Brussels will not burn bridges with Yerevan and will not refuse to cooperate with Armenia amid hopes for future success, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Leader of the Armenian National Congress Party (ANC), former president of Armenia, said at the meeting of ANC Party Board.
"The West has already began blaming Russia rather than Armenia for the current situation. Serzh Sargsyan was to have met with Putin immediately after Europe's proposal to sign the Association Agreement with the EU and told him about Brussels's proposals, and wonder if Moscow would offer something instead.
If Armenia joined the Customs Union in the wake of such natural partnership, it would be a good deal and Armenia would gain much more from that than it will do now in such a humiliating situation," the former president said.
On September 3 in Moscow, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan confirmed Armenia's intention to join the Customs Union and the process of the formation of the Eurasian Union. Vladimir Putin supported Sargsyan's decision and promised to contribute to Yerevan's accession to the Customs Union in every possible way. Meanwhile, Armenia was expected to initial an Association Agreement with EU, including DCFTA, at the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius in November along with some other countries.
According to Ter-Petrosyan, Karabakh's security is not a reason to justify such a sharp change of stances. He believes that Sargsyan was to realize the threat to the security of Karabakh at the very beginning of the European integration process. Even if he considered Russia an evil and preferred Europe to it, he was to choose the lesser of two evils not to face such a humiliating situation.
"Sargsyan was to take control over threats, to minimize threats. Even if the Customs Union membership was inevitable, it was possible to act so that Armenia could gain maximum benefit from that membership," Ter-Petrosyan said.