West has no special economic interests in Armenia, says political scientist

Speaking with Alpha News, Russian political scientist Dmitry Trenin noted that relations with Turkey and economic ties with Azerbaijan are of primary importance for the West.

“According to Armenia, the biggest complaint against Russia is the lack of adequate support in terms of security. In this area, the West is unlikely to be able to compensate for Armenia’s distance from Russia. Firstly, it will not guarantee Armenia’s security. I cannot imagine a situation in which the West would take the side of Armenia in some hypothetical conflict, say, with Turkey.

For the West, relations with Turkey and economic ties with Azerbaijan are of primary importance, and I do not see any special economic interests of the West in Armenia. What matters for the West is to push out and minimize Russian influence in the region. It follows this policy in all countries that were once part of the Soviet Union and the Russian Empire, including Armenia.

As for dividends, strange as it may seem, recently, while there was decoupling between Russia and the West—which, in my opinion, has fundamental roots and a long-term nature—many economic ties and flows of goods were interrupted. So now these flows go through Armenia, which has a beneficial effect on the economy of your country, so Armenia is still receiving those dividends, but they have nothing to do with rapprochement with the West but rather depend on the decoupling between the West and Russia,” the political scientist noted.