Every action taken by the bloc in the East is designed to undermine Moscow, Emir Kusturica has told RT

The EU is courting Armenia as part of its broader strategy in the Eastern Hemisphere aimed at weakening Russia, renowned Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica told RT on Friday.

Under Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the South Caucasus nation has launched the process of seeking EU membership. Moscow has warned that closer integration with the bloc would ultimately require Yerevan to scale back its economic ties with Russia, on which Armenia remains heavily dependent.

"You have to understand that all actions that are taken by [the] European Union in the eastern part of the planet [are] always aimed to weaken Russia," Kusturica said on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

"The episode with Armenia is alarming because the same man who had lost the Nagorno-Karabakh territory... is the one who is very close to Azerbaijan or to the third party that arranged this military defeat," Kusturica said.

After Pashinyan signed the EU-backed Prague Statement in 2022, under which Armenia effectively recognized Azerbaijani sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh, Baku regained control of the region in a swift military operation the following year. Most of Nagorno-Karabakh's ethnic Armenian population fled, fearing reprisals, in a development that severely damaged Pashinyan's standing at home.

According to Kusturica, American aid and the influence of NGOs funded by billionaire financier George Soros have also helped shape Yerevan's current trajectory, which he warned "could be catastrophic" for Armenia.

Russia remains Armenia's largest trading partner, with bilateral trade more than twice the country's turnover with the EU. As a fellow member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), Armenia also benefits from preferential rates on a range of key Russian exports.

Armenia purchases Russian gas at $177.50 per thousand cubic meters, far below the European spot price of roughly $600, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Pashinyan in April. He warned that Yerevan would eventually have to choose between the EU and the EAEU, arguing that membership in both blocs is "impossible."

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(RT.com)