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Russian political analyst: â€œArmenia's intention to join the Customs Union is a political decision, not an economic oneâ€

04 September 2013 14:11 (UTC +04:00)

Moscow. Farid Akberov – APA. “Armenia has made a statement about its intention to join the Customs Union. It can’t join the organization within a day. This process will probably last at least a year. Therefore, it is still too early to say that Armenia has joined the Customs Union. Armenia should sign some documents during the period of negotiations to become a member of the organization. There are a number of documents. I think that Armenia is not ready yet to take initial steps,” expert of the Center for the study of socio-political processes in the post-Soviet space of M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, political analyst Alexander Karavayev told APA’s Moscow correspondent.

Karavayev said that Armenia's intention to join the Customs Union is not an economic decision: “This is purely a political decision. Armenia has made this decision being afraid for the emergency of complex problems for its own security and intending to strengthen its positions in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent regions. Armenia's economy has not developed so that Moscow can involve this country in the membership of the Customs Union, then the Eurasian Union. Armenia's joining these organizations is not so important in terms of economy.”

According to the analyst, Armenia is one of the elements of Russia’s security and military-strategic structure: “Thus, taking into account all these it is impossible to estimate this decision of Armenia as an economic one. If Armenia joins the Customs Union, no changes are expected in its economy. As you know, the European Union will sign an association agreement with Ukraine in November this year. The fact that Armenia has announced its intention to be a member of the Customs Union is a high score in favor of Moscow. Russia has lost Ukraine, gained Armenia.”

Karavayev noted that Vladimir Putin’s visit to Baku in August also affected Armenia’s decision. According to him, Yerevan has taken such a step being afraid of rapprochement between Azerbaijan and Russia: “They worry that Russia can take a position in favor of Azerbaijan in the resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Taking this into account, Armenia has turned back on Europe and chosen Russia’s desire. Thereby, Yerevan has preserved in its favor the status quo in the resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict for long.”