“Russia strong-armed Armenia into joining the Eurasian Union.”

David L. Phillips, Director of the Program on Peace building and Rights at Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights, told the aforesaid to Georgia Today.

Phillips has worked as senior adviser to the United Nations Secretariat and as a foreign affairs expert and senior adviser to the U.S. Department of State.

“Moscow must have threatened Armenia’s President [Serzh] Sarkissian to dissuade him from Armenia’s multi-year effort at European integration. Or maybe Moscow offered a big prize, like recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh. Intimidation by Russia is more likely than a reward,” the American analyst argued.  

To note, following the talks that were held on September 3 in Moscow between Armenian and Russian Presidents Serzh Sargsyan and Vladimir Putin, Sargsyan had announced that Armenia plans to join the Customs Union and subsequently engage in the formation of the Eurasian Economic Union. In response to this development, the European Union (EU) had stated that the signing of the Armenia-EU Association Agreement and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area agreement is now doubtful.