Alexei Malashenko expects no global results from visit of Armenian President to Moscow

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan arrived in Moscow today to discuss, in particular, the prospects for cooperation between Armenia and the Customs Union and the Common Economic Space of Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. This was reported by the press service of Armenia.

"The agenda may be very different; nevertheless, the main focus of this visit will be the issue of Armenia's joining to the Customs Union. The second issue is the compensation for the excellent communication of Vladimir Putin with President Ilham Aliev, which has also resulted in some specific agreements. It will be a usual visit, and I would not expect any global results of it," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by Alexei Malashenko, Senior Research Officer of the Moscow Carnegie Centre, Research Officer of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).

In his turn, Aik Khalatyan, a political columnist of the news agency "News-Armenia", has expressed the opinion that the meeting of the leaders of the two states will determine the Armenia's choice between the integration with Europe or with the Eurasian Union.

"Given the fact that Armenia and the Russian Federation are close military allies and that Armenia is very dependent on Russia in the military and technical sphere and in other issues, I believe that, at the time of this meeting, there will be attempts to put pressure on the Armenia's decision concerning the issue of initiating the agreement with the EU," Aik Khalatyan has expressed his opinion.