US Cements Political Capture of Armenia as it Advances “Extending Russia” Strategy

The United States continues pursuing its decades-spanning policy of maintaining global primacy by encircling and containing rivals as described in the 1992 New York Times article, “U.S. Strategy Plan Calls for Insuring No Rivals Develop.”

For Russia specifically, the RAND Corporation’s 2019 paper, “Extending Russia: Competing from Advantageous Ground,” lays out policy options the US has clearly pursued for years leading up to its publication and ever since.

These options targeting Russia include those of an economic dimension such as “hinder petroleum exports,” “reduce natural gas exports and hinder pipeline expansions,” and “impose sanctions,” as well as geopolitical measures like “provide lethal aid to Ukraine,” “increase support to the Syrian rebels,” “promote regime change in Belarus,” “exploit tensions in the South Caucasus,” “reduce Russian influence in Central Asia,”and“challenge Russian presence in Moldova.”

Virtually all of these options have been implemented in one way or another —from the US sending lethal aid to Ukraine the same year this paper was published under the first Trump administration to the continued arming of terrorists in Syria by the US, culminating in the collapse of the Syrian government in 2024, to the physical destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines as well as constantly expanding US-led sanctions and maritime interdiction operations targeting Russian energy exports.

Exploit Tensions in the South Caucasus: Politically Capturing Armenia

In light of the recent elections in Armenia (in the South Caucasus region) and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, congratulating Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan by exclaiming, “the spirit of the Velvet Revolution you led in 2018 is alive and well,” it appears that once again the US objective of “extending Russia” has been further advanced.

While many have been tempted to assign Armenia’s pivot away from its traditional Russian partnership to the European Union and NATO to European influence, the US government itself engineered the protests in 2018 von der Leyen referenced, with the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) itself admitting in its 2018 annual report that:

NED’s many grantees in Armenia were in the forefront of the “Velvet Revolution” last spring that swept from office a corrupt and autocratic president who wanted to manipulate the constitution to retain power. In subsequent elections held in December, the party alliance of the new Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan won 70 percent of the vote, setting the stage for building accountable and effective government ministries, reforming the judicial system, and strengthening the media as a critical watchdog over government performance.

NED’s many grantees in Armenia were in the forefront of the “Velvet Revolution” last spring that swept from office a corrupt and autocratic president who wanted to manipulate the constitution to retain power. In subsequent elections held in December, the party alliance of the new Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan won 70 percent of the vote, setting the stage for building accountable and effective government ministries, reforming the judicial system, and strengthening the media as a critical watchdog over government performance.

By “corrupt and autocratic,” the NED means a government that does not answer to Washington at the expense of its own national interests, and by “accountable and effective ministries,” the NED means accountable to and effective at serving Washington — even at the cost of Armenia’s own interests.

Organizations involved in the US-engineered “Velvet Revolution” in Armenia and the subsequent cementing of US political capture over the nation include the “Union of Informed Citizens,” whose 2021 annual report admitted extensive US government backing and direction continued well after the 2018 protests —a s well as Boon TV, which is admittedly funded by the NED’s European counterpart, the unimaginatively named “European Endowment for Democracy.”

Just like with other nations the US has politically captured, Armenia’s “color revolution” and “regime change” were just the beginning. With a client regime in place, the floodgates of foreign........

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