Russian Ambassador: The majority of the population of Armenia does not agree with the initiative of the opposition faction "Elk" about the withdrawal of the country from the Unified Energy System

ArmInfo. The majority of the Armenian population does not agree with the initiative of the opposition faction "Elk" about the withdrawal of the country from the EEU. This opinion was expressed in an interview with journalists by the Russian Ambassador to Armenia Ivan Volynkin on September 12 in Yerevan.  "If Elk decided to put forward such an initiative, please, no one interferes with it, and another question is how much Armenia needs it. I think that the majority of the Armenian population does not agree with this initiative, as they see the obvious advantages of Armenia in the Eurasian Economic Union," head of the Russian diplomatic mission in Armenia.

One of the leaders of the Elk bloc Edmond Marukyan said that it is impossible to start the process of getting out of the ЕАЭС in the summer of this year, after it was stated that due to changes in Russian legislation it would be impossible to work in Russia with an Armenian driver's license. As a justification for their initiative, the authors of the document list several key factors, in their opinion,. Thus, the decision says that for three years of the republic's membership in the EEU, Armenia's GDP in dollar terms decreased by 8%, employment decreased by 13%, international reserves decreased by 40%, public debt grew by 10%. At the same time, there was a reduction in investments in the country's economy. And if in 2014 the volume of investments made 167 billion drams (about $ 350 million), then in 2016 this figure was 81 billion drams. In the "Elk" bloc, it is believed that Armenia's participation in this integration association limits the opportunities for expanding trade relations with third countries, including neighboring Georgia and Iran. It is also noted here that, contrary to the agreement on the EAEC, freedom of movement of capital, goods, services and labor is not ensured. "The member states of the EAEC do not contribute to the peaceful resolution of the Karabakh problem, moreover, some of them at the highest level have repeatedly advocated the aggressive policy of Azerbaijan.

A strategic partner of Armenia - Russia continues to arm Azerbaijan, providing about 85% of the Azerbaijani arsenal of modern offensive weapons, "the draft decision says. Meanwhile, according to the data of the Eurasian Economic Commission, the volume of mutual trade between Armenia and the EEA states as of the results of 2016 amounted to 392.1 million dollars, having increased by more than 1.5 times (by 53%) as compared to the previous year. Almost all "union" trade of Armenia falls on Russia (95%).  However, the trade turnover with other countries of the EEU, due to the low "starting base", also increased slightly: with Kazakhstan - by 43%, with Belarus - by 2.1 times, and with Kyrgyzstan - almost three times.

According to the Minister for Integration and Macroeconomics of the UNECE, Tatyana Valova, last year Armenia took the first place in the EEU in terms of industrial production growth rates, which reached

6.7%.  Almost in the same volume, the production of agricultural products increased, which enabled the country to increase food supplies to the all-Union market. Most of all, exports of fruits, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages increased. The main foreign economic partner of Armenia is Russia. At the end of 2016, it accounted for a quarter (24.3%) of the entire foreign trade of the republic.