It is absolutely not necessary to worsen Armenian-European relations to improve Russian-Armenian relations - Iskandaryan
YEREVAN, July 1. /ARKA/. It is absolutely not necessary to worsen Armenian-European relations to improve Russian-Armenian relations, Director of the Caucasus Institute Alexander Iskandaryan said in an interview with RBC.
He suggested not to use expressions such as "Armenia is turning away from Russia and turning to the West."
"It's like we are in a store where Russia and Europe are on the shelf, you take one, but not the other. It doesn't happen that way. Armenia has always had relations with the European Union - it was a participant in the European Neighborhood Policy, and the CEPA agreement is in effect between them. Armenia is building contacts with individual EU members - it has fairly close relations with Greece and France. Armenia is trying to harmonize its legislation with European legislation, because it brings economic benefits," Iskandaryan noted.
The political scientist recalled that the concept of Armenia's foreign policy for decades has been reduced to "complementarism" - an attempt not to break, but to connect, as much as possible, to interact with all countries and actors. "Even the current dialogue with the European Union is called by the Armenian leadership not a turn, but diversification," he noted.
As Iskandaryan stated, it is impossible to imagine that Armenia will break off relations with Russia. "Is it possible to somehow replace Upper Lars? This is a point on the border of Georgia and Russia, through which a huge part of Armenian exports to Russia, which is one of the key consumers of Armenian agricultural products, goes... It is impossible to build another Lars that will connect Armenia not with Russia, but with Luxembourg," he emphasized.
On the other hand, according to the expert, when weapons are needed, and it is impossible to get them from Russia, you have to go to India and France, despite the geography.
"Some models of development of the domestic political system have to be borrowed from the Europeans - simply because they have them. The same negotiations on visa-free travel with the European Union are a wonderful prospect for the citizens of Armenia, which will significantly facilitate their movement to Europe. And we also have relations with Iran - this is 30% of our export and import. And we have excellent relations with Georgia. And in order to improve Russian-Armenian relations, it is not at all necessary to worsen Armenian-European relations," Iskadaryan is sure.
