EU pledges $290mn for Armenia in attempt to boost ties
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00:00 I'm joined on set by our International Affairs Editor, Angela Diffley.
00:03 Angela, good to see you.
00:05 Tell us more about what's behind this meeting in Brussels.
00:08 Yes, so this is a pivot.
00:10 It's called in diplomatic circles, although it's not quite as straightforward as that.
00:14 I think we have a map to show.
00:17 So Armenia and Azerbaijan have on many occasions gone to war over the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh,
00:27 which is surrounded by Azerbaijan.
00:30 And there are a large number or were a large number of ethnic Armenians in that territory
00:36 who claimed it as part of Armenia.
00:39 In September 23, Azerbaijan managed to capture that territory.
00:46 And Armenia had an arrangement, a treaty with Russia that Russia would more or less look
00:55 after the interests of peacekeep, but also look after the interests of the Armenians
01:00 in that territory.
01:02 And Armenia felt extremely let down.
01:04 100,000 or so Armenians were displaced.
01:08 They are now in Armenia.
01:11 And at this point, it became very clear that Armenia could not really rely on Russia for
01:19 its security, and certainly those displaced Armenians who were in Nagorno-Karabakh were
01:25 extremely disgruntled.
01:29 Since then, the prime minister has had little choice really than to diversify his interests.
01:38 He's been severely criticized, Pashinyan, within Armenia for what happened.
01:43 A lot of people said he failed to put the plight of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh on
01:49 the international map in the way that other disputed territories are.
01:54 But he has since then tried to become closer to the Europeans.
02:00 From the Europeans and the Americans, what is good about this is that they are interested
02:04 in Armenia's cooperation in preventing what has been the obvious circumnavigation of some
02:14 sanctions on Russia.
02:17 And Armenia can really help in stopping that.
02:20 So that's something very clear.
02:22 So Antony Blinken and Ursula von der Leyen, today the European Union has announced 270
02:29 million euros of help for Armenia and the US 65 million euros.
02:36 That help will be very much needed in Armenia.
02:39 And in both sides, there is an interest in this rapprochement.
02:43 So Armenia pivoting towards the West, away from Russia, Angela, but just by virtue of
02:48 its geographical position, Armenia really does have to hedge its bets here.
02:52 Yeah, it does.
02:53 It's in a very awkward position geographically.
02:56 Turkey is very wary of this rapprochement by Armenia with the United States and the
03:04 European Union.
03:06 Turkey of course is traditionally an ally of Azerbaijan in this dispute.
03:11 And Turkey is watching this very carefully.
03:14 Also, you know, Armenia has a very volatile region.
03:20 Russia is not a friend of the West.
03:23 Iran is not a friend of the West.
03:26 Armenia is bordering these areas.
03:28 Also, the European Union itself buys oil and gas from Azerbaijan.
03:32 It's all very complicated.
03:34 It's not a straightforward, tidy pivot.
03:37 All of this is extremely complicated.
03:40 Armenia at one point floated the idea of applying to join the European Union.
03:44 Historically, there are some ties between Armenia and Europe.
03:49 Of course, it's a Christian country in an area where many of those countries are not
03:53 Christian.
03:54 But that is extremely unlikely ever to happen.
03:59 So a complicated region.
04:01 And there are reasons on both sides for wanting this rapprochement between the European Union,
04:07 the US and Armenia.
04:08 Yeah, and indeed difficult even sometimes to even identify the various sides.
04:12 Angela, thank you so much for that.
04:14 That's our international affairs editor there, Angela Diffley.