Russian political scientist: EU-Azerbaijan cooperation - failure of Armenian policy

The desire of the EU to establish closer relations with Azerbaijan is a failure of the entire Armenian policy, which tried to oppose the EU to Azerbaijan, associate professor at the Department of International Security of the Faculty of World Politics of the Lomonosov Moscow State University, political scientist Alexey Fenenko told the Russian bureau of Report.

He said that with the coming to power of Sargsyan and then Pashinyan, the opinion prevailed among the Armenian public that the country was the most important partner of the EU in the South Caucasus. “The Armenians believed that in any conflicts, the EU, and with it NATO, would automatically support them. There was even an opinion that Azerbaijan would be excluded from all EU programs due to the conflict. Everything happened exactly the opposite way,” Fenenko said.

The expert added that the EU adheres to the most pragmatic approach and cooperates with Azerbaijan as a country with economic resources and real economic achievements. The EU doesn’t work with strategically unpromising Armenia, which has a weak economy and also adheres to the position of maintaining a conflict situation.

“To develop relations with Azerbaijan, the EU needs construction and development of transport and economic communications that would connect them,” the Russian political scientist stressed.