Armenia afraid of negative influence of US anti-Russian sanctions on Kremlin allies
By Elmira Tariverdiyeva/ Trend
Judging by the escalation of situation with the anti-Russian sanctions of the United States, Armenia is afraid of their negative influence on the Kremlin’s allies, one of which is Armenia itself.
US President Donald Trump has recently appointed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson as the executor of the law on sanctions against Russia that was adopted a month ago.
This law envisages that no later than 180 days after its entry into force, US secretary of the treasury, together with the director of National Intelligence and secretary of state, presents detailed reports to the relevant congressional committees about leading political figures of Russia, including information on their “closeness” to the ruling regime and the amount of personal wealth; assessment of the sources of their incomes, including family members (spouses, children, parents, brothers and sisters), as well as assets, investments, other business interests, and information on offshore companies; the identification of business ties of these individuals beyond Russia.
It is unknown which sanctions will be imposed on these people, but the fact that some of them will undoubtedly be linked to Armenia, is already obvious.
Earlier, Chairperson of Russian Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko and Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council’s Committee on Defense and Security Franz Klintsevich warned that the US is trying to destabilize the situation in Russia, both in the country itself and through the countries of the former USSR.
It is clear that one of the very first countries will be just Russia’s outpost in the South Caucasus – Armenia, major part of the economy of which is linked to Russian capital.
In Russia, on which Armenia depends financially, the situation with economy is not that good. Recently, the bankruptcy processes of two big Russian banks – Otkritie and Binbank and one of the biggest airlines – WIM Airlines – has begun. It is clear that the economic tsunami in Russian economy will affect Armenia.
All this time, as long as relations between Russia and the US are worsening, Armenia talks full support of the Russian authorities and speaks about further strengthening of ties.
However, knowing the nature of Armenians, it won’t be a surprise if they turn their backs on Moscow at the last moment. Perhaps, this will happen already in November at a summit in Brussels, where Yerevan can agree on a new content of agreement with the EU that is not approved by the Kremlin.
---
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz