Armenia had better avoid association with the EU and membership in the Customs Union

Karen Ghazaryan
Public Radio of Armenia

Political scientist Yervand Bozoyan divides the Armenian-Russian strategic relations into three stages. According to him, in the last stage (after the Russian-Georgian war) some emphasizes changed in Armenia’s foreign policy, which brought about a deep suspicion and a dangerous ambiguity in the strategic relations.

The strategic relations with Russia have benefited Armenia starting from 1990s, the political scientist said. “In particular, thanks to those relations Armenia has managed to neutralize Azerbaijani oil-dollars, by purchasing weapons from Russia at a low price,” he said, adding, however, that the changes after the Russian-Georgian war resulted in doubts and misunderstanding.

Yervand Bozoyan considers this increased Armenia’s dependence on Russia. This was the reason why Armenia extended the term of the Russian military base for 49 years.

According to him, the second issue in the Armenian-Russian strategic relations was the association with the European Union. This was followed by the sale of Russian weapons to Azerbaijan, which was the first case Russia disturbed the balance.

The political scientist says this naturally worried Armenia, and this was the reason for Armenia’s decision top join the Customs Union.

Yervand Bozoyan considers the best choice for Armenia would be to avoid association with the EU and membership in the Customs Union and serve as a bridge between the West and Russia as it was successfully doing in the past.