Armenia siding with EU and US after Russian betrayal

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 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 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 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 mentioned.

Pashinyan mentioned 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 mentioned it will “undermine” efforts to finalise a peace deal between Yerevan and Baku by “excluding” the Azeri chief.

“This initiative … will pave the way in which for the South Caucasus to turn into an space of geopolitical confrontation,” Turkey mentioned.

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 pressure on the border”.

No person on the mini-summit talked about the opposite elephant within the room — Russia.

However chatting with media the identical day, the US’ prime diplomat on Eurasian affairs, James O’Brien, mentioned 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 mentioned.

Blinken’s name with Aliyev on Armenia was “good and constructive”, O’Brien mentioned.

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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.

Nevertheless, 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 warfare 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 overseas 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 autos within the street … passively to dam the [Azerbaijan] army operation,” Devigne mentioned.

In the meantime, Russia’s EEU has been largely inactive, whereas the 2023 warfare noticed Armenia freeze CSTO cooperation and begin holding small-scale army drills with US troopers.

Armenia’s overseas minister mentioned 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”, mentioned 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 targeted on Russia’s unlawful warfare towards Ukraine, one other main geopolitical shift is occurring in Europe, this time within the South Caucasus,” he mentioned.