West “Winks” Meaningfully to Armenia

After the parliamentary elections, the foreign political orientation of Armenia has become more definite, and the reaction of the international community came soon.

Attending the CIS and CSTO summits in Moscow after the election, Serzh Sargsyan did not praise Putin’s intention on the Eurasian Union and did not ask the Russian government for a loan, as he had done before. Moreover, he did not respond to Dmitri Medvedev’s statement that Russia “is ready to support the social-economic development of Armenia”.

The feeling was that Serzh Sargsyan had left for Moscow, having received loan commitments from others. The proof of this feeling was PM Tigran Sargsyan’s article in which he clearly defined Armenia’s bias for integration with the European Union.

The West just seemed to be waiting for this. The European Commission immediately released a report highly appreciating the democratic development of Armenia. Taking into account the fact that the European officials reiterated more money for more reform, the European Union will apparently boost aid to Armenia.

Another “dove” flew from the U.S. where the Congress subcommittee for assignments decided to reduce aid to Armenia, as Obama had proposed, leaving it at the level of 40,000,000. Besides, soon major American investments may be announced in the economy of Armenia. Last year the U.S. investments grew sharply.

Europe and the U.S. sent signals to each other to support Armenia. The American Rhode Island called on President Obama to recognize Karabakh’s independence. This is an unprecedented thing in the history of the Karabakh conflict, at least in the past 15 years. The U.S. is actually ready to support Armenia not only economically but also politically, up to the recognition of the NKR.

Europe has made a courageous move in this sense. The EU representative stated in Baku that the EU is going to send its representative to Karabakh, and Azerbaijan should not resist to it. He noted that such a step does not stand for the recognition of Karabakh but he did not dwell on the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan either.

So, the events of the past few days prove that Armenia will gradually define its foreign political line, and the West is ready to help. The only thing left is to invite Serzh Sargsyan to the NATO summit in Chicago. Perhaps, they will not have time to invite him but they will state that they would like to see him there.