Armenia must separate from Russia or risk losing statehood, pundit claims

In an interview with the Armenian media, political analyst Robert Ghevondyan criticised the attitude of the Armenian authorities regarding the freezing of Armenia's membership in the CSTO.

"The Armenian authorities act in the logic of reacting to realities, Armenia froze its activity in the CSTO probably a year and a half ago, but the authorities announced it only today, which is very late," he noted, per Caliber.Az.

"Now Armenia is not working with the CSTO, and after some time it will have to withdraw from this structure. If it starts the process of withdrawal from the CSTO today or yesterday, it would be possible to get something in return from other directions, for example, it would be possible to carry out this process in a certain way and at a certain time, in a way convenient for us, with procedures convenient for us.

And if we have to leave the CSTO, because there will be such a situation that the CSTO will actually exclude Armenia from all its processes, i.e. it will not make sense for Armenia to stay there, then no one will offer us anything.

So I think these processes have been slowed down. The withdrawal of the Russian military from Zvartnots should have started in 2018. They are not sitting there under any legal regulation, they just came and that's it. This is a criminal offence and the authorities have turned a blind eye to it. There are similar situations in other places. I would like to remind you that the Prime Minister has not yet answered the question of what the Russian military is building in Meghri.

It is not certain that Armenia will be able to withstand all the challenges, but it has no choice but to try. The other way - continuing to be totally dependent on Russia - will lead to the destruction of Armenia's statehood.

In Russia's plans, Armenia does not exist as an independent state, just as Ukraine does not exist as an independent state, and in terms of resources Armenia cannot be compared to Ukraine. Therefore, Armenia should try to meet these challenges to preserve its independence and not lose statehood," the political scientist said.