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ARMENIAN PUNDIT SAYS EU BACKING YEREVAN AGAINST RUSSIAN "PRESSURE"
168 Zham [in Armenian], Armenia
July 11 2013
An Armenian political analyst has said that the recent visit by a
top EU official to his country is meant to counter Russian "pressure"
on Yerevan.
One of the goals of the visit to Yerevan by European Commissioner
for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fule was to
encourage Armenia to choose European integration over falling under
Russian influence, Suren Surenyan said in comments published by the
privately-owned Armenian daily 168 Zham on 11 July.
"Such visits are primarily meant as a check-up and let us not forget
- and this is no secret - that Russia is exerting serious pressure
with the goal of convincing the Armenian authorities to slow down the
pace of their European integration. Brussels, of course, is aware of
such attempts, and through visits like this it is trying to prevent
possible negative things coming from Moscow," Surenyan said.
The pundit added that Russia, unlike the West, exerted hard and
"uncivilized" pressure against Armenia. He said that examples of
such pressure were Moscow's recent move to increase gas prices for
Armenia and to sell arms valued at 1bn dollars to Baku, with which
Yerevan is technically at war over Azerbaijan's breakaway region of
Nagornyy Karabakh.
The pundit warned that Russia risked losing its influence over
Armenia entirely if it did not ease its pressure. "Either the Russian
authorities acknowledge the simple fact that Armenia is independent and
treat [Armenia] as an equal, or they will lose Armenia. If Russia's
counter-productive policy persists, the seriousness of its regional
influence will be put in question. Willingly or unwillingly, the
Russian elite will one day come to realize that it has to deal with
an independent nation, not a province or a district [of Russia],"
Surenyan said.
[translated from Armenian]
168 Zham [in Armenian], Armenia
July 11 2013
An Armenian political analyst has said that the recent visit by a
top EU official to his country is meant to counter Russian "pressure"
on Yerevan.
One of the goals of the visit to Yerevan by European Commissioner
for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fule was to
encourage Armenia to choose European integration over falling under
Russian influence, Suren Surenyan said in comments published by the
privately-owned Armenian daily 168 Zham on 11 July.
"Such visits are primarily meant as a check-up and let us not forget
- and this is no secret - that Russia is exerting serious pressure
with the goal of convincing the Armenian authorities to slow down the
pace of their European integration. Brussels, of course, is aware of
such attempts, and through visits like this it is trying to prevent
possible negative things coming from Moscow," Surenyan said.
The pundit added that Russia, unlike the West, exerted hard and
"uncivilized" pressure against Armenia. He said that examples of
such pressure were Moscow's recent move to increase gas prices for
Armenia and to sell arms valued at 1bn dollars to Baku, with which
Yerevan is technically at war over Azerbaijan's breakaway region of
Nagornyy Karabakh.
The pundit warned that Russia risked losing its influence over
Armenia entirely if it did not ease its pressure. "Either the Russian
authorities acknowledge the simple fact that Armenia is independent and
treat [Armenia] as an equal, or they will lose Armenia. If Russia's
counter-productive policy persists, the seriousness of its regional
influence will be put in question. Willingly or unwillingly, the
Russian elite will one day come to realize that it has to deal with
an independent nation, not a province or a district [of Russia],"
Surenyan said.
[translated from Armenian]