Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13
By Elmira Tariverdiyeva - Trend:
It seems Europe, this time too, for some unknown reason, is ready to forgive Armenia's betrayal against it in September 2013.
At the time, despite that it was planned to sign an association agreement between Armenia and the EU at the 2013 Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius, Armenia backed off at the last moment.
Two months before the signing of this agreement, Armenia's President Serzh Sargsyan, at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, reiterated his country's desire to join the Customs Union and the creation of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).
And such a sudden decision by Armenia caused criticism in the circles of Europe, who said Armenia virtually broke off talks with Europe, making it impossible to initial the association agreement with the EU.
And on January 2, 2015, Armenia officially became a member of the EEU.
And now attention. From a legal point of view, it is impossible to simultaneously be a member of the Customs Union and have an agreement on association and free trade zone with the EU.
This means that Yerevan has greatly lost once again. That is, it is evident that by joining the Customs Union, Armenia has closed all economic cooperation possibilities with the EU. However ...
Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian is a participant in the negotiations with the political directors of the Polish and Swedish foreign ministries. The political directors arrived in Yerevan for consultations on the eve of the Eastern Partnership summit in Riga.
Nalbandian said that besides the political part, the EU and Armenia intend to include the economic part in the bilateral agreement.
One has an impression that Europe once again forgave a "foolish child" - Yerevan. Nevertheless, it decided to help a country that is ready to betray Moscow once again for its own benefit.
By the way, the message about the readiness to betray the ally was given by Serzh Sargsyan during his recent visit to the US.
In the interview with Washington Post, he said that Armenians are suffering now from the rift between Russia and the West in three ways: Armenian exports to Russia, Russian investment in Armenia and remittances from Armenians working in Russia - which account for one-fifth of Armenia's GDP - all are down.
There was a need to mention the truth, which is common knowledge only in one case - Sargsyan clearly hinted that it would be nice to help Armenia compensate its losses as a result of the Western sanctions imposed on Russia.
Naturally, in exchange for this, Yerevan will agree to bow to the West.
Betrayal is not something extraordinary or shameful for the country that does nothing but betray its allies and friends.
The only question is whether the West wants to make a fool of itself once again and be used by a small, but very tricky country - Armenia.
Edited by CN
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Elmira Tariverdiyeva is Trend Agency's staff writer, follow her on Twitter @EmmaTariver