Armenia, the EU, and US have made a present of nearer ties within the wake of what Armenians see as Russia’s betrayal on Nagorno-Karabakh.
The US secretary of state Antony Blinken, European Fee president Ursula von der Leyen, and Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan met in Brussels on Friday (5 April) to unveil a brand new Western help package deal that includes €270m from the EU and $65m (€60m) from the US.
The cash is to guard Armenia’s “financial and democratic resilience”, as an illustration by modernising its power grid and boosting grain harvests.
A part of it can even be spent on serving to the 100,000 ethnic Armenian refugees pushed out from Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous exclave, which was reconquered by Azerbaijan in September final 12 months in a historic defeat — as Russian peacekeepers stood idly by.
Blinken spoke of a “second of alternative for the Armenian folks and for its leaders” on Friday, relating to its current overtures to the West.
Von der Leyen spoke of a “new chapter” in relations. “The European Union and Armenia are more and more aligned in values and curiosity,” she stated.
Pashinyan stated he shared her “imaginative and prescient of a democratic, peaceable, and affluent future” for his nation.
Friday’s assembly was criticised by Azerbaijan and its ally Turkey — whose international ministry stated it could “undermine” efforts to finalise a peace deal between Yerevan and Baku by “excluding” the Azeri chief.
“This initiative … will pave the best way for the South Caucasus to turn into an space of geopolitical confrontation,” Turkey stated.
However Blinken additionally threw the US’ weight into peace talks, alongside ongoing EU efforts, by phoning Azerbaijan president Ilham Alyiev forward of the Brussels assembly to warn in opposition to any “elevated stress on the border”.
No person on the mini-summit talked about the opposite elephant within the room — Russia.
However talking to media the identical day, the US’ high diplomat on Eurasian affairs, James O’Brien, stated Russia had a “historic position, legacy position” in Armenia, whereas complaining of its ongoing anti-Western “disinformation”.
“I hope it [Russia] can respect the selection of the Armenian folks, as they select financial reform and prosperity,” O’Brien stated.
Blinken’s name with Aliyev on Armenia was “good and constructive”, O’Brien stated.
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Armenia had been planning to hitch Ukraine in 2013 in signing an EU affiliation settlement, placing it on a path in direction of nearer integration with the EU.
Nevertheless, its then president Serzh Sargsyan joined a Russia-led financial bloc, the Eurasian Financial Union (EEU), below Russian strain as an alternative.
However Russia’s actions within the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict final 12 months confirmed Armenia that Moscow’s guarantees to maintain it secure from Azerbaijan — as enshrined within the area’s Collective Safety Treaty Organisation (CSTO) — had been hole.
Luc Devigne, the pinnacle of the Russia division within the EU international service, instructed MEPs final September Russia was squarely to “blame” for occasions.
“Did any of those [2,000 Russian] peacekeepers do something? Nothing. They did not even put their armoured automobiles within the highway … passively to dam the [Azerbaijan] army operation,” Devigne stated.
In the meantime, Russia’s EEU has been largely inactive, whereas the 2023 conflict noticed Armenia freeze CSTO cooperation and begin holding small-scale army drills with US troopers.
Armenia’s international minister stated on Turkish TV in March that “new alternatives are largely being mentioned in Armenia these days … that features membership within the European Union”.
Armenia has “turned to the West”, stated Anders Fogh-Rasmussen, a former Nato chief who works as a advisor for the Armenian authorities, in an op-ed in French every day Le Monde on Thursday.
“Whereas all eyes are targeted on Russia’s unlawful conflict in opposition to Ukraine, one other main geopolitical shift is going on in Europe, this time within the South Caucasus,” he stated.
