Caucasus is puzzle for France, but Russia cannot leave - Russian  expert 

ArmInfo. With any change in  Armenia's foreign policy vector, it must be borne in mind that two  people can't tango. This was stated to journalists in Yerevan on December 11 by leading research fellow at the Institute of  International Studies at MGIMO, Russian Foreign Ministry, and  editor-in-chief of the International Analytics magazine Sergey  Markedonov.

According to him, the change in vector is not only because Yerevan  wants it. "For example, Armenia is important for France, first of  all, because of its domestic political agenda. Any French politician  who flirts with small Christian Armenia in one way or another means  the votes of the largest Armenian diaspora in Europe," the political  scientist noted.

He added that if there is shooting in Armenia, little will change in  Paris or Toulouse. "For France, the Caucasus is a puzzle, if you  don't like it, you leave, but we can't leave, that's our difference,"  Markedonov emphasized, while admitting that France plays soft power  much better than Russia. "We have little public empathy, we like to  act from the position of a teacher giving a lecture to a student, but  we also have to say kind words, which, however, do not convert into  anything real. For example, today many Armenians work in Russia, who  transfer money to their homeland," the political scientist recalled.

Markedonov emphasized that until 2020, the South Caucasus region was  a situational competitive cooperation between Russia and the West.  For example, on Georgia, on the status of Abkhazia and South Ossetia,  there were complete differences, but on the Karabakh direction, the  parties worked together. Even during the 44-day war, the positions of  Russia and the West were even closer than, say, the positions of  Turkey and the West. "After 2022, these nuances have faded into the  background. Just 3-4 years ago, Armenia's cooperation with the West  was perceived as acceptable interaction, but now it is no longer  perceived that way. We have a problem with our perceptions, not just  with a statement. There is an interesting evolution in  Armenian-Russian relations. Nikol Pashinyan, before he was an  oppositionist, criticized Eurasian integration. Speaking about  military security, everything was without question for him.  Then,  after becoming prime minister, after difficult zigzags in  Armenian-Russian relations, he changed his approaches, stating that  the economy is unquestionable, everything is clear here, and the  military-political sphere is on the sidelines. Meanwhile, the  military-political sphere is not on the periphery, it is simply not  developing the way we in Russia would like. But this does not mean  that it does not exist," Markedonov summed up.