"Relations undermining rather than diversification" - political  expert

ArmInfo.The processes taking place today on the Russian-Armenian track are  cannot be qualified as diversification. Political scientist Arman Ghukasyan stated at a meeting with journalists.

"When you try to look for additional ways of development, you do not  destroy the main vector of development, as the Armenian authorities  are doing now. It is obvious that there is a deliberate policy to  sever political relations with Moscow," he believes. "It is  interesting that the Armenian authorities are moving politically  towards the West, but want to maintain economic relations with  Russia, because they understand perfectly well that Armenia simply  has no alternative to the Russian market. Due to logistics and other  internal features, European marketscannot become an alternative;  Armenian goods are not competitive in European markets, especially  with the goods of countries that have a common borders," he noted.

According to Ghukasyan, the Armenian leadership is very proud of the  double-digit economic growth at the end of 2023, but this growth  (about 9%) is the result of Armenia's participation in the EAEU. "The  trade turnover between Armenia and Russia in 2023 alone amounted to  more than $7 billion (an increase of 42.7%). However, the Armenian  authorities do not mention anything about the advantages that Russia  and the rest of the EAEU countries give to our economy," he  emphasized.

Ghukasyan noted that after Pashinyan's trip to Geneva and Paris,  anti-Russian rhetoric in Armenia became much more active. "On a daily  basis, we hear constant attacks against Russia from high-ranking  government officials. But such a policy cannot have the final  result," Ghukasyan emphasized. According to him, problematic issues  between countries are resolved in a different, closed mode, and not  purposefully publicly. So from here we can conclude that the goal is  not to resolve the issue, but to further aggravate the situation.  Ghukasyan also noted that the narrative is being actively circulated  in the information space that the Armenian authorities plan to submit  an application in order to obtain the status of a candidate country  for accession to the European Union. "To obtain such a status,  external forces are certainly interested in seeing Armenia as a  country that is going to break off relations with Russia. It is naive  to believe that after a political break with Russia, Armenia will  continue its economic prosperity. Such a policy could lead Armenia,  to put it mildly, not to the best position," he said.

The political scientist considers  remarkable that yesterday,  spokesperson of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that Armenia  has not officially informed Russia about the withdrawal of Russian  border guards from Yerevan's "Zvartnots" airport. Peskov's statement  was immediately followed by a statement by Armenian Security Council  Secretary Armen Grigoryan that Armenia had already officially  informed Russia in letter that it intended to withdraw Russian border  guards from Yerevan Zvartnots airport. Then, Ghukasyan mentioned that  there will most likely be an attempt to withdraw from the CSTO, the  withdrawal of Russian border guards from the entire territory of  Armenia, after which the 102nd Russian military base in Gyumri will  be the next step.

"Is this the diversification of foreign policy or the security  system, as the country's authorities say? We all stand for the  well-being and prosperity of Armenia, its sovereignty and security,  but those steps and the policies that are being implemented today by  the Armenian authorities cannot provide our country with a good  future. These steps create more serious risks and threats. Policy  against Russia or any other country has never had good results. There  are a lot of examples and you just need to look around," Arman  Ghukasyan emphasized.

Regarding the information being circulated in the media that  Pashinyan plans to hold a referendum in the fall to change the  Constitution of the republic, Ghukasyan emphasized that if the  referendum takes place, then it is the people who must vote for a  change in the foreign policy vector. The regular generation of anti-  Russian sentiments after the 44-day war in Karabakh by the Armenian  authorities pursues precisely the abovementioned goal. That is, the  people will vote without being able to know the truth, since over the  past two or three years the entire state machine, using all possible  information resources, has accused Russia of anti-Armenian policies.  But in reality, Ghukasyan believes, representatives of the Armenian  government shifted their responsibility onto Russia, making it the  main culprit of all the troubles experienced by Armenia.

The political scientist noted with regret that such a policy is  already giving negative results. "Armenia took 10th place in the  rating of friendliness of Russia's neighboring countries, which was  compiled by the National Research Institute for the Development of  Communications (Moscow) for 2023. In 2022, Armenia was in 5th place.  In one year, we experienced a sharp decline in the ranking table,  thanks to the policy that official Yerevan is actively implementing  today," Ghukasyan concluded.