The recent broadcast of the political talk show 'Meeting Point' with Andrei Norkin and Olga Belova was devoted to threats related to Armenia's aspirations to the West, which have become more apparent after the signing of the agreement between Yerevan and Brussels at the Eastern Partnership summit.
The air time was dubbed by the phrase of the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, who said at the signing ceremony of the documents with Armenia: "This agreement is the first of this kind that is concluded with a party that is also a member of the Eurasian Economic Union. It will now be very important to implement it".
Head of the Department of Political Science of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Gevorg Mirzayan, explained the motives of both Europe and Armenia, which led to the conclusion of this agreement. "First, Europe needs to pull the entire post-Soviet space off Russia, and second, it is necessary to breathe new life into the Eastern Partnership, which, to put it mildly, is dying," he said.
From the side of Armenia, he described this event as "virtual diversification." "Today Armenia is 148% dependent on Russia. When you feel like a junior partner, it always strains. That is, it's about complexes," Gevorg Mirzayan drew attention.
Oleg Barabanov, program director of the Foundation Club Valdai, in turn, recalled that Armenia is not so free in its foreign policy decisions, as before. "Relatively speaking, Armenia was free in 2013, it could choose between the Eurasian Union and the association with the EU. Armenia has chosen the Eurasian Union, so Armenia is no longer free, it is a full member of the Eurasian Union," he said.
"So, Armenia will be a" Trojan horse "- it does not have borders with either Russia or other members of the union. And as soon as Armenia joined the Eurasian Union, the Armenian president immediately flew to China and said:" Now, dear Chinese friends, you can deliver all Chinese goods to the EEU market through Armenia," Oleg Barabanov said.
The director of the Institute of Political Studies Sergei Markov, said that the EU's agreement with Armenia will inevitably worsen Yerevan's relations with Moscow. "The European Union wants to destroy the Eurasian Union. I believe that this agreement between Armenia and the European Union testifies to the deterioration of our relations. Yerevan has complaints against Russia that it does not give enough money, and second, we have a conflict over Nzhdeh," he noted.
"The signing of this treaty is the preparation of an attack on Russia. The next will be Belarus. At the same time, Europe has made concessions to Armenia, because since Armenia is in the Customs Union, they cannot immediately impose the same conditions. But first they will imposed these ones, and then the following will be imposed. They will try to start a conflict gradually , since the EU does not cooperate with Russia in the post-Soviet space," Sergey Markov concluded.
Dmitry Abzalov, President of the Center of Strategic Communications, drew attention to the inessentiality of the potential of economic cooperation between Yerevan and Europe. "The European Union is not very interested in Armenia in economic terms. The problem is different: there are some very painful points that were laid in Ukraine, and we did not track them there in time. First, the requirement to switch over to the technical regulations of the European Union, which implies a rejection of Russian technical regulations of the Customs Union," the expert said.
"The second, very important thing is the Armenian nuclear power plant. The European Union is shutting down nuclear power plants. And we deliver our fuel cells to the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant. It will be officially discussed next year. Another very important point is that there are projects on reforms," Dmitry Abzalov warned.
