ARMENIA Yerevan between France and Russia

The visit to Armenia by Stéphane Séjourné, outgoing minister of the French government and candidate for European Commissioner, was viewed with suspicion in Moscow, which is seeking to maintain strong historical ties. Meanwhile, in Yerevan, the “junior partners” of Pašinyan’s coalition are collecting signatures for a referendum on the country’s entry into the EU.

Yerevan () – Outgoing French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné, a candidate for EU commissioner, has visited Yerevan in recent days, provoking highly critical reactions from Russia, which sees the “new idyll” between Armenia and France as an attempt to replace the historic partnership with the Kremlin. The scientific director of the MGIMO International Research Institute, Moscow’s school of diplomats, Sergej Markedonov, commented on the situation in a lengthy article on the Bunin&Co Telegram channel.

According to the expert, “the meetings between Armenians and French have become so intense that they no longer surprise anyone, they have become a diplomatic routine.” On the other hand, the French also maintain frequent relations with Azerbaijan, maintaining “a constant tone of rhetorical struggle,” defending the rights of Armenians in relation to the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, but then addressing the most varied issues. Rather, the Armenians are trying to prove the thesis that Paris is becoming Yerevan’s most important ally, and a decisive player in the entire South Caucasus region.

Séjourné’s visit, however, has a more specific character, according to Markedonov, to which more attention should be paid. On the one hand, he sees the trip as a “farewell tour” before moving to Brussels in the government of Ursula von der Leyen, where he will replace the resigning Thierry Breton. After Armenia, the French minister travelled to Chişinău and Athens, and has also been to Moldova frequently in recent years, given the imminent presidential elections and the referendum on European integration. Greece is also a long-standing partner of France, as a counterweight to Turkey’s interests in the region, and Greek relations with Armenia have developed greatly in the past two years.

On the other hand, the head of Russian diplomacy notes, “one should not forget about Armenia’s domestic political initiatives, which are of international importance.” The possibility of the country joining the EU has been discussed since June, at the initiative of the “Platform of Democratic Forces,” which has been joined by “all Armenian Westerners,” such as Aram Sarkisyan, leader of the “Republic” party, Arman Babadžanyan of the “In the Name of the Republic” movement, and Tigran Khzmalyan of the “European Party of Armenia,” the so-called “junior partners” of Prime Minister Nikol Pašinyan.

According to the prime minister’s opponents, these groups are Pašinyan’s ploys to test public opinion and spread ideas that, for various reasons, he does not want to attribute to himself or to his own circle. Indeed, Pašinyan himself has publicly expressed critical opinions on Armenia’s possible entry into the EU, Markedonov notes, but “time is of the essence, and since September we have been collecting signatures to organise a referendum on the issue,” a campaign that will run until 14 November with the aim of bringing the proposal to Parliament, for which at least 50,000 signatures are needed, and “Paris obviously fully supports this initiative.”

The political scientist notes that in the current conditions, when many approaches typical of the “Cold War” are being reformed, the issue of Armenia’s relations with Europe must be seen in the context of the global conflict, and that is why “Séjourné in Yerevan mentioned Russia, pointing to it as the main obstacle on the path to Armenia’s democratisation and European integration, assuring that France will always stand by the Armenian people.” French support seems in many respects more rhetorical than concrete, as in the statements of Emmanuel Macron himself and other members of the Paris government, while “Moscow remains on the sidelines, trying to maintain all its historical ties in the Caucasus.”

Photo: tribute of the delegation to the Musa Dagh memorial in Yerevan. Photo taken from Stéphane Séjourné’s profile X