Days before Armenians voted on 7 June, the European Commission declared it was “standing firmly” behind prime minister Nikol Pashinyan and unveiled a support package of more than €50m.
Weeks after the vote – widely seen in Armenia as fraudulent – and after members of the main opposition bloc were arrested for petitioning to annul the results, Brussels expanded its investment commitments toward €2.5bn and advanced visa-liberalisation talks.
Among EU officials, the rationale has hardened into doctrine: “He [Pashinyan] is taking Armenia away from Russia.”
That sentence has become the whole of EU policy toward Yerevan. It is also a strategic error, one that is making Armenia less democratic and less safe at the same time without loosening Russia’s grip.
Consider what that sentence has been asked to excuse.
