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Armenia turning away from Russia?

19 December 2014 [12:01] - TODAY.AZ

/AzerNews/

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

WB and IMF voiced their readiness to help Armenia to escape from the catastrophic financial situation with offering large loans to the government.

Armenia has turned to the western financial institutions in a hope to eliminate its financial trouble as confidence in Russian help is gradually vanishing.

Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan met with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund representatives in Yerevan, on December 17 to mull the possibility of money allocations.

The talks matched the Armenian authorities "hunger" for money, since they have been looking for funds to pay off the salaries and pensions by the new year.

An interesting moment in the meeting was the absence of any representatives from Russia and economic commission of the Eurasian Economic Union. Even the Russian Ambassador to Armenia Ivan Volinkin did not attend the meeting.

Following the meeting, experts started to claim that the Armenian government is now in an effort to revert from the way to Russia, dashing its hope for a helping hand from the north. According to the economic specialists, Armenia is just a military base and money laundering site for Russia, so, the northern giant's promises of a bright future in Armenia is nothing but a play on words.

The media reports claim that Russia is now greedily using the resources of Armenia as its state monopolies purchase the dollar in lower prices in Armenia and transfer it to Russia. It subsequently leads to a financial deadlock to clamp Armenia's economic skills. President Serzh Sargsyan ordered to keep dollars in Armenia and prevent it from outflowing the country's borders, the local media said.

The Armenian authorities has recognized the catastrophe and rolled the sleeves up to stop the dollar outflow, according to lragir.am, online media source, which claimed that the access to the international financial institutions could be closed for Armenia after it starts activity within the EEU.

Armenia's external debt is equal to its state budget and could very soon surpass the budget given the ongoing financial turmoil.

"By entering the Russia-led EEU, we will, in fact, turn into a debtor country before the international monetary organizations," lragir.am said.

Deciding between the west or Russia has always been an issue on the agenda for the Armenian authorities. Historical and traditional ties put the northern giant on top in many cases for the South Caucasus country. But, now, the ongoing events in the post-Soviet country urge it to choose the better ally, regardless of any "common" values.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/regions/138020.html

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