Armenia, under guise of "multi-vectorism," pursuing course of  European integration - expert 

ArmInfo.Armenia, under the guise of "multi-vectorism," is pursuing a course of European integration. Russian political scientist and expert at the Strategic  Culture Foundation, Andrei Areshev, shares this opinion.

The expert recalled that on September 20, Armenian Prime Minister  Nikol Pashinyan stated at a congress of the ruling Civil Contract  party that if his political party wins the upcoming parliamentary  elections in June 2026, integration into the European Union will  become a foreign policy priority for Armenia, while relations with  Russia are undergoing a "constructive transformation."

"Disagreeing with statements about Russia's alleged "hybrid war"  against Armenia, he said that during "all discussions, including with  international partners," he consistently emphasizes the importance of  dialogue with the Russian President and Prime Minister.

Earlier, on September 19, Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Mher  Grigoryan discussed regional developments and unblocking  communications with Elisabeth Falchetti, Managing Director for Turkey  and the Caucasus at the European Bank for Reconstruction and  Development (EBRD). During the meeting with another Deputy Prime  Minister, Tigran Khachatryan, the construction of the Sisian-Kajaran  road section, as well as prospects for cooperation in various areas,  were discussed. The EBRD is a major institutional investor in  Armenia, with its main priorities being enhancing the competitiveness  of companies and supporting intermediation in the financial sector  through risk-sharing products. According to ARKA, since the start of  its operations in Armenia, the EBRD has allocated ?2.4 billion to  implement 220 programs in various sectors. "Including energy,  infrastructure, telecommunications, and finance," Areshev wrote in  his article for the Strategic Culture Foundation.

He noted that on July 14, following Pashinyan's working visit to  Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen noted  that ties between the European Union and Armenia are stronger than  ever.  "Brussels will allocate over ?200 million to Armenia as part  of the second phase of the Resilience and Growth Program," said EU  Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos, who recently visited Baku and  Yerevan. According to her, Brussels is ready to support Armenia in  projects in transport, digitalization, trade, energy, and  infrastructure as part of the Crossroads of the World project.  Earlier, it was announced that the White House intended to allocate  $145 million to Yerevan for the implementation of the Trump Road to  International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) initiative. The first  tranche will be used to support investments in trade, infrastructure,  supply chains for critical mineral resources, and cross-border  security," the expert noted.

Areshev also noted Armenian Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan's  statement that the largest economic impact will come not from the  resumption of railway operations, but from a major American company  investing in Armenia.

The expert also noted that earlier reports indicated the possible  construction of railways and highways, oil and gas pipelines, and the  development of communications infrastructure as part of the "Zangezur  Corridor," which links the mainland of Azerbaijan with the Nakhchivan  Autonomous Region and further on to Turkey.

"The presence of oil and gas pipelines in this package, and even the  name 'Trump Road,' point to a likely revival of American and Western  European projects from the 1990s and early 2000s to create additional  transit corridors in the South Caucasus.

The process of normalizing Armenian-Turkish relations has also  intensified. On September 12, the special representatives of Turkey  and Armenia for the normalization process, Serdar K?l?c and Ruben  Rubinyan, "...reaffirmed their commitment to continuing the  normalization of relations without preconditions and reached an  agreement to accelerate the process to implement the 2022 border  crossing agreement between the two countries," once again deciding  "on the necessary technical work to be carried out by the relevant  authorities of the two countries on the restoration and commissioning  of the Kars-Gyumri railway line and the electric interconnector," the  Russian political scientist continued.

According to him, all of this is accompanied by a significant decline  in Armenian-Russian trade, as previously reported on the sidelines of  the Eastern Economic Forum by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei  Overchuk: "As for trade between Russia and Armenia, it has already  declined significantly, and we expect that by the end of the year it  will have fallen by half compared to last year. That is, if last year  it was 12.4 billion, then this year it will probably be around 6  billion, maybe a little more." Experts also point to the decline in  re-exports between Armenia and Russia, which since 2022 accounted for  about a third of total bilateral trade, which is also negatively  impacting its volume.

"This is also confirmed by Gevorg Papoyan: while the share of  finished goods in Armenian exports to Europe is allegedly growing,  re-export brings very little economic benefit, and therefore its  reduction does not have any particular negative consequences.  According to the minister, more than $3.7 billion of the total trade  reduction of $4.2 billion comes from jewelry and unprocessed gold,  $185 million from platinum, $175 million from silver,

In this vein, he recalled that in 2024-25, the Pashinyan government  and the ruling Civil Contract party launched the process of making a  decision on the country's accession to the European Union, adopting a  separate law on the matter. "Both Moscow and Yerevan have repeatedly  spoken about the impossibility of Armenia's simultaneous membership  in two integration associations, and Pashinyan has acknowledged that  sooner or later a choice will have to be made (something suggests it  has already been made). At the beginning of this year, A. Overchuk  pointed out the negative impact of Armenia's decision to join the EU  on economic relations with the Russian Federation. According to him,  Russian businesses "began gradually reducing their operations in the  Armenian market back in 2024." Furthermore, as part of Yerevan's  "pro- European" policy, in January 2024 they abandoned the Black Sea  ferry route between the Russian port of Kavkaz and the Georgian port  of Poti, which had operated intermittently since 2007. Freight  through this route accounted for approximately 20% of  Armenian-Russian trade turnover, under the pretext of its alleged  unprofitability," the Russian political scientist stated.

Areshev also noted President Vahagn Khachatryan's remarks in an  interview with RTVI on September 11 that "our relations with Russia  are now completely different-partnership-like. Russia's attitude  toward Armenia is not that of an older brother to a younger brother,  but simply a partnership, which is what we've been striving for over  the past four years." At the same time, Yerevan "wants its Russian  colleagues to take into account the independent decisions of our  country's authorities." The Armenian government "must decide for  itself with whom, how, to trade, work, and have diplomatic  relations." Pashinyan expresses a similar opinion: "...Armenia has  been an independent state for 34 years, and it's important to  understand that partnership is not a 'marriage,' but friendship, and  if you have many friends, then you're a normal person. International  relations exist so that a state can have as many partners as  possible."

"Clearly pursuing the 'European choice,' which is closely tied to  integration into Azerbaijani-Turkish projects in the Caucasus and  carries serious risks for the economy and ordinary citizens, the  current Armenian authorities are attempting to put on a  less-than-convincing show for their Russian partners in an effort to  continue receiving preferences from EAEU membership, which clearly  won't hinder their progress toward the West," Areshev concluded.