ArmInfo. Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan did not agree with the wording that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan rejected the invitation to go to the economic forum in Poland.
So, on August 29 in Yerevan, in an interview with reporters in parliament, to clarify whether the Foreign Ministry was informed of the reasons for rejecting the invitation, Mnatsakanyan in particular said: "The issue here is not the rejection: here is the question of sovereignty. We did not decline the invitation. The Prime Minister has his own the program of visits that is being implemented, the internal agenda of priorities and when we compare them (meaning most likely the invitations received - ed.), we need to analyze how to deal with them, taking into account foreign policy and domestic political priorities Children. Based on the foregoing, we did so. "
He also expressed bewilderment over the possibility of pressure on the prime minister on the issue of participation in events dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II. "The issue here is also fundamental. In the case of World War II, we represent a country that had a direct connection with these events, a direct involvement and I'm sure that now there's no need to talk in detail about how Armenia and the Armenian people contributed to the victory in this war, being a part of the Soviet Union and the Soviet Army at that time, and we are somewhat scrupulous about how this issue is reflected in essence at different sites. Our grandfathers fought, we had marshals, generals, Heroes of the Soviet Union. We brought huge we were dead then, we were part of the Soviet army and fought against Nazism, defending our united homeland, and it is quite natural that this topic is very sensitive for us, "Mnatsakanyan summed up. On the eve of ArmInfo it was reported that the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan will not take part in the celebrations that will be held in Warsaw on September 1. "The Prime Minister did not receive an invitation to participate in events dedicated to the outbreak of World War II in Poland," said spokesman for the head of government Vladimir Karapetyan to ArmInfo.
And the Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anna Naghdalyan told ArmInfo that the head of the Armenian government will not take part in the 29th international economic conference, which will be held on September 3-5 in the Polish city of Krynica-Zdroj. Meanwhile, the conference website reported that Nikol Pashinyan was among those invited to the forum and would be one of the important guests of the event. Later it became known that the President of Armenia Armen Sargsyan received the invitation, but his participation in the event is not planned.
Note that as early as March 19 this year according to UNIAN, the press secretary of the President of Poland, Blazh Spychalski, said that only members of the European Union, NATO and the Eastern Partnership states - Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, should be invited to the solemn events to be held in Warsaw on September 1 , Georgia. Without Russia, he specified. In July 2019, the press service of Polish President Andrzej Duda issued a statement stating that Poland intends to meet the dramatic events of 80 years ago with countries with which it closely cooperates "in the interest of world peace."
US President Donald Trump and German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel are expected to arrive in Poland this year in particular. The participation of the official delegation of Ukraine, which also received invitations from Andrzej Duda, was also confirmed by the office of President Vladimir Zelensky. Meanwhile, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko will not take part in these events. According to the Polish publication Rzeczpospolita, Lukashenko refused to visit Poland, because the Polish authorities did not invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to events in Warsaw.