After Serzh Sargsyan’s resignation and Nikol Pashinyan’s coming to power, many Armenian and Russian media started to write that Pashinyan will immediately lead the country in the direction of the West, and Armenian-Russian relations will be in danger of freezing. These assumptions were made on the basis that Pashinyan led the Yelq bloc, which is considered a pro-Western political force, in the National Assembly. It was this faction that initiated the hearings about leaving the EAEU in the parliament.

After assuming the post of Prime Minister, Pashinyan announced that no one should question Armenian-Russian relations. And this is exactly what members of the “Voice of the People” public club talked about today at a meeting with journalists Arman Ghukasyan and: Tsovinar Kostanyan:

As Ghukasyan mentioned, the “Voice of the People” social club conducted a sociological survey “The level of expectations and confidence of the Armenian society towards the new government”. According to the results of the survey, the society expects economic improvement, which is also connected with the fact that the new government will carry out its activities within the framework of the development of Armenian-Russian relations and EAEU membership.

The survey was conducted among 1200 citizens of Yerevan and marzes aged 18-60. “According to the results of the survey, the degree of confidence of the citizens towards the new government is 9 (on a scale of 1-10 points) on average. 78% of them expect that the economic situation in the country will improve in the coming year, 17% do not think so, and 5% find it difficult to answer the question clearly,” said Ghukasyan.

He emphasized that as far as Armenia’s foreign policy is concerned, 12% of survey participants believe that serious changes should be made, 82% believe that serious changes in foreign policy should not be made, and 6% abstained.

Another expert of the club, Tsovinar Kostanyan, stated that within the framework of the survey, it became clear that 56% of the respondents consider EAEU as the primary direction of economic development of Armenia, for 27%, the EU is the primary direction of economic development of Armenia, 63% believe that relations with the EU should be developed in such a way that it does not interfere with Armenia’s membership in EAEU, and 17% believe that for Armenia EATM does not represent any real interest, that’s why this direction should be replaced by another one.

“The last question in the questionnaire referred to the list of countries with which Armenia’s close cooperation is paramount. Survey participants had the opportunity to choose several options and the picture is as follows. Russia – 74%, European Union – 51%, USA – 43%, Georgia – 43%, Iran – 27%, China – 22%,” said Ts. Kostanyan.

Summarizing the results of the survey, the speakers highlighted four points at the end of the press conference, according to which:

• At the current stage, the degree of confidence of the Armenian society towards the new government is quite high
• The vast majority of citizens expect economic improvement in the coming year 
• Most of the survey participants believe that there should be no changes in Armenia’s foreign policy
• The respondents believe that EAEU is the primary direction for Armenia’s economic development, and relations with the EU should be developed in such a way that it does not hinder Armenia’s membership in EAEU.
• According to the opinion of the Armenian society, among several countries, Russia is in the first place for Armenia, with whom relations are of primary importance.