Wednesday, December 28 2022 17:48

ArmInfo. The Republic of Armenia no longer represents the Armenian people and their interests. Deputy Chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) Armen  Ashotyan stated this on December 28 at a press conference in Yerevan.

Summing up the results of 2022, Ashotyan noted that it was a year of  unrecovered justice, pain and ongoing losses.

"In 2022, we had 265 losses in the army - some of them were combat  losses, some were non-combat losses. We have territorial losses -  about 165 square kilometers of our territories are beyond our  control.  We also have losses in the diplomatic field - the paralysis  of the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group and the issue the status of  Artsakh, the exclusion of Nagorno-Karabakh as an international actor  in international documents, the exclusion of the concept of the  people of Nagorno-Karabakh from these same documents," Ashotyan said.

He also negatively assessed the activities of the Armenian opposition  this year. According to the Deputy Chairman of the RPA, if the  current Prime Minister of Armenia and his team are still in power, it  means that their activities were unproductive this year.

At the same time, he expressed his conviction that the processes that  began in Armenia in 2018 are part of the global changes taking place  in the world today. Ashotyan stated that today the Armenian people  are being led along the path of the threat of physical extermination,  and the Armenian authorities are organizing a Genocide Forum "without  genocide", as a result of which even a final statement is not  adopted.

Ashotyan also criticized the decision of the Armenian Foreign  Minister to refuse to participate in the Moscow negotiations, which,  according to the latter, was due to being busy with the settlement of  the situation in the Lachin Corridor.  "That is, you refuse to go to  Moscow and discuss the solution of this issue with a representative  of the state, on which its opening depends, but you are negotiating  with those on whom it does not depend - Brussels, Washington, Paris.  If you wanted a demarche, you would not to St.  Petersburg as well,"  the Deputy Chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia noted.

The politician also touched upon the statements of the Armenian  authorities that allegedly Armenia is being forced to join the Union  State, but it is not going to do so, since this would lead to the  loss of the RA sovereignty. He called this argument absurd, stating  that joining any integration project implies a partial loss of  sovereignty - be it the EU, the EAEU, NATO or any other.

"But you have to understand that no union wants to accept a  'problematic member'. For example, in order to join NATO, you need to  meet elementary requirements - not to have territorial problems with  your neighbors. Therefore, neither Ukraine nor Georgia have completed  this process. No supranational organization needs a troubled country.  In the Eurasian space, which country has the most problems? Right,  Armenia. I say all this so that you understand the extent of the lies  spread by these authorities," Ashotyan said.

He also drew attention to the fact that Secretary of the Security  Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan in an interview with the PTA did  not refute the accusations of the Armenian opposition that the  current authorities of the Republic of Armenia are surrendering  Artsakh. "This is the most scandalous part of this interview, that  Armenia does not oppose the transfer of Artsakh to Azerbaijan," he  said.

In this context, the Deputy Chairman of the RPA drew attention to the  fact that yesterday  the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said that Baku  had rejected the proposal of the Russian side to postpone the issue  of the status of Artsakh for the future. "That is, it turns out that  now there is a bazaar between Russia and Azerbaijan regarding the  status of Artsakh. In fact, who was supposed to defend this issue -  Armenia.  Where is it?" he asked.

Touching upon the situation in the Lachin corridor and the activities  of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno- Karabakh, he stated that their  mandate has not yet been clarified.

The politician noted that the Russian peacekeepers are fulfilling the  mission assigned to them to ensure the security of Artsakh, however,  at the moment they cannot implement one of the points - namely,  unhindered movement along the Lachin corridor. In this vein, he  pointed out the omissions of the Armenian side in this issue, which,  for 2.5 years, did not find time to demand a specification of their  mandate. "You need to understand that the mandate of the Russian  peacekeepers has not been confirmed by the Azerbaijani side to this  day," Ashotyan said, expressing gratitude to the peacekeepers for  their work.

In this vein, he urged not to hope that, for example, France will  send its troops to the South Caucasus, since it does not even have  such an idea, and it withdrew its last contingent from Africa 10 days  ago.

Then he turned to the Russian side, and in particular, said: " Dear  Russian partners, do not ignore the Nagorno Karabakh problem. Maybe  this problem prevents you from promoting your narrative about the  role of Russia in the global world, but do not ignore it. There is a  problem. Do not create new narratives without taking into account the  real situation in a region that is vital for Russia, as there is a  geopolitical paradox due to the war in Ukraine. The role of Russia in  non-CIS countries countries has increased - South America, Africa,  Asia. Russia really plays globally. While ts role is declining  catastrophically in the near abroad- in Central Asia, and in Middle  Asia and the South Caucasus."

At the same time, Ashotyan said that he sees a joint geopolitical  game between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani  President Ilham Aliyev in the Lachin corridor, not only in terms of  causing reputational damage to Russia, but also strikes that have  long-term geopolitical goals. "This is done at our expense. They are  friends with passes. I will not be surprised if Aliyev advances this  ecological combination so much that Greta Tumberg comes to Lachin.  Azerbaijan plays power chess with us and takes these steps with  long-term calculations," Ashotyan said