Karen Ghazaryan
Public Radio of Armenia
Membership in the Customs Union will give Armenia a chance to speak to the European Union on a different level. The decision was well thought-out, Director of the Institute for Democracy and Cooperation (US), famous Russian-Armenian political scientist Andranik Mihranyan said during a meeting at the Armenian State Pedagogical University.
According to him, it’s necessary to be in the right time with the right structures. “The Armenian diplomacy is behaving flexibly today, and the membership in the Customs Union in no way diverts us from the path of European integration,” Mihranyan said. According to him, Armenia’s decision to join the Customs Union makes Armenia a stronger negotiator with Europe and other countries.
It’s clear that Armenia is situated in a region, where it’s impossible to be in different security and economic systems, the political scientist said. He considers that it’s first of all necessary to understand where your interests are. “In this respect, Armenia is tightly connected with Russia. Besides, there have been promises from Europe which have never been realized,” he said.
Europe has come to understand that the principle of “either…, or” will not work and now they declare they’re ready to continue the development of cooperation with Armenia, Mihranyan added.
The political scientist added that “if Armenia speaks to Europe, it does not mean it does or should oppose Russia, especially considering that Russia has nothing against European values, moreover – Russia is Europe itself.”
