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 assist bundle 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 vitality grid and boosting grain harvests.
A part of it would 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 yr in a historic defeat — as Russian peacekeepers stood idly by.
Blinken spoke of a “second of selection for the Armenian folks and for its leaders” on Friday, relating to its latest 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 overseas ministry stated it might “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 towards any “elevated rigidity 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 function, legacy function” 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 the direction of nearer integration with the EU.
Nonetheless, its then president Serzh Sargsyan joined a Russia-led financial bloc, the Eurasian Financial Union (EEU), beneath Russian strain as a substitute.
However Russia’s actions within the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict final yr confirmed Armenia that Moscow’s guarantees to maintain it protected from Azerbaijan — as enshrined within the area’s Collective Safety Treaty Organisation (CSTO) — have been hole.
Luc Devigne, the top of the Russia division within the EU overseas service, informed 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 street … passively to dam the [Azerbaijan] navy 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 navy drills with US troopers.
Armenia’s overseas 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 each day Le Monde on Thursday.
“Whereas all eyes are centered on Russia’s unlawful conflict towards Ukraine, one other main geopolitical shift is occurring in Europe, this time within the South Caucasus,” he stated.