ArmInfo.Today, a crisis situation has developed in Armenian- Russian relations. former Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, ex-rector of the Russian-Armenian University Armen Darbinyan, stated.
According to him, in the conditions of the crisis, it is very important to understand the causes and, most importantly, to evaluate its consequences, to determine the directions and necessary actions to improve them. "I believe that the blame for the deterioration of these relations lies on both the Armenian and Russian sides - on states, publics and societies," said Armen Darbinyan, pointing out four omissions on the Armenian side. First of all, we are talking about excessive expectations from Armenian-Russian strategic relations. "I don't know why the Armenian society has the perception that the allied nature of bilateral relations will become a guarantor in the implementation of the state and national interests of Armenia.
But this is absolutely not the case, and has never been the case. Russia and any other state never pursue the interests of other countries; each of them has its own national-state interests, which is correct. In this context, the strategic allied relations between Russia and Armenia served the interests of the first one. Our illusions in no way corresponded to these interests," Armen Darbinyan emphasized.
The second reason for the deterioration of relations, according to the former prime minister, was the lack of a real understanding of the development of international relations, as well as ongoing trends, especially after the Crimean developments of 2014. Meanwhile, tectonic shifts took place in the world, which Yerevan did not take into account. "I don't know why, but we felt that this strategic alliance would give us the opportunity to be protected from any kind of complications of the situation. We have failed to take appropriate steps in this direction to manage the situation. We even considered the Russian base in Armenia in this context. But you must understand that if another state controls at least part of your state, this means a concession of sovereignty. Especially after 2014, Russia began to search for a partnership that could help serve its interests. In this context, Turkey has become a preferred partner for Russia, which fell out of our attention," said the former prime minister.
He also pointed to the third reason, which concerns the failure of Armenia's lobbying activities in the Russian Federation, in contrast to Azerbaijan, which was able to carry out fantastically effective work in this direction. Armenian awards were given to people who had nothing to do with Armenia's interests. Business lobbying also failed. Thus, among the representatives of big business in Russia are entrepreneurs: Vagit Alekperov, Araz Agalarov, God Nisanov, who have carried out and are carrying out active lobbying work in the Russian Federation. As a result, there was a concession of the national interests of Armenia in favor of Azerbaijan.
As the fourth reason, Darbinyan mentioned Yerevan's contempt for Moscow's demands and warnings. The so-called "Lavrov Plan" was the last warning to the Armenian side. "Moscow directly stated that Armenia cannot count on more than Lavrov's plan," Armen Darbinyan emphasized. But Armenia ignored the warning.
He noted that the Russian side also made critical mistakes. In particular, Russia viewed Armenia as its outpost, and not as an equal partner. The interests of Armenia were never considered by the Russian Federation as the interests of equal partners, and the interests of the Republic of Armenia were never taken into account by Moscow. In particular, Moscow believes that RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan violated the "gentleman's agreement" on the future of Karabakh. "But there cannot be gentlemen's agreements between states; this is the prerogative of individuals, which is difficult to perceive as an accusation against Armenia. From a subjective point of view, one can also understand the accusations against Moscow regarding the ratification of the Rome Statute by the National Assembly. In my opinion, we should have done this much earlier, and the ratification of this document corresponds to the national interests of Armenia," the specialist noted.
He added that the Armenian side should have no illusions about Russia's possible withdrawal from the region, despite the terrible outflow of the Armenian population from Artsakh and the closure of the Lachin corridor. "Moreover, in my deep conviction, one of the narratives of the Russian Federation was its presence in the region, and, in particular, in Karabakh, which was a territory of vital interests of Moscow. "But a deal happened, Russia gave up its vital territories in exchange for something. It is clear that this was done in exchange for control over the corridor, which should pass through the territory of Armenia. We all talk about the "red" line in relation to the so-called "Zangezur corridor", but we don't say anything about the "green" line, which is not serious, since we are not talking about a few gates, but about six highways and a railway," concluded the former prime minister. He noted that the Armenian side, in exchange, should demand the opening of the Kars-Gyumri railway connection, which could be under the control of the Russians according to the same logic by which they are going to control the corridors through the territory of Armenia.