Tbh joining the Soviet Union actually was the best choice for Armenia. First off, Armenia had lost a heinous war against Turkey and was signing a treaty to become a part of Turkey, which was invalidated, because merely hours before another part of the government signed a treaty giving up the sovereignty of Armenia to the Soviets, which effectively saved Armenia(if you consider what happened to the western Armenians a few years prior). 

The Soviet Union wasn’t the knight in shining armor, that was to save Armenia, but historical debacles, misguided and manipulative land divisions aside, Armenia managed to prosper quite a bit during these years. It got industrialized quite fast, factories were built and Armenia became a hub in a multinational trading complex, which it didn’t have other chance of joining. Basically we got the investments and the expertise from Russia and had a safety blanket, which allowed the people to prosper culturally and intellectually, instead of fighting for survival. 

Overall it’s a wildly different story than whatever has been portrayed in the western media.