ArmInfo. It is necessary to clearly identify the actors and, accordingly, the weight and significance of their statements in the controversy of recent days between representatives of the former regime and the incumbent authorities, the leader of the ''Republic'' party, former prime minister of Armenia Aram Sargsyan expressed a similar opinion to ArmInfo.
"If we are talking about Serzh Sargsyan, then we are talking about politics, the former president of Armenia and the leader of a party, no matter that the party gained only 4% of the vote in the latest election. Artur Vanetsyan and Sargsyan's son-in-law Mikael Minasyan do not represent any political direction, they are not present on political platform, they didn't make political statements even in the past, "he said.
In this light, Sargsyan considers that politicians and diplomats should be considered separately from "talking heads". According to him, an exceptional example of an ambassador and diplomat is the late Ruben Shugaryan, who expressed his political position in 2008 and condemned the actions of the then authorities, for which he was even deprived of a diplomatic rank. "Meanwhile, those who today express an opinion even about Artsakh, since then, have been quietly sitting in various Vaticans and have gradually taken over the information field," he emphasized.
The politician recalled that these people were the ones who turned businessmen into lawmakers and, accordingly, businessmen into oligarchs. They acquired property and shares in banks and other tidbits of the economy. And today all these people, who in their time as a result of theft, have accumulated huge illegal property, dare to speak of justice.
"I never had personal problems with Karen Karapetyan. But I initially opposed his idea of selling to Russia the last 20% of gas distribution networks belonging to Armenia. But he insisted that these 20% are of no decisive importance. Now we can clearly see the fallacy of his statements. Owning even 20% of the shares, today we could solve problems and influence the pricing of gas inside Armenia, "he said. However, the last shares were sold to Gazprom, according to his estimates, at "night auctions" with a gross violation of Armenian law. And as a result, amid gas prices in Europe at $ 60-80 per 1000 cubic meters Russia sells gas to Armenia for $ 165, while it reaches to consumers at a price twice as expensive.
"At the same time, the so-called gas at the Gazprom border is sold not to Armenia, but to its own subsidiary - Gazprom Armenia. Meanwhile, if the Armenia-Iran gas pipeline in honor of Robert Kocharian were not sold to Russia, today we would buy gas from Iran at 50 dollars. And this fact should be remembered, we need to talk about it, " Sargsyan concluded.