Ukraine seeks ‘to worm itself’ into EU through Armenia?

Some Ukrainian experts seem to be welcoming Armenia’s decision to join the Customs Union, becoming even happier with EU’s criticism of the move. The formers believe that having lost Armenia, EU will be much more interested in cooperating with Ukraine.

In this context, Ukrainian political analyst Vladimir Fesenko stressed the importance of Yerevan’s integration with the CU, with Kyiv’s position largely dependant on the outcome of the agreement. As he noted, Armenian precedent is crucial from the point of view of the Ukraine-EU ties.

“Armenia’s further steps are not clear, with the European Commission’s statements not yet voiced. Sargsyan’s decision to join the CU doesn’t rule out an agreement with the EU despite complicated issues in need of coordinating.

In the latter case, Ukraine will have an interesting argument to cite in negotiations with Moscow – to demonstrate that a complementary policy might be a possibility,” the expert said.

“Vilnius summit where Armenia was supposed to initial the Association Agreement must become a symbolic one. Should the Armenia-EU agreement fall through, the loss of Ukraine will come as a greater misfortune for the EU’s Eastern policy, with the Union becoming more motivated to sign a deal with Kyiv,” Rosbalt cited the expert as saying.

Earlier, Armenia expressed intention to join Customs Union with further plans to be involved in formation of EurAsEC.

Russian President Vladimir Putin supported the initiative, voicing readiness to assist Armenia in the process.

He also noted that Russian Railways may invest 15 billion rubles in development of Armenia’s railway network.

The Customs Union was formed in 2010 to include of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia; Kirghizia and Tajikistan later expressed willingness to join the Union.