ArmInfo. At a certain moment, but not now, Russia will move backward. Evidence thereof is Russia's stagnant economy and the general situation in the country and society, sociologist Karen Sargsyan told ArmInfo.
"Well aware of the difficulties in the context of the latest developments, let us, however, try to analyze the current situation. Russian troops have been present in Donetsk and Luhansk for years. I do not think Kiev has considered it vitally important to regain control of the regions for the past eight years. It is not at all a hindrance to Ukraine's development - its socio-economic progress. The territories remain annexed, and the world will go on viewing them, along with the Crimea, as parts of Ukraine - until Ukraine sees better times," Mr Sargsyan said.
The point is that by annexing part of Ukraine's territory Russia will lose entire Ukraine, first of all the Ukrainians as a society. In this context, Mr Sargsyan stresses that the Russian leader is attempting to link the ongoing developments with Lenin, Bolshevism, Ukraine's leadership - whoever it may be. However, he is turning a blind eye to the core of the problem: what matters is not who is holding the reins of power in Ukraine, but the fact that the Ukrainian society itself said "NO" to Russia long ago.
And it is Russia's actions toward Ukraine and Ukrainians for the last decades that largely account to this "NO". And further mutual efforts resulted in a border drawn between the Ukrainians and Russians - "we" and "they." And a similar border between Armenians and Azerbaijanis was drawn decades ago.
"And, of course, western sanctions against Russia - and they will only become harsher. And the US and Great Britain are already announcing them. France is still silent, and Macron is insulted by the results of his talks with Putin. I think the sanctions are a much stronger argument than they are considered to be. We should realize that the West's discontent with Russia's revisionism has reached its climax," Mr Sargsyan said.