Senior US officials, including the chief of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Samantha Power, and Yuri Kim, acting assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasian affairs, arrived in Armenia's capital Yerevan on September 25. The visit sought to “affirm US support for Armenia’s sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and democracy, and to address humanitarian needs stemming from the recent violence in Nagorno-Karabakh,” as per a US Embassy post on social media, cited in reports.
“It is important for the United States to seize the initiative in relations with Armenia, generate as much visibility as possible, and achieve some results to minimize the level of relations between Armenia and Russia: both, in the defense sphere, and in other areas, Dr. Stanislav Pritchin, senior research fellow at the Center for Post-Soviet Studies, Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences, told Sputnik.
Weighing in on the protests sweeping Yerevan, with calls for the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Dr. Stanislav Pritchin underscored that the Armenian PM is now “most beneficial to the United States,” for the mere reason that “under Pashinyan relations with Russia are actually going into a very serious decline.”
"Pashinyan is the most convenient partner for the West," Dr. Stanislav Pritchin reiterated.
The first visit by senior US officials to Armenia since the ceasefire agreement that ended the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh came amid reports that the United States is working on creating an international mission for Nagorno-Karabakh. On Monday, Armenia's Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovhannisyan and Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Narek Mkrtchyan extended a warm welcome to the US delegation, showcasing the importance attached to Power and Kim's arrival.
USAID is a large organization that distributes financial resources to "support democracy" in those countries that the US needs, in which they seek to create chaos or try to counteract Russia's interests, underscored Evgeny Mikhailov, political scientist, director of the Center for Strategic Studies of the South Caucasus.
The pundit emphasized that one can expect a lot of money will be allocated to "support democracy" and all sorts of Soros organizations and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that are engaged in anti-Russian activities in Armenia. There were quite a lot of such efforts underway before Pashinyan’s arrival, he added, but after the latter became Armenia’s PM, they got an extra boost. Money is, in fact, allocated to form public opinion, which, by the way, is currently "not much aligned with the wishes of USAID," according to Evgeny Mikhailov.
"We see rallies in Yerevan for Pashinyan’s resignation, calls to improve relations with Russia. And against this background, accordingly, the visits of American officials," he added
Nikol Pashinyan is following in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s footsteps, Mikhailov suggested, pointing to “obvious parallels,” saying:
“At first, after coming to power, Zelensky said that it was necessary to resolve conflicts with Russia. Pashinyan also stated that we need peace, friendship, etc. But later attempts to join NATO led to hostilities in Ukraine. Pashinyan is following the same path. It’s just that the country [Armenia] is smaller, and appears to be quite weak. But for America it makes no difference who to use against the Russian Federation.”