EU High Representative Kaya Kalas the other day announced, that “the European Union will send a ‘hybrid rapid response team’ to Armenia to help counter threats ahead of the country’s elections.”

During a meeting with journalists after the meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Kalas stated that “support for the stability of democracy in the region remains the most important”.

“We will not leave Armenia alone in the fight against foreign interference. Democracies under pressure can count on Europe.” said the diplomat, reminding that Yerevan asked for help.

Head of YSU Political Institutes and Processes Chair, Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor Garik Keryan according to him, what is happening is mostly understandable, because the EU today has a problem to protect those regimes in the post-Soviet area, which have a western orientation.

“Of course, we know what a tough conflict the West, and now especially the EU, is in with Russia, we also know that Russia’s foreign political supremacy is regaining its influence in the post-Soviet space. In this context, everything is understandable. The EU can achieve its strategic goals if it preserves and increases the anti-Russian, Western regimes in the post-Soviet space. At the same time, Russia can regain its influence in the post-Soviet area if it strengthens the pro-Russian regimes and, conversely, achieves the defeat of the elections and the departure of pro-Western or, more precisely, pro-European regimes.

We saw what fierce struggle unfolded in Moldova and how much effort the European Union put in to save the regime of Maya Sandu. We have seen what huge military expenses are spent to save Ukraine, and in the South Caucasus today the EU’s primary attention is directed to Armenia. He is very worried that the pro-Russian forces will win in the upcoming elections.” 168.am–Garik Keryan said in a conversation with

Why, especially now, is the EU so earnestly trying to activate its position and influence in Armenia with the slogan of “fighting hybrid war”? According to the observation of our interlocutor, the problem is that in order to have a geostrategic influence in the South Caucasus, it is necessary to have strong positions in 3 republics. Having strong positions in one or two countries leaves the goal incomplete. In turn, history also shows that you have to dominate the South Caucasus completely or not at all.

“Now the situation in the South Caucasus is as follows: Azerbaijan is completely integrated with Turkey, which is definitely not under the influence of the EU today, because the EU “grabbed Turkey by the nose” for about 35 years and did not accept the EU, there is a rather hardened anti-European mentality there. Until 2012, Georgia was under the influence of the EU, separated from Russia and pursued an anti-Russian foreign policy, and had a clear roadmap for integration into NATO and the EU. After 2012, Georgian society seems to have taken a very sharp turn, because it was the pro-Western Saakashvili regime that suffered an embarrassing defeat in the elections.

Today, Georgia is not only under the influence of the EU, but on the contrary, the Brussels cabinets are not only talking about canceling Georgia’s membership in the EU, but even imposing sanctions on the Ivanishvili-Kobakhidze tandem. It turns out that the EU has no influence on Azerbaijan and Georgia, and the only state in the Caucasus that still inspires hope in the EU is Armenia,” the political scientist added.

According to Garik Keryan, this is the reason why Armenia has acquired a very important importance for the EU and the United States. Of course, according to him, the United States prefers Azerbaijan economically, politically and geostrategically, taking into account the border with Iran, gas and oil resources, being integrated with NATO Turkey, so Armenia is not of such great importance for the United States.

“However, Armenia is very important for the orientation of the political regime or the dominance of the foreign political vector for the EU. Taking these circumstances into account, the EU will do everything to keep Armenia in its vector,” Garik Keryan emphasized.

Let’s remind that back in February, Azatutyun radio station published the RA Foreign Minister’s letter to Brussels, in which he asked to send a rapid response team to Armenia on the eve of the elections. In addition, at the end of the year, the EU announced that it was going to allocate 12 million euros to Armenia “to fight against Russian disinformation” on the eve of the elections.

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