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Deputy Prime Minister Overchuk ruled out the adoption of restrictive measures against Armenia at the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) summit to be held in Astana.

The Eurasian Economic Forum, which will be attended by the leaders of the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), will be held on May 28 in Astana.

“There is no question of changing the contract. A consensus is needed to amend the agreement, and as far as we know, Armenia is not going to leave the EAEU. There, they understand very well both the volume of privileges and the volume of trade with other EAEU member states, which was largely possible due to the preferential regimes that operate for Armenia,” said the Russian Deputy Prime Minister.

According to him, these are zero customs duties, harmonized standards, and harmonized technical regulations. Today our markets are open and there is a free movement of goods, said Overchuk.

“Therefore, naturally, Armenians understand very well the advantages that membership in the Eurasian Economic Union gives them, and they do not want to leave. There are political forces in that republic whose goal is to declare rapprochement with the European Union and membership in that union. Everyone understands that it is incompatible, this is a new situation, and it is necessary to assess it,” said the vice-president of the Russian government.

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“If, God forbid, Nikol declared himself prime minister after June 7, then on behalf of Armenia, he will donate a certain share of TRIPP to Azerbaijan and Turkey,” RPA Vice President Armen Ashotyan said a little while ago, referring to the one-hour visit of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to the Republic of Armenia and the pending bilateral documents signed here.

Armen Ashotyan said that Marco Rubio signed 3 documents with Armenia during his visit that lasted less than 1 hour, so he wants to briefly present important nuances and issues related to those 3 documents, which were left out of the opposition’s speech.

Speaking about the RA-US framework memorandum on supply assurance in the field of extraction and processing of important minerals and rare minerals, Armen Ashotyan said:

“At first glance, the general policy of the USA is the priority in relation to rare earth minerals and metal minerals – to have the whole world supply, etc. At first glance, it may seem that this document is against Russia or China, in fact, there is a very interesting nuance here.

The main, important mineral in Armenia is molybdenum, which our country has 7% of the world’s reserves, and 7% of the world’s molybdenum is near us, mainly in Syunik. According to open sources, the main consumer of this mineral is neither Russia nor China, the main consumer of this mineral is the countries of the European Union. Yes, according to the agreement signed with Washington, Armenia actually undertakes the obligation to sell and direct its rare metals and minerals to the USA in fact, at the expense of the European Union, because the No. 1 market is Belgium, Holland and a number of other countries,” detailed Armen Ashotyan, continuing that with that document Washington actually wants to take away Armenian molybdenum from Brussels. The RPA vice-president described this phenomenon as the paradox of this document.

RPA Vice President Armen Ashotyan also referred to another document, the RA-US comprehensive strategic partnership charter.

According to him, this is an interesting document because the Biden administration signed a “Strategic Partnership Charter” with Armenia in the last days of its existence.

“This is a “Comprehensive strategic partnership document”. The textual analysis shows that there are, of course, some differences, because in this new document there is a clear reference to the Washington summit last year, a reference to TRIPP, etc., etc., that is, there is a little more specificity, related to nuclear reactors, etc., which was not in the Biden document.

But the problem is not only that, because the Trump administration likes, so to speak, to tune this or that direction received from Biden and make it unprecedented, here the word “comprehensive”, that is, the word “comprehensive” should not confuse you.

I especially want to draw your attention to the following. Therefore, “comprehensive” strategic partnership also implies clear cooperation in the security and defense spheres. It is thus comprehensive, that is, all spheres must be involved, including the security sphere, which is important for both the US and us.

However, when you open the 3rd section related to the security sector, we see that there is nothing serious, objective. The United States does not assume any obligation to ensure the defense and security of Armenia with this Comprehensive Strategic Partnership document, except for generously allowing Armenia to purchase American-made weapons in the future through appropriate mechanisms. In other words, this document does not envisage any serious impact on Armenia’s defense capability, security, there are no new guarantees, the USA does not undertake any obligations related to Armenia’s security and defense,” said Ashotyan.

He also detailed that the USA is also grateful to Armenia, that Armenia has its participation in global security topics: Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, Lebanon, Mali. “The 2nd point of that 3rd block is very interesting, it is entirely about the political and military legacy left during and thanks to Serzh Sargsyan, because Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, Lebanon, Mali, all these topics either started during Serzh Sargsyan’s rule, or continued, if I am not mistaken, only Afghanistan, which was done before that,” Ashotyan said.

He explained that in Section 3, which is called Security and Defense, no security guarantees are given to Armenia, which contradicts the concept of comprehensive partnership.

Referring also to the framework agreement on strategic cooperation regarding the third RA-USA “Trump’s Way for International Peace and Prosperity” project (TRIP), Ashotyan said that there are very serious threats here.

He noted that this document confirms his earlier concern that this project may turn into an Armenian-American-Azerbaijani, Armenian-American-Turkish project instead of an Armenian-American project.

“There is no prohibition for the parties to resell or in any other way transfer their shares of TRIPP to third parties with this new document. Moreover, a mechanism is provided for how the parties, if they want to transfer those portions to other parties, should resolve this issue.

“Problem one, this agreement emphasizes our concern that this TRIPP project will not remain Armenian-American. It is obvious with this agreement that the parties can transfer their actions to 3rd parties by mutual consent. It is obvious, isn’t it, that Turkey and Azerbaijan stand first among those 3rd parties.

Yes, agreement is expected from Armenia, if Armenia agrees, it can happen. Does anyone doubt that if Turkey wants to buy it, or Azerbaijan, the Americans said, okay, the current authorities of Armenia will be able to say no?

In other words, “it is not an absolute guarantee that the redistribution of those actions will depend on the current authorities of Armenia”, on the contrary, it is one of the biggest threats, because this government is Turkish, pro-Turkish and pro-Turkish, and this is clear. Let me tell you more, I do not rule out that if, God forbid, Nikol declares himself the Prime Minister after June 7, then Nikol himself will give a certain share to Azerbaijan and Turkey on behalf of Armenia.

Remember these words of mine. If we did not prevent Nikol’s reproduction on June 7, then Nikol will redistribute our portion in TRIPP to Azerbaijan or Turkey, or resell it symbolically on behalf of all of us,” he said.

The next concern, according to him, is that the TRIPP corporation, which is created in parts, has the right to have subcontractors and decide to hire new parties for this or that operation, this or that function, this or that direction.

“Those new parties are called 3rd parties, it is also obvious here that they can be Turkish-Azerbaijani firms, companies, to which TRIPP Corporation will, so to speak, delegate certain powers and functions.

And those 3rd parties, for example, this or that Turkish company, or Azeri, will receive the same rights to ensure that function,” Ashotyan said, continuing that there is a window in which they can formally keep the Armenian-American project, but on the ground, reassign, delegate, order all functions to the Turkish or Azerbaijani parties.

“The next problem in this agreement is that, in fact, Armenia is really deprived of its own sovereignty over that territory. Armenia completely gives the rights related to that territory, except customs, tax, current, security, etc., to that corporation, where 74% is not Armenian.

In other words, to talk about sovereignty under this regime, which, apart from everything else, is ready to give our own land to another party, in front of our eyes, is just a joke, this is something equal to state treason, especially considering the fact that this agreement stipulates that if the provisions of the agreement contradict our laws, then this agreement is valid, if it does not contradict the Constitution.

Well, how Nikol wants to reshape, reshape our Constitution, if he remains in power, we all already know and imagine very well,” explained Armen Ashotyan.

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On May 18, BTA Minister Mkhitar Hayrapetyan stated that for the first time domestically produced weapons worth millions of dollars were exported from Armenia.

On May 19 168.amhas sent a written request to the RA Minister of High-tech Industry to find out what exactly it is about and to which country it was exported.

And instead of giving a clear answer to our questions in his reply letter sent on May 26, Mkhitar Hayrapetyan decided to send the link to the press conference held on May 20 so that we can find the answer to our question there. In other words, what they or the relevant department get paid for, we have to do.

However, unlike the Ministry of Defense and Security, we did not hesitate and found the part of the press conference offered to us, which refers to the export of domestically produced weapons from Armenia worth millions of dollars.

“For the first time, final military products developed and produced in Armenia were exported this month. It is no coincidence that during my statement I did not mention the names of specific companies, their last address, the number, value and type of weapons, because as a rule, in the case of similar transactions, there should be a consensus between the parties to present these data publicly.

At the moment, there is no such consensus. And this is why we cannot endanger or create additional problems for the future with our statements. The deals that took place, they took place. But the future is very important, these are only the first steps. In other words, it is very important in this field that both Armenia as a state and Armenian companies as business partners are trustworthy and reliable.

There are rules that must be observed, and the observance of these rules is also a prerequisite for possible future new transactions, and there will be future new transactions. As of now, more companies already have permission to export to more countries from the Republic of Armenia government, or at least in the process, than I announced, 2 countries have been exported, but both the government and the private sector will have to follow very carefully and behave professionally, not to jeopardize any possible future deals at the expense of other companies. When all parties make a decision that they should be public and public, in that case, both we, the companies, and the directions, and the weapons, and, why not, also the volume of the transaction will be announced in specific details, although in a certain sense I have made hints that they reach millions of dollars”, stated Mkhitar Hayrapetyan during the press conference held a few days ago, adding that the figures and deputies with access to confidential information can determine whether the mentioned is real or not. to check

If there is a problem of publicity and not interfering with transactions, in this case, maybe the authorities would not have been hasty and announced that millions of dollars worth of domestically produced weapons had been exported? This is the first.

Secondly, when Armenia was still signing arms supply contracts with France and India and no weapons had been supplied yet, French and Indian sources leaked, and we wrote every time that Armenia had to set a condition so that there would be no early declassifications, which the BTA minister mentioned above, that they do not have permission from the parties to the deal to publish detailed data.

In this context, at the press conference mentioned above, Mkhitar Hayrapetyan did not ignore the question of whether this is the first case of arms export from Armenia, because there are reports that 10 years ago we had exports to Italy and Poland.

“In the bases of the high-tech industry and the Ministries of Defense, at least at the moment, there is no such information. I can say from the information that I have, yes, there was an export, but it was either civilian or dual-use products, and there was, for example, the export of components of the X system of military products.

For example, conditionally it can be the export of air defense system cells or some components. My statement refers to the export of final military products, which were developed, produced and, as final weapons, exported from Armenia. If there are similar criticisms, then, naturally, I will also expect that if they want, they can at least publicly inform us what weapons were produced in Armenia 10 years ago as a final military product and exported from Armenia. If we don’t present similar facts, I’m sorry, but I will have a legitimate right to think that these are just another bare-bones statements,” said the BTA minister.

Mkhitar Hayrapetyan keeps secret what weapons and ammunition are supplied to the army and what state-of-the-art weapons Pashinyan was talking about in 2020

Through our written request, we also tried to find out from the BTA Ministry with which countries there are contracts to establish a joint military-industrial enterprise, or perhaps already enterprises, and what ammunition and weapons are produced in RA today and supplied to the army.

“We announce that there are certain agreements regarding the establishment of joint military-industrial enterprises with foreign partners and the expansion of directions.

However, taking into account the sensitivity and strategic nature of the processes, it is not appropriate to publish details at this stage.

As for the supply to the RA Armed Forces, the information on the types of weapons, ammunition and their specific quantities supplied to the RA Armed Forces is, according to the RA Law “On State Secrets”, a state secret and is not subject to publication. Therefore, guided by Article 8, Part 1, Clause e of the RA Law “On Freedom of Information”, the provision of the mentioned information is refused.»,- responded from the department.

It should be noted that a few months ago, Armen Khachatryan, a member of the Standing Committee on Defense and Security of the National Assembly, during one of the interviews had announced or perhaps reveal that: «we have serial production զենք՝ artillery, which in the world the best is․ that supplied is RA: to the army.” There have been other similar leaks. Moreover, tomorrow is a military parade and the arsenal of the RA Armed Forces will be shown, where there are also weapons of domestic production.

In addition, we reminded the Ministry of Education and Culture of the following statements made during Nikol Pashinyan’s live Facebook broadcast on April 7, 2020. the statement.

“I want to hint at a news that is actually a secret. A few days ago, I was shown a sample of the products of the military-industrial complex of Armenia, the existence of which proves that the military-industrial complex in Armenia is reaching a new level. The most important feature of this sample is not only that it is a state-of-the-art product, but that it was assembled from scratch in Armenia.”

After 6 years, we asked Mkhitar Hayrapetyan what it was about, whether it was brought to the finish line, but he avoided a specific answer.

“The public will have the opportunity to get acquainted with the capabilities and achievements of the products of the national military-industrial complex, including the latest developments and samples, during the festive military parade on May 28, as well as during the two-day high-tech exhibition RISE Powered by Silicon Mountains 2026, which will take place on June 3 and 4 at the Karen Demirchyan Sports Concert Complex,” the Minister of BTA concluded.

“Lyubava-Armenia” company was first renamed, then temporarily stopped its activity

In any case, we will also try to get an answer to our question from the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia within the framework of the mentioned measures, if, of course, they do not avoid a specific answer again.

And we also asked the Ministry of BTA other questions through our written request, for example, is the AK-103 Kalashnikov assault rifle assembly workshop based on the base of the “Neutron GAM” CJSC factory functioning, as well as what is the current stage of the bullet production belonging to Davit Galstyan’s company, and why was the Armenian-Polish factory closed?Lubava–Armenia:” the enterprise.

“First of all, we inform you that the companies mentioned in the survey are not registered in the summary list (register) of the activities of the Military Industrial Complex (MIC), therefore the RA Ministry of High-Tech Industry does not have any information about their activities, workshops or contact information.
to the information. As for the other part of the question, then? the company mentioned in the survey was not closed, but was renamed. Currently, the company has temporarily suspended its operations due to lack of orders.”

It should be noted that there was information that after the change of power in 2018, the company “Lyubava-Armenia” stopped its activities. in 2019 from the Ministry of High-tech Industry 168.amto had reported that “the decision to stop the activity of “Lyubava-Armenia” in the Republic of Armenia is determined solely by economic circumstances.”

Later NEWS.amIn a conversation with the former Ambassador of Poland to Armenia Jerzy Nowakowski presented other reasons for the liquidation of the Armenian enterprise of the Polish company Lubawa SA.

“The Armenian revolution of 2018 inspired hope for activation of “Lyubava” and strengthening of business cooperation.

In the end, “Lyubavan” decided to leave Armenia after a meeting with Pashinyan, during which he accused the company of cooperating with the former government and said that the company cannot expect the trust of the new, “revolutionary” team,” Yezhi Nowakovsky told the media.

As for what name “Lyubava-Armenia” got later, what company it is about when they say that it was renamed, the Ministry of BTA avoided giving information, but the fact is that the renamed company is not working at least at the moment.

Let us add that “Lyubava-Armenia”, the first joint Armenian-Polish military-industrial enterprise, has been operating in Armenia since 2014 and was engaged in the production of modern multifunctional camouflage technologies, producing such products of military and technical significance as: false targets, technical and other tents, helmets, body armor, camouflage nets, etc., and all this in accordance with NATO standards.

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The pre-election campaign, which is heating up day by day in Armenia, is accompanied by a large foreign political component: harsh criticism of the RA authorities from Russia, words of unconditional support, visits and gestures from the West. And while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio visits Armenia in the hottest stage of the election campaign and signs three bilateral documents with the Armenian side, raising the Armenian-American cooperation to the level of a comprehensive strategic partnership, the Russian Federation calls on Armenia at the highest level to decide whether to stay in the EAEU or to leave the structure.

All this is also accompanied by small economic sanctions from Russia, due to the quality characteristics of a number of goods supplied from Armenia to Russia, which the RA authorities consider normal work problems, not seeing any extraordinary situation in all of this. Along with all this, the so-called topic of spies and agents has gained momentum in Armenia, the topic is circulated in every possible way, turning the topic of the so-called intervention from the Russian Federation into a key topic in the pre-election discourse. And the more Russia-West opposition, the discourse, escalates within Armenia, the more the statements from Russia escalate, turning into threats.

Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council the other day he severely criticized the foreign policy conducted by Nikol Pashinyan and the government, comparing it to the example of Ukraine. Medvedev announced that Nikol Pashinyan has chosen the path of severing relations with Russia, which will harm the entire Armenian nation and the country’s economy.

“We are ready to continue developing effective, mutually beneficial cooperation and equal cooperation with Armenia and its people. But in order for this to happen, our ally must have a constructive leadership that is ready to be friends with Russia,” said the vice president of the Council of the Russian Federation.

Andrey Lugovoi, vice-chairman of the Russian State Duma Security and Anti-Corruption Commission also proposed to review the gas concessions provided by Russia to Armenia, as well as consider the possibility of restricting the import of Armenian cognac.

“For decades, Russian gas was not only a commodity for Armenia, but also an element of alliance architecture. If that system breaks down, the preferential price must be replaced by a commercial price. In that case, it is proposed to increase it to the level of European prices: 400-600 dollars per thousand cubic meters”, held in the State Duma, “Armenia without Russia and Russia without Armenia. causes, results and consequences”, Lugovoi said during the round table.

In addition, according to the deputy, it is also necessary to “restrict” the preferential customs rules and regimes that give Armenia the opportunity to use the Russian economic territory, as well as to carry out a complete audit of Armenia’s interstate obligations towards Russia.

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova also asserted that, unlike the European Union, “cooperation within the EAEU framework is not politicized and is built on the basis of mutual respect and equality”. He also said that if Armenia continues the process of joining the EU, Russia will stop the agreements on the supply of gas, oil products and diamonds to the republic.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov He also said that gas subsidies are Russia’s aid to Armenia, and they are done at Russia’s expense.

“Privilege is always given at someone’s expense, it does not fall from the sky. The privilege given to RA is at the expense of the Russian Federation. This is really our contribution to the development of Armenia,” the Kremlin spokesman emphasized.

He added: for example, now, when gas is sold to Europeans for 500-800 dollars, no one helps them at their own expense, the Americans help them for a large amount of money. He addressed the issue of the possible cancellation of the gas agreement with Armenia to the “Gazprom” company.

“You should ask Gazprom about that, I don’t know anything about the cancellation.” There is a preferential price there, it can be higher or lower, and it can be revised, and corporations can raise that issue. It is a corporate issue, you should contact Gazprom,” Peskov told reporters, answering the question whether the possibility of canceling the agreement on supplying gas to Armenia at preferential prices is really being discussed.

Peskov also said that Armenia remains in EAEU, he will participate in the union summit to be held in Astana at a working level. “Armenia remains in the EAEU. Armenia will participate at the working level, but it will participate anyway, the entire top leadership of the country is busy with the election campaign, that is understandable,” said Peskov. Let’s remind that the Eurasian Economic Forum with the participation of the leaders of the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) will take place on May 28 in Astana.

The topic is actively covered by the Russian mass media. RIA Novosti, studying the data of the national statistical services, writes that in case of leaving the Eurasian Economic Union, Armenia puts almost 40 percent of its turnover at risk.

Today, Nikol Pashinyan referred to the direct and indirect threats related to the price of gas, saying that it is illogical to threaten Armenia, for example, with a high price, there is an answer to that threat: “we will have much more money so that it does not seem expensive to us.” “The people of Armenia should have an alternative: to be a member of the EAEU or to be a member of the European Union. I will not decide that, you will decide that. My point is that you have alternatives, and you do have alternatives. Those of our colleagues who respond to this with threats, even if hidden, are acting against themselves, because they have to make an offer to the Armenian people, say: we will do this good thing, we will do that, they, on the contrary, say: we will do this bad thing,” Pashinyan noted. Emphasizing that today Armenia is becoming a crossroads of peace, he said. “It means that Armenia, not a country of thousands or millions, will be a country of billions and trillions.”

However, the question is, to what extent does Armenia really have real economic and foreign political alternatives in the form of the West? This question becomes the watershed where pre-election rhetoric ends and cold realpolitik begins. When we put aside propaganda effects and emotional emphasis, we are forced to evaluate the situation exclusively in the language of numbers, geographical location and institutional realities. And the comparison of these data proves that at the current stage, Armenia does not have a quick and adequate economic alternative to replace Russia, while the European Union does not offer any legal or political guarantee of the upcoming membership to Armenia.

Armenia’s economic system has been built for decades by the logic of structural convergence with Russian infrastructure and the consumption market, where a possible exit from the EAEU threatens a significant percentage of goods turnover, mainly the vital branches of Armenian exports.

The European market operates with a system of strict tariff quotas, technical regulations and quality standards, which will require years of adaptation and huge capital investments from the Armenian business to comply with, and the cost of logistics to the EU is incomparably high, as there is currently no real transport substitute for the Upper Lars checkpoint.

The energy component is even more vulnerable. The impulses coming from Moscow to end the gas subsidy and raise the price to the European level ($400-600) are a direct threat to Armenia’s macroeconomic stability, and Pashinyan’s claim that this risk can be countered by the formula of “having more money” is not based on any clear economic calculation, as long as there is no peace agreement in the region and the borders are not closed.

Against this background, the prospect of joining the European Union cannot be considered as an alternative, because Brussels currently does not have an official active expansion agenda, the EU, judging by the statements, is ready to expand only financial support and deepen partnership, but the actual process of institutional membership seems vague. The experience of Turkey, Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova shows that the path from candidate status to full membership is too long and politicized, and Armenia cannot be in two different customs domains at the same time.

Exiting the EAEU will mean the automatic cancellation of the free trade regime with the Russian Federation, the economic consequences of which will be immediate, while the establishment of new economic ties with the EU will take decades. Even United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit and statements about raising relations to the level of strategic partnership have a clear geopolitical context. Washington’s priority is to launch the TRIPP route to extract resources from Central Asia, where Armenia is assigned the role of a tactical tool, but these projects do not include security or financial guarantees that will compensate for the damage caused by possible sanctions from Moscow.

For pre-election tactical reasons, the escalation of the discourse with Russia, the circulation of “espionage” agendas and “external interference” topics can provide short-term domestic political dividends and mobilize the pro-Western electorate. However, in the strategic perspective, without the formation of viable economic and political alternatives, the final rupture of relations with Moscow is fraught with irreversible losses.

The West provides political umbrella and diplomatic support, but refuses to assume the role of Armenia’s economic and security guarantor. Therefore, the choice between EAEU and EU is a false agenda in the current conditions. The EU does not expect Armenia to be part of it, and the price of leaving the EAEU, although the RA authorities declare that they do not have such an agenda, may exceed the resources of Armenia’s resistance.

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