The time has long ago come that Armenia and Russia are guided by considering the national interests.
Although different officials from Armenia and European diplomats unanimously reiterate that there is no pressure from Russia to Armenia, and the recent events of selling around one billion dollars of weapons to Azerbaijan from Russia, and the rise in gas prices in Armenia, have absolutely nothing to do with Armenia’s European integration processes, however, the Russian, especially recently, have started to talk about the Armenia-EU relations issue quite nervously.
The Director of the Institute of CIS countries, former State Duma Deputy Konstantin Zatulin has made rather remarkable statements to “Regnum” news agency. He first complained that the Europeans name all the initiatives of Russians and their allies an attempt to restore the Soviet regime, seeking to return the former influence… “When Russia, in the beginning, was not reviewing the relations of its allies with the EU as a threat, now it can not turn a blind eye….” Zatulin denotes the EU officials’ statements that, for example, the European officials indicated about Ukraine that the affiliation to the Customs Union would impede signing of the agreement with the EU on Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas.
Read also
Then the Russian politician recalls the statements of the Prime Minister of Armenia, describing them as a European direction, and concludes that, if the question of choice is raised, they will choose the European direction. “The West is in competition with Russia, and seeks to prevent any integration process in the territory of the Eurasian,” -he said, and passed to Armenia: “This country is in a complicated situation, anytime they might need for military and political aid. There should be no doubt in Yerevan that the EU does not give security guarantees to them, but Russia.” Then Zatulin remind the “little” problem, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. “Are there illusions in the Armenian society that the EU, which has a definite position on the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh, will not require from Yerevan to go for compromise in the phase of convergence?”
It is interesting that when Russia is arming the Azerbaijan, in this case, they are not thinking about causing threats to Armenia, but when it comes to Armenia’s European integration, Russian political figures are talking about the imminent dangers to Armenia.
Or, the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov, in a joint press conference with his Azerbaijani counterpart, when he voiced about “return of Azerbaijani occupied territories”, in this case, Russians do not talk about the slap given to Armenia.
Yesterday another Russian unknown politician expressed confidence to the Chairman of “Regnum” news agency Modest Kolerov that it is not possible to be an associate member of the EU and not to affiliate NATO, he even said he would not be surprised “if in the nearest future, the issue of early withdrawal of Russian military base placed in Armenia is brought up.” There is no mutual trust between Russia and Armenia, and Kolerov considers that just the loss of confidence is the result of Russia’s selling of a huge quantity of arms to Azerbaijan.
Well, the most shocking news of the last days was uttered by the former Russian Ambassador Vyacheslav Kovalenko. In an interview with EvrazesNews.ru, he said: “And what real assistance the European Union provided to Armenia, except for advices and promises, at least in recent years. Collecting European values in its archive, Armenia can stand on a slippery way,”- he said. The Ambassador noted that in case of signing the said agreement between Armenia and EU, most probably, an aspiration of considering their own national interests will appear in the Armenian-Russian relations, as it does, for example, the European Union. “Of course, remaining allies, we will develop bilateral relations based on equality and mutual benefit,” -added Kovalenko. The time has long ago come that Armenia and Russia are guided by the aspiration of considering the national interests, and relate on equal-to-equal bases. And the latest threats from the North testify in what decisive process the ex-Soviet Republics are on the eve of the summit in Vilnius. The Russians, in the last days, with regard to further deepening the relations with EU, unwittingly become an additional incentive because of their nervous behavior.
EMMA GABRIELYAN
