By Armen Gevorgyan

On December 3, the Armenian Government made a decision establishing a joint venture in cooperation with the AtomStroyEksport (AtomConstructionExport) CJSC (Russia). The joint venture is supposed to carry out the construction of a new nuclear-power unit in Armenia. After the decision was made, RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan stated: “We are making a political decision today. We agree to establish an equally shared joint venture in cooperation with our Russian partners.” The RA Government represented by the RA Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources will hold the Armenian side’s share.

The construction of a new nuclear power unit in Armenia is one of the priority strategic tasks of the Armenian Government. AREVA (France) and Westinghouse (USA) were competing with the Russian Rosatom Company, with AtomConstructionExport constituting part thereof. The American side attached high importance to the participation in the project, which was repeatedly stated by high-ranking U.S. officials. In any case, the decision was made, and, as the Armenian Premier plainly stated, it was a political one.

This decision must be the unambiguous message addressed to Moscow by RA President Serzh Sargsyan at his meeting with representatives of the Armenian community in Rostov, Russia, as part of his pan-Armenian tour. Responding to a question concerning the prospects of the Armenian-Russian relations in the context of the Armenian-Turkish reconciliation, the Armenian leader stated that the reopening of the Armenian-Turkish border can by no means be to the detriment of the Armenian-Russian relations. “An event will soon take place, which will dispel all the doubts of sceptics claiming that Armenian-Russian relations are on the decline,” stated Serzh Sargsyan. Indeed, Rosatom’s involvement in a project worth U.S. $4m to U.S. $5m is a serious step, which leaves no doubts about Yerevan’s determination to carry out mutually beneficial cooperation with Russia.

What about Russia? That country appears to be determined as well. Especially after Turkey invalidated the results of a contest which allowed AtomConstructionExport to carry out the construction of the first nuclear-power plant in Turkey, Russia has lately been actively seeking closer relations with. The Turkish authorities invalidated the results without being afraid of the political consequences of their step, which may not arise at all.

Moreover, the only result of the “restarted” Russia-U.S. relations is Russia’s weakening international positions. Specifically, the first and principal result of the much talked-about “restart” is Russia’s dramatically worsened relations with Iran. While Washington is applauding, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad plainly stated that Russia had committed a blunder. Moscow, in turn, postponed the commissioning of the Bushehr nuclear power plant. That is, Russian atomic scientists fell into a political trap in Iran as well.

Furthermore, the new Bulgarian Government that succeeded that headed by Sergei Stanishev initiated the revision of all the major transactions closed by their pro-Russian predecessors. Among them is also the construction project of the Belene nuclear-power plant (NPP), which was considered one of the most successful international projects launched by Rosatom. The newly appointed Bulgarian Ministers claim that their country does not need the Belene NPP, and the previous Government made a political decision by allowing Russians to enter the Bulgarian energy market.

Well, under the circumstances the Armenian Government’s decision really appears to a political one. It enables the Russian state-run holding to consolidate its positions in the South Caucasus-Turkey-Iran region, as well as breaks the chain of hardly pleasant events in Russia’s rather ambitious international nuclear policy. Let us hope that Russia will act as a partner and continue supporting Armenia — its partner in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), where Russia has its only military basis in the region – on the international scene as well as in overcoming the global economic crisis. Supporting your partners means strengthening yourself.