely not in the interests of Armenia, especially in the current situation, but these are the ideological guidelines of representatives of the political regime in Yerevan. And no matter how much we would like to, we have to perceive them and, based on this, understand in which direction Armenia will move further. But the reference to civil society, I think, is very manipulative here. And in this regard, you can look at various sociological studies to understand that this is not the case in Armenia,” Denisov concluded.