Monday, April 8 2024 16:05

ArmInfo. The relatively modest amounts of "support" announced in Brussels should not be misleading.  A similar opinion was expressed by political observer, expert of the Foundation for Strategic Culture (FSC), member of the Club of Friends of the Gorchakov Foundation Andrey Areshev in his article on FSC.

The expert recalled that on April 5, in Brussels, Armenian Prime  Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with US Secretary of State Antony  Blinken, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU  High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep  Borrell. At the same time, he stated that the fact that preparations  for the meeting were being conducted behind closed doors was more  than compensated by various leaks and hints at some grandiose  decisions designed to contribute to a radical revision of the foreign  policy course of the 'small' Caucasian country and its hastened "turn  to the West."

Areshev also notes that the Western participants in the Brussels  meeting 'called Absheron in advance' in order to once again assure  that negotiations with Pashinyan were in no way directed against the  Caspian country and its interests. Considering Washington and  Brussels' close ties with Baku in the energy sector and beyond, as  well as the support provided by Azerbaijan to the Zelensky regime,  there is hardly any serious reason to doubt this.

"Striving to form a homogeneous geopolitical space on the territory  of the former Soviet Transcaucasus, Western players are working  equally closely with Tbilisi, Baku and Yerevan, based on current  circumstances.  The intensity of work in the Armenian direction is  conditioned by Armenia's "frozen" membership in the CSTO and Russia's  continued military presence, border guard's presence (they will leave  Zvartnots airport in August), an and most importantly, with mutually  beneficial trade and economic ties, the collapse of which,  apparently, will be the main bet. Since March 30, cards of the  Russian "Mir" payment system have stopped working in almost all banks  of Armenia, with the exception of VTB Bank (Armenia), about which the  payment system of Armenia Card (ArCa) notified the Russian "Mir" card  operator in advance. Meanwhile, in early May, Nikol Pashinyan should  take over the chairmanship of the EAEU in Moscow during the  anniversary summit of the Union and, obviously, fill it with at least  some meaning," the political scientist noted.

The expert also recalled that before the start of the negotiations,  Pashinyan described the political cooperation of the parties as  effective, at the same time, noting the need to develop economic  cooperation, trade and mobility of citizens. In turn, Blinken  announced another tranche of more than USD 65 million, more than 50%  higher than similar receipts provided 2 years ago. Particular  attention is paid to  cessation of Russian-Armenian ties in nuclear  energy, another evidence of which was Pashinyan's participation in  the recent international nuclear energy summit in Brussels.

"Europe also plans to invest 270 million euros in grant support in  the development of Armenia over the next 4 years. The EU is ready to  invest in large regional infrastructure projects, green energy and is  going to provide technical support to the state apparatus. Frau von  der Leyen did not forget to welcome the "Crossroads of Peace"   initiative proposed by the Prime Minister of Armenia. The further  distancing of Armenia from Russia due to the threat of secondary  sanctions did not go unnoticed: "We also welcome measures against  circumvention of our sanctions against Russia to ensure that lethal  weapons and equipment don't get to the hands of the Russian armed  forces." Finally, according to the head of the European Commission,  30 million euros have been allocated since September 2023 and several  more will be allocated for the integration and support of forcibly  displaced persons from Nagorno-Karabakh (many of whom, most likely,  have already left Armenia) ", Areshev stated.

"To the great disappointment of supporters of European integration,  there was no mention of the coveted "visa-free travel" recommended by  the "Network of Friends of Armenia" of former NATO Secretary General  Anders Fogh Rasmussen in a special report published on the eve of the  Brussels meeting. In addition to standard measures on economic  support for Yerevan, the development of healthcare, the rule of law,  compliance human rights and democracy, it was also recommended to  subsidize the import of basic food products to Armenia, support the  development of the Armenian economy and invite it to become a member  of the European Energy Community, help in the transition to green  energy and diversification of its sources," the expert noted, noting  that the amount, which Washington and Brussels plan to allocate to  Armenia, is significantly lower than the expectations circulating on  the eve of the meeting (the Armenian government was counting on  financial support in the amount of $1 billion in the form of direct  budget investments for the next 4 years, including providing housing  for former residents of Nagorno-Karabakh ).

Areshev also does not rule out that "behind the scenes" in Brussels  there were more generous promises, but completely divorced from  reality, as has repeatedly happened in the history of the Armenian  people and in the contacts of its national leaders with the sharks of  imperialist diplomacy, at least since the Berlin Congress of 1878 -  of course, adjusted for modern realities.

"The movement <to the West> in the early 1990s at the dawn of the  "Third Republic" under the first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan meant,  not least of all, a compromise with Azerbaijan and rapprochement with  Turkey, which was replaced by a blind blockade by the latter in April  1993 after the Nagorno Karabakh conflict was withdrawn from the  administrative borders of the former Soviet autonomy (Kelbajar  operation of the Armenian forces)."Europeanization" during the time  of the third president, dubious constitutional reform of 2013-2015,  but mainly the "velvet revolution" of 6 years ago, torpedoing the  negotiation process on Karabakh under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk  Group, the "planned defeat" in the "44-day war" of 2020 and the  transfer of the remaining Armenian part of the region to the control  of Baku in September 2023 - all this, in particular, determined not  only a visible foreign policy turn of the current Armenian  government, but also further lines of socio-political division,  affecting, among other things, the Diaspora," Areshev is sure.

At the same time, the political scientist noted that recently, in the  publications and Internet broadcasts of pro-government propagandists,  notes of hostility towards Russian Armenians are increasingly  creeping in.  Just as the arrows were pointed at the "former  authorities" and to the "Karabakh clan", responsibility for the  conscious surrender of the region in 2020-2023 is shifted to Russia,  which is a blatant manipulation of public opinion and distortion of  real facts.

"There is no doubt that this line will be continued further, just as  Ukrainian society was fragmented along the path of movement "to  Europe": as they say, there is no other option. There is no doubt  that a significant part of Western money will be directed to staffing  the corresponding well-selected personnel in the information,  educational and cultural-humanitarian spheres, including the  introduction of newfangled ideological narratives, among which is the  idea of Russians as eternal enemies, whose "imperialist" conquests  have destroyed almost the idyll in the relations of Armenians with  neighboring peoples...", - says the Russian political scientist.

At the same time, Areshev drew attention to the fact that the volumes  of grant support announced in Brussels cannot be compared with the  multibillion-dollar benefits received by Armenia from interaction  with Moscow and within the framework of the EAEU and the CIS, which  has ensured a four-fold increase in trade turnover over the past 6  years and, as a result,  record economic growth and increased  well-being of the population.

"However, as the experience of many post-Soviet countries testifies,  mundane mercantile calculations often give in to properly promoted  ideological chimeras. On the same day, at the Armenian Embassy in  Belgium, Pashinyan met with the head of USAID, banned in Russia,  Samantha Power, and today, April 8, in Yerevan Secretary General of  the Council of Europe Marija Pejcinovic Buric is coming, while the  working trip of the Special Envoy of the President of the Russian  Federation for the South Caucasus, Igor Khovaev, has been coordinated  for more than six months," Areshev summed up.