Pashinyan’s Nuclear U-Turn Gives Moscow an Opening in Armenia

Unable to persuade Armenia to abandon its efforts to join the European Union, Russia is now signaling that it is adopting a harder line. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan evidently is taking the menacing tone of recent Russian statements seriously. It appears the price of keeping the Kremlin at bay for now is the suspension of a nuclear cooperation deal with the United States and an accompanying commitment to have Rosatom, Russia’s nuclear energy entity, build Armenia’s next-generation reactor. Armenia over the past two years…