Ukraine received the first 600 million euro tranche of macro-financial assistance from the European Union in December last year.

The implications go way beyond Armenian domestic squabbles. The election has the potential to make the country ungovernable.

Diplomats who have served in Belarus say Lukashenko is the ultimate enigma. Certainly, using Russian money to keep his state-dominated economy alive. But too simplistically dismissed as a Russian lackey.

Ukraine is set to be high on the agenda when US President Joe Biden holds a hotly-anticipated summit with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Switzerland on June 16.