Armenia's joining the Customs Union will enhance its positions in the region, the former ambassador of Russia to Armenia, director of the regional programmes of the Caspian Cooperation Institute, Vyacheslav Kovalenko, said over today's televised bridge Yerevan-Moscow.
"I don't understand what could be the basis of Armenia's signing the Association Agreement with the EU. I think that the decision adopted by President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan on joining the Customs Union is fully in line with the national interests of Armenia", - Kovalenko said.
He is confident that Yerevan's participation in this integration union will raise the level of close relations between Armenia and Russia to a new high quality level. He thinks that it is necessary to activate economic contacts at the level of small and medium-sized business and create joint ventures in Armenia.
For his part, Armenian political expert, Director of the Caucasus Institute, Aleksandr Iskandaryan, said that Armenia is linked with Russia by numerous threads, and today there is absolutely no possibility to break these threads. "However, as for the Customs Union, it is not so simple. The decision adopted in Moscow on 3 September was political. In order to give it a specific sense, and to turn it into a true cooperation within the frames of the Customs Union, we have to implement a huge work: to coordinate the customs norms, transportation of goods and many other problems. Finally, we have a problem of absence of the common border between Armenia and Russia. We have to pass a certain way for drawing out of certain schemes and agreements", - Iskandaryan said.