Russian MP: France does not have real leverage in the Caucasus and  cannot act as actively as Russia

ArmInfo.The results of the early parliamentary elections in Armenia were quite unexpected, in particular, the serious gap between the votes received by the "Civil  Contract" party of Nikol Pashinyan and the "Armenia" bloc of Robert  Kocharian.

This was announced on June 24 during a video conference by  the first deputy chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on CIS  Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots  Konstantin Zatulin.  According to him, despite the fact that  immediately after the announcement of the election results, many  experts rushed to assure that this was a completely expected result,  in fact, not a single forecast said that Pashinyan's party would be  2.5 times ahead of its opponents.

Clarifying whether the opposition should take mandates or not, the  Russian politician expressed his conviction that all those who should  receive a mandate under the RA legislation will receive it. He stated  that the legislation of Armenia does not prohibit the "Civil  Contract" without other political forces to engage in political  activities in the parliament.

At the same time, the Russian lawmaker believes that the atmosphere  in parliament, first of all, will depend on how the ruling force will  behave, while he did not rule out that the matter could reach the  fists.  "The political crisis in Armenia is not over, it will  continue in other forms. The reason for this is the ongoing  polarization, which will further worsen, and which is not the same as  it was in the previous parliament," Zatulin said. Gagik Tsarukyan's  ''Prosperous Armenia " behaved more opportunistically, somewhere it  was tougher, and somewhere more flexible.

The MP is convinced that everything will be much tougher in the  current parliament, and Kocharian, not Tsarukyan, and in this regard,  he advised the MPs to think soberly and act in the interests of  Armenia and the Armenian people.

Zatulin also believes that the elections in Armenia were not as fair  and transparent as international observers and political scientists,  especially western ones, say. In his opinion, there are many doubts  about the process, as evidenced by the recount of votes at a number  of polling stations.  Touching upon the Armenian-Russian relations,  the lawmaker expressed his conviction today that neither Mr.  Pashinyan can accuse Russia of anything, nor the Russian Federation  by and large, does not accuse Mr.  Pashinyan in anything, at least  publicly, at the official level.

"As for Pashinyan's pro-Westernism, this usually comes from analysts  who analyze the composition of his governments and his past  activities, everything that he managed to say, including in terms of  relations with France, that they are one of the best," said the  politician, adding that the Armenian-French relations did not go  beyond the joint declaration.

In this vein, he noted that Russia has always understood that  Armenia, being in such an environment, having a complex history of  the past, is not obliged to cut off its contacts with Western  countries and continue to develop them. According to him, the  priority of the national policy is important here.  "And there are  many doubts here. But, on the issue of relations with Russia, one  gets the impression that this is a dispute between the good and the  even better. Both the Civil Contract and Armenia, no one argued about  the need to develop relations with Russia," Zatulin said, adding that  in terms of the internal component, you need to understand more  deeply.

Clarifying what prevented the French troops from being stationed in  the region, Zatulin stressed that he would not like to condemn France  to some extent. The politician added that at least France has a  position close to the Russian one on the issue of Armenia, which  cannot be said about other countries, at least about the neighbor of  Paris through the channel - Great Britain.  Zatulin pointed out that  Great Britain has always openly supported Turkey and continues to do  so. "I mean the line of Great Britain in the Caucasus, and this is  not only the events around the last Karabakh war, not only during the  20th century, but also during the Crimean War in the 19th century.  Great Britain has always believed that Turkey is a kind of barrier to  the expansion of Russian influence and should always be supported.  Therefore, France is more our ally than an adversary. But, you are  right, judging by the bare remnants, did nothing but a declaration.  But sometimes declarations are very important - as, for example, on  the issue of recognizing the Armenian Genocide. The whoe question is  that France does not have real leverage in the Caucasus and cannot  act as actively as the Russian Federation can, "Zatulin summed up.