Armenian government happy about Ukraine

It’s been two days since the Armenian authorities got very happy about Ukraine’s decision to stop the process of initiating an association agreement with European Union. Many officials say in private conversations that they are very happy about it, which apparently shows that Ukraine’s failure gives them a reason to brag themselves and justify their impotence. The justification is that Ukraine could not stand the Russian pressure with its 46 million population, while such a small and poor country as Armenia decided to stop the process three months before the summit in Vilnius. Justifying one’s impotence and inability through the inability of someone else is a sign of weakness even in routine life. In case of states it is a bigger weakness. Our weakness is associated with Russia’s strength and the recognition of that strength. In fact we should not be very happy about what happened with Ukraine because after this victory over Europe the Russian foreign policy will become more aggressive, which will primarily affect Armenia first. Even though the Ukrainian government gave up on closer integration with Europe in a more shameful way, the Ukrainian civic society and institutions gave adequate response by opposing to the possibility of returning under Russia’s rule. In contrast, in Armenia both visible and invisible opposition powers stood by Armenia’s decision to enter the Customs Union with more active efforts than the government itself.