Armenia. How color revolutions are prepared

After moving to Italy, a journalist from Buryatia began to unravel political intrigues on a global scale. Together with his wife, an Italian, he has managed to create a channel telling about political manipulation, and has not only forced thousands of people to listen to him, but has also managed to establish cooperation with an MP of the European Parliament. Vestnik Kavkaza invites its readers to get acquainted with one of the materials of the blog La Tana dell'Orso (Bear's Den).

In Armenia we have witnessed attempts to find a solution to the Karabakh conflict being used by the opposition to foment anti-Russian sentiments and to prepare a color revolution. On August 5th the opposition rally against the ‘betrayal of Kremlin’ was held in front of the Opera House in Yerevan. As one of the participants of the rally explained to us, Vladimir Putin is trying to solve the Karabakh conflict by giving Nagorno-Karabakh back to Azerbaijan. These statements seemed strange to us, so we went to our friend in Yerevan for an explanation.

In recent years Putin has repeatedly stated the need to reach a compromise in Nagorno-Karabakh, taking into account the interests of both sides. For example, in an interview to the Azerbaijani AzerTaj news agency, he said: "I would like to emphasize that we are not trying to impose any ready solution either on Armenia or Azerbaijan. The parties should come to an agreement and find mutually acceptable solutions on their own, without any outside pressure. This is our firm position.’’

According to Putin, the compromise involves finding the optimal balance between the principles of territorial integrity and the right of peoples to self-determination: "The ultimate goal of the settlement should be an agreement without winners and losers, and the concessions – with mutual benefits for both parties – should be clear to public opinion in Armenia and in Azerbaijan. "

But the Armenian opposition drew attention only to the concessions from Yerevan’s side, and due to this accuses Russia of treason.

We do not know whether this is the issue of the compromise or not, we are interested in the Armenian opposition's logic itself. The country is not experiencing the best years now, pessimism prevails in Armenian society – there is no work, low wages, and prices are high, young people are leaving the country. According to Armenian society, the corrupt government is to blame. And because it has a pro-Russian policy, then, as the opposition suggests, Moscow is guilty, the union with which prevents Armenia from friendships with ‘normal’ countries, and from becoming a ‘normal country’ itself.

But it is sufficient just to look at a map to understand that Armenia is the last country in the post-Soviet space that would benefit from breaking off relations with Russia. It is bordered by four countries, of which two – Turkey and Azerbaijan, much more rich and powerful – are its open enemies, and for Georgia and Iran the ties with Ankara and Baku are much more important than their relations with Yerevan. Therefore, the alliance with Russia, which helps to protect the borders of the Armenian state, allows the imbalance in the region to be aligned.

Yet the slogan ‘Russia is to blame’ is supported by a small but active part of the local population. The April aggravation of the Karabakh conflict, in which Moscow did not unequivocally support the actions of Armenia, was just in time, though it is overlooked that, by openly supporting Yerevan, Moscow could force Baku to seek allies and protectors in the face of better friends of democracy and human rights. This, of course, is not in the interests of Moscow, which is trying by all means to prevent the transformation of its ‘backyard’ into a NATO base.

Russia has its own interests in the region, which do not always coincide with the interests of its ally Armenia. On the other hand, the interests and actions of Armenia also do not always coincide with the wishes of Russia. Hence the confusion, when any step by the Kremlin not taken in line with Armenian foreign policy is perceived as a betrayal. However, unfortunately for the opposition, the anti-Russian sentiment, spread by organizations that receive financial support from the West still don't find much support among the people. Many people understand that at least the current level of life is maintained by Russia. For example, the farmers with whom we met in Geghard export vegetables to Moscow – incidentally, the anti-Russian sanctions imposed by the EU strongly contributed to this. Many Armenians come home only on vacation, living and working in Russia.

The example of Ukraine, where the association with the EU has turned into a disaster for the economy of the country, demonstrates the consequences of actions dictated by biased interests of a country, and this applies not only to Armenia.