Monday, September 19 2022 16:31

ArmInfo. From September 16-18, Konstantin Zatulin, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with  Compatriots, was in the Republic of Armenia.

According to the press service of Zatulin,  the  latter got  acquainted with the situation that arose as a result of the outbreak  of hostilities between Azerbaijan and Armenia at the beginning of  last week and, in particular, visited the outskirts of the resort  town of Jermuk, which were shelled by the Azerbaijani side during its  advance deep into the territory of the Republic of Armenia. 

Konstantin Zatulin met with former presidents of the Nagorno-Karabakh  Republic Arkady Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan. Konstantin Zatulin met  with leader of the "Armenia" bloc, former president of Armenia and  the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Robert Kocharyan, during which the  internal and external agenda, the development of Russian-Armenian  relations were discussed.

Konstantin Zatulin discussed further plans for the work of the  Armenian branch of the Institute of CIS countries and the Lazarev  Club with the branch director, Dr. Alexander Markarov. Ambassador  Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to  Armenia Sergey Kopyrkin also received Konstantin Zatulin at the  Embassy of the Russian Federation in Yerevan.

At the invitation of his friend, philanthropist and businessman Artak  Tovmasyan, Konstantin Zatulin and the family of Iosif Kobzon took  part in the opening of a memorial-small fountain in memory of in the  Aparan region of Armenia, named after Iosif Kobzon, People's Artist  of the USSR, an outstanding public figure and MP Zatulin's colleague  in the State Duma.

Late in the evening of September 18, Konstantin Zatulin returned to  Moscow.

"I could not help but respond to the need to visit Armenia in  difficult times. Many in Armenia accepted the defeat in the 2020 war,  which was confirmed by the results of early parliamentary elections  in the summer of 2021. They thought they were choosing peace. But it turned out that Azerbaijan and Turkey expected that Armenians and  Armenia would completely abandon their compatriots in Nagorno-Karabakh, and they forcefully remind them of this.

Armenia, like the entire region, needs peace, but not at the cost of  permanent humiliation. The peace treaty and the demarcation of the  Armenian-Azerbaijani border do not remove the problem of the status  of Nagorno-Karabakh, the search for a solution  which has been on  the agenda of international relations for 30 years. This should be  considered from this point of view. As far as I understand, this is  exactly how Russia sees it, sending its peacekeepers to the conflict  zone.

I left and Nancy Pelosi stayed. This is a bitter joke. But it  reflects a situation in which the Armenian government and those who  support it are trying to get closer to the US and the West in order  to gain support in this, inside and outside the country. The West is  playing with Armenia and Azerbaijan, its main goal is to oust any  Russian influence in the region. And it achieves ever greater success  in this pupose, having chosen the platform of the European Union in  Brussels for repeating the experience of Camp David in the Middle  East settlement in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

It is very difficult for Russia in the Caucasus., which is engaged in  Ukraine, But things need to be called by their proper names. The lack  of a clear and public assessment of events on our part gives rise to  disappointment in the Armenian society. Acting unceremoniously,  Azerbaijan and Turkey, which stands behind it, in fact, received a  lever that provokes the growth of anti-Russian sentiments in allied  Armenia, whose authorities themselves are not averse to blaming all  difficulties on Russia, including responsibility for the Armenians in  Nagorno-Karabakh.

This is the turning point and how Armenia and Russian-Armenian  relations will develop further depends on the decisions to be made in  the near future," Konstantin Zatulin said following the visit.