Russian media about Nikol Pashinyan’s grandfather

A scandal continues in Armenia related to the military past of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s grandfather. See VK: “Fascist or Red Army? Debate about Pashinyan’s grandfather overwhelmed the Caucasus.” Now this debate has gone beyond the South Caucasus — several Russian media have devoted their publications to the problem at once.

So, News.ru, in the article “What is Hiding Nikol Pashinyan” with the subtitle “The Armenian Prime Minister is accused of collaborating with the SS and the grandson is silent,” writes that shortly before the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, Nikol Pashinyan told about his grandfather ( they are full of namesakes) and posted on Facebook his photo, emphasizing that he was proud to bear his name. According to the Armenian Prime Minister, his ancestor died as a fighter of the Red Army in battles with the Nazis.

These words attracted the attention of political opponents of the ruling party and journalists who immediately decided to verify the truth of the prime minister’s statement .. According to the Memorial, a certain Nikolai Pashinyan participated in the Great Patriotic War, but not on the Soviet side ... Pashinyan’s opponents, indicating possible grandfather’s cooperation with not the fact itself but the words of the prime minister about the heroic death of his ancestor and his subsequent silence. And until Pashinyan makes an official statement on this situation, he will remain a target for his opponents of all stripes and ranks.

The story of Pashinyan’s grandfather takes on a negative connotation along with other actions of the Armenian authorities. The leadership of the republic has repeatedly shown poorly concealed sympathy for Nazi accomplices. The Armenian legion of the Wehrmacht remains a sad page in the history of the republic ....

If earlier Pashinyan’s position regarding the preservation of Nzhdeh’s monuments in the country was considered simply an elementary respect for the public opinion of the Armenian population, now, against the background of a contradictory story with the prime minister’s grandfather, it takes on different shades. If the prime minister regularly finds historical arguments to reinforce his position on Nzhdeh (and even somehow compared him to a Soviet political figure, foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov, who signed the German-Soviet treaty of friendship and border in 1939), then why is he allowed ambiguity about his grandfather? After all, the prime minister definitely has all the possibilities to request a sufficient amount of archival information.

Other facts are added to this. So, for example, this month, deputies from the ruling Armenian bloc “My Step” refused to include on the agenda of the meeting a bill to increase monthly honorary payments to veterans of the Great Patriotic War. In early May, this news went virtually unnoticed, but now it cannot be missed.

In an article entitled "Grandfather Nikola Pashinyan was accused of collaborating with the Nazis," the Free Press writes that, in general, Armenians were never considered accomplices of the Nazis and more than 70 thousand Armenian citizens were awarded orders and medals for participating in the Great Patriotic War, 103 people were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. But the history of the Wehrmacht Armenian Legion led by Drastamat Kanayan (General "Dro") also entered history. The initial number of the legion was about eight thousand people, later it was increased to 30 thousand. The main part of the unit included Red Army soldiers who went over to the side of the enemy - most of them prisoners of war. The training was supervised by SS officers.

Armenian soldiers were not convenient for the Nazis, often they again switched to the Soviet side. Therefore, the attitude of the German command towards them was extremely suspicious and strict.

The story with Nikol Pashinyan’s grandfather is of particular relevance against the backdrop of the attitude of the Armenian authorities towards the history of the Second World War. The republic’s leadership has repeatedly shown sympathy for Nazi accomplices, in particular, in 2016 a bronze monument to Garegin Nzhdeh was opened in the center of Yerevan, which provoked an angry reaction from the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Garegin Nzhdeh in modern Armenia is considered one of the founders of statehood, turning a blind eye to his nationalist ideas and cooperation with Nazi Germany. There is evidence that since 1940 Nzhdeh contributed to the formation of Armenian battalions as part of the Wehrmacht, then he joined the Armenian National Council, formed in Berlin. After the war, he was arrested and ended his days in Vladimir Prison in 1955.

Moskovsky Komsomolets, in its skeleton in Nikol Pashinyan’s family closet, writes that many are now wondering how the current scandal will affect the prime minister’s positions. On the one hand, the actions of the ancestor, all the more erroneous, should not influence the political future of his descendants. On the other hand, silencing the situation by the prime minister, or even generally rewriting history, is not good for politics. Some Armenian media even began to accuse the authorities of trying to make changes to the archive data ... According to some analysts, now the Armenian authorities and the reputation of its Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan could be saved by a review of the position of the previous Armenian authorities on the role of Garegin Nzhdeh and other steps that distance country from the acts of Nazi minions.