From the economic point of view, today, Armenia is primarily an ally in Eurasian integration projects for Russia, while the bilateral cooperation between the countries is tied by several factors, president of the Economic Researches Fund Mikhail Khazin, scientific director of the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences Ruslan Grinberg and a member of the State Duma Committee on Energy Ivan Grachev stated in an interview to Vestnik Kavkaza.
Ahead of the 98th anniversary of the proclamation of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia (Georgia's independence day on May 26th, the Republic Day of Azerbaijan on May 28th, and the Day of the Republic of Armenia on May 28th) Vestnik Kavkaza publishes opinions of Russian politicians, economists and cultural figures about relations between Russia and these countries. And today, the Independence Day of Georgia, we bring to your attention a part of the conversation with economists, dedicated to the Russian-Georgian relations.
First of all, Mikhail Khazin drew attention to the favt that Russian-Armenian economic contacts today are largely determined by Armenian diaspora's in Russia assessment of significance of Russia in the international arena. "A striking difference of Armenia lies in the fact that it has a very large diaspora. At the same time, the republic is a very poor country, which has no economy in the broad sense of word, because it mostly lives at the expense of diaspora, including the one that lives in Russia," he pointed out.
The influence of diaspora in various countries ensures that "Armenia plays a much bigger role in the international arena, than the one it was supposed to considering the economic scale and size. Armenia's accession to the EEU is a consequence of the fact that the corresponding decision was made by Armenian diaspora," he thinks.
Ruslan Grinberg also noted the importance of Armenian diaspora in modern positive contacts between Russia and Armenia. "We have warmer and closer relations with Armenia, which became a member of the EEU and is a member of the CSTO, and now they are at the official level. It should be noted that currently, Armenia is chairman in the Eurasian Economic Commission - the fact that rotation started from this republic is an unprecedented thing," the economist said.
At the same time, as he estimates, the future of development of economic relations between Russia and Armenia will depend on whether the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be settled.
Ivan Grachev stated that allied economic policy of Armenia in relation to Russia was predetermined by geopolitics. "In the economy, Armenia has no objective competitive situations with Russia, and its policy in this regard was initially predetermined as a union with us because of economic and geopolitical circumstances. Because of this, we always considered Armenia as a friendly country and a reliable ally," he stressed.
A member of the State Duma Committee on Energy expects that cooperation with Armenia in the framework of economic integrational projects will only increase in the future.
