ArmInfo.On May 6, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a report "On the situation with the glorification of Nazism, the spread of neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to the escalation of modern forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance," the official presentation of which took place today and which contains formulations not causing only bewilderment, but also "laughter through tears."
So, studying the report on the part of Azerbaijan, a number of questions arise. In particular, the report points out that "Azerbaijan has practically no manifestations of neo-Nazism, racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia, and the leadership of Azerbaijan positions its country as a state of tolerant living for representatives of various nations and religions."
Such formulations addressed to dynastic Azerbaijan are not only biased, but also distort the real situation in this area in Azerbaijan, and the situation recorded by the Russian Foreign Ministry and promulgated and commented by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova a few months earlier. It was about the inadmissibility of the detention and expulsion of Russian citizens on a national basis from Azerbaijan. Zakharova qualified these actions of the Azerbaijani authorities against Russian citizens of Armenian origin as a gross violation of the rights of Russian citizens. "It is not the first time that we are faced with a discriminatory ethnic policy towards citizens of the Russian Federation. According to the Foreign Ministry, last year (2018) there were at least 16 cases of denial of entry into Azerbaijan on ethnic grounds. At the same time, Russian citizens were detained for hours at the airport, then forcibly expelled from the country. There was no official reason, "Ms. Zakharova criticized the" tolerance "of the authorities of the AR at one of her briefings earlier this year. Meanwhile, these circumstances apparently did not completely embarrass the authors of the above report, who devoted a whole "ode" to how well foreigners live in Azerbaijan.
Meanwhile, studying the report on the part of Armenia, one encounters the dual formulation of "no obvious attempts to rehabilitate Nazism, no splashes of neo-Nazi sentiment in Armenia." This formulation leaves room for serious reflection, since, despite the fact that Armenia is a mono-national state, there were still no manifestations in the directions already mentioned above. However, continuing to study the report, you begin to understand "where the dog is buried." The authors of the report, in particular, note that the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia has taken steps to perpetuate the memory of "such an ambiguous nationalist political figure like Garegin Nzhdeh, in respect of whom there is information about cooperation with the Third Reich."
It is noteworthy that already the former vice-speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Eduard Sharmazanov, referring to the attacks of the Russian side on this topic, has repeatedly stressed that Nzhde is a national hero of the Armenian people, as well as Alexander Nevsky, Alexander Suvorov, Marshal Kutuzov, Bagration are national heroes of the fraternal Russian of the people: "And as a historian I want to emphasize that Garegin Nzhdeh had no relation to fascism and Nazism. Nzhde spent his whole life fighting for the freedom of Armenia. Nzhde was not a Nazi, he is a patriot of the Armenian people and speculation and this issue is inappropriate and unacceptable. "
Sharmazanov then reminded the Russian side that in 1939, USSR Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov signed a non-aggression agreement with Germany, but no one considers him a fascist and nationalist. "Everyone realizes that this agreement was signed from the interests of the USSR and the Soviet people in order to prevent a possible attack by fascist Germany. The same was true in the case of Nzhdeh, he collaborated with Germany, and in case of her victory prevented a possible attack on Armenia by an ally Berlin Turkey, "- said Sharmazanov.
The report of the Russian Foreign Ministry also paid attention to the Sasna Tsrer party, which is presented as a nationalist party. It also indicates the presence of isolated cases of racism and xenophobia in Armenia. "Manifestations of racism and xenophobia in Armenia are sporadic. Occasional cases of hostility by the Armenian population to visitors from Iran and India are noted, most of which are related to the inappropriate behavior of foreigners themselves. At the end of 2018. RA Human Rights Defender A.Tatoyan stated the increasing use of the Internet to spread xenophobic sentiments in Armenia, motivating this by aggravating the internal political situation in the country on the eve of the parliamentary elections, " the reports' authors state.
Whatever it is, but in Armenia you will not meet announcements in the press or in public places about renting an apartment to anyone, but not , although such a nationality, unlike the "Caucasian" one, does exist.
The manifestation of such double standards in drafting the report raises many questions and, unfortunately, makes you think about the quality of the Armenian-Russian relations, or about serious procedural inconsistencies in the apparatus of the Russian Foreign Ministry, or about the banal "caviar" diplomacy that also penetrated thick walls of a grand "Stalinist skyscraper" on Smolensk Square. We also note that ArmInfo's attempts to get comments from a number of Armenian political analysts on the content of the report were extremely unsuccessful. Moreover, the agency deliberately refused calls to pro- Western experts.