Turan Research Center

Every day Ukraine keeps fighting, Russian influence grows weaker in the countries of the ex-USSR that Moscow refers to as the “near abroad.” Nowhere is this clearer than in Armenia, where decades of Russian dominance are now being challenged by the United States and others.

In February, JD Vance became the first US vice president to visit Yerevan, arriving with a civil nuclear agreement and an $11 million drone package. In May, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed a strategic partnership charter, a critical minerals memorandum, and a framework agreement for a US-developed transit corridor across southern Armenia.

Russia has been unable to stop any of this American outreach. It cannot. The capacity Moscow once used to police its periphery is being consumed in Ukraine. While the front lines of Russia’s invasion move slowly back and forth, the imperial infrastructure underpinning Kremlin influence throughout the former Soviet Union is visibly eroding.

Read the full article on The Atlantic Council.

Joseph Epstein is Director of the Turan Research Center.