RUSSIA ACTS TO KEEP TIES WITH ARMENIA STRONG
Sergei Blagov

EurasiaNet, NY
April 23 2007

The April 23 announcement that Russia and Armenia are entering into
a joint uranium excavation venture underscores the Kremlin’s strong
commitment to maintaining Yerevan’s allegiance.

Armenia has long been Russia’s closest ally in the South Caucasus. As
Armenia prepares to hold parliamentary elections in May, Russian
officials have seemed keen to play up the close bilateral ties, while
striving to avoid creating an impression of meddling in Armenian
domestic politics.

Armenian Ecology Minister Vartan Aivazian and Sergei Kiriyenko,
a former Russian prime minister who now heads the country’s Atomic
Energy Agency, announced the uranium extraction project following
a meeting in Yerevan. The joint venture is expected to get underway
this year, Kiriyenko indicated, adding that Moscow was ready to help
Yerevan build a new nuclear energy plant, in the event that Armenian
officials opted to head in that direction. Aivazian also announced
that Yerevan had agreed to join the international uranium enrichment
center, located in Russia’s Irkutsk region.

A higher profile display of friendship occurred earlier in April,
when Russia’s first deputy prime minister and rumored presidential
successor, Sergei Ivanov, visited the Armenian capital. "I think
Armenia is our strategic partner. This is gauged not only by military
and political interest", Ivanov told journalists in Yerevan, where
he held meetings with all the country’s top officials, including
President Robert Kocharian and Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian.

No deals were signed during Ivanov’s April 11 visit. Officially,
Kocharian and Ivanov just discussed economic ties. Perhaps the most
important point of Ivanov’s visit was his meeting with Kocharian’s
perceived successor, Prime Minister Sarkisian. Officially, both
officials also focused on economic issues, including transportation
routes. Ivanov reportedly told Sarkisian that the opening of a
ferry route from Russian Black Sea ports to the Georgian coastal
city of Poti would ease transportation difficulties between Russia
and Armenia. The ferry, which is capable of carrying up to 50 rail
carriages, would improve access to Armenia, Ivanov said, without
mentioning that the ferry would also come as a move toward relaxing
Russia’s ban on transport with Georgia. [For background see the
Eurasia Insight archive].

Russia remains the top foreign investor in Armenia, Ivanov told a
briefing in Yerevan on April 11. According to official statistics,
Russia was Armenia’s leading foreign investor in 2006, pumping
about $87 million into the Armenian economy, including investments
in ArmenAl, ArmenTel and ArmRosgazprom. [For additional information
see the Eurasia Insight archive].

There are several sources of tension in bilateral relations, however.

Ivanov indicated Russia’s dissatisfaction with an agreement under which
Armenia swapped assets in return for debt relief. [For background see
the Eurasia Insight archive]. The quality of the Armenian enterprises
taken over by Russia has not met the Kremlin’s expectations, Ivanov
hinted. Sarkisian expressed the Armenian government’s willingness to
revisit the issue.

Sarkisian also echoed the Russian view that the South Caucasus should
not become the home of a possible North Atlantic Treaty Organization
base. Armenia’s neighbor, Georgia, has expressed the intent to
join NATO at the earliest possible moment. [For background see the
Eurasia Insight archive]. Sarkisian said a NATO base in the region
would dramatically increase tension in an already tense region. [For
additional information see the Eurasia Insight archive]. "The reduction
of Russia’s military presence in the region should not result in
the automatically increased military presence of another country or
organization," Sarkisian said at the April 11 news conference.

Meanwhile, some Armenian political figures have publicly questioned
the need for Russia’s on-going action to guarding Armenia’s borders.

On April 13, a former Armenian foreign minister, Raffi Hovannisian,
called on Kocharian’s administration to enhance Armenia’s
sovereignty by seeking to ease Russian border guards out, and for
Yerevan-controlled troops to assume responsibility for the control
of the country’s borders.

In Yerevan, Ivanov defended the presence of a Russian military base in
Armenia, saying it did not threaten the security of third countries,
while ensuring the security of Armenia and Russia.

Editor’s Note: Sergei Blagov is a Moscow-based specialist in CIS
political affairs.