New partition of Europe in progress, Armenian politician says 

ArmInfo.. In an interview with ArmInfo, Chairman of the Conservative Party of Armenia Mikael Hayrapetyan said that the ongoing developments in Ukraine are part of  a new ongoing partition of Europe. 

"As part of this process the USA has introduced its troops to the  other NATO member-states. Of course, it was done to show Russia the  determination not to leave the Baltic States and the former members  of the Warsaw Treaty Organization (WTO). In its turn, Russia is  fighting for Ukraine and Belarus to retain its influence at least in  that part of Europe," Mr Hayrapetyan said. 

According to him, Russian President Vladimir Putin will not stop  until he has Ukraine partitioned, and the sanctions will not stop him  in the foreseeable future. Ukraine's problem is that Russia and the  West will sooner or later come to terms, and the Ukrainian people  alone will be the victim. 

In this context, Mr Hayrapetyan recalled Armenians' historical  experience - each Russian-Turkish war ended in a reconciliation, with  Armenian territories left in ruins and Armenians being the first  victims.  According to him, the result of the ongoing war in Ukraine  will be Russia's growing pressure on Armenia, while Azerbaijan has  avoided this pressure due to President Ilham Aliyev's clever "gas  maneuvers" in dealing with the West. Moreover, Azerbaijan has turned  into an actor "in demand" in this Ukraine-related game.

"This being so, the only thing for Armenia to do now is to refrain  from rash steps and consolidate the available potential. The coming  year will see numerous threats and challenges, including those to  Armenia.  Regrettably, I do not see our political forces are capable  of or willing for meeting them. These people - both the ruling and  the opposition forces - consider each other greater enemies that they  consider Turkey and Azerbaijan. And I fear that we can miss the now  available opportunity to greatly improve our relations with Iran and  the West, while Russia, is, so to say, busy with other things," he  said.