The tragicomic post-revolutionary situation in ‘new’ Armenia, as it is now fashionable to call it, after the ‘people's prime minister’ Nikol Pashinyan came to power in May this year, continues to be in the highlight throughout the post-Soviet space. Pashinyan seems to have got into his role of the good wizard Gandalf from ‘The Lord of the Rings’ novel by Tolkien. Today he is seriously discussing the struggle between the good and evil forces in modern Armenia. The enemies are defined quite specifically - Robert Kocharyan, Serzh Sargsyan, Yuri Khachaturov, Mikael Harutyunyan, supporters of the Republican Party of Armenia - in short, the entire former ruling team.
Also, any other political forces daring to oppose ”the good forces” or support them with insufficient zeal are automatically ranked among the evil forces henchmen, also called ‘counterrevolutionaries.’ It is not necessary to stand upon ceremony with them, the head of the Armenian government thinks. "The Republicans were perfectly aware that if they did not elect me as a prime minister they would not get back to their houses alive," the prime minister said at the September 11 rally, once again confirming his sincere commitment to the liberal democratic values. Today, when Pashinyan ordered to free from imprisonment the ‘pacifists’ from the Sasna Tsrer group, no doubt left on the seriousness of his words.
The outrageous scandal over the telephone conversation between Sasun Khachatrian, the head of the Special Investigative Service (SIS) and Arthur Vanetsyan, the director of the National Security Service of Armenia, also can not become an obstacle to the victorious march of the revolution. ”Whether you want it or not, but you must ensure the arrest of [Kocharyan]," Vanetsyan demanded from the frightened judge. But (and this is obvious to any sincere supporter of the revolution) such actions are not at all a gross pressure on the judiciary of a person accountable directly to the head of the government and the law enforcement department acting on his orders. The head of the Armenian special services, like his boss in his struggle against the ‘evil forces’ can afford to neglect the norms of legislation. If one case against Kocharyan failed, it is not a problem. After all, another criminal case will be instituted against him - on a suspicion of money laundering. Kocharyan will certainly be in prison - where the ‘evil forces’ should stay. But the wiretapping by the ‘henchmen of the counter-revolution’ acting in the interests of Kocharyan and Sargsyan is an excellent occasion to start a new stage of the fight against evil and to clean up the entire internal political circle.
However, Moscow's reaction may turn out to be somewhat unpleasant, as it does not want to understand that Robert Kocharyan and Yuri Khachaturov, citing the words from the conversation, should be ‘caged’ by the new Armenian authorities. Nevertheless, the revolutionary government took the prudent measures. For example, Pashinyan has already called on Russians to adapt to the new realities in Armenia, and during his third working visit to Putin, he publicly said the Russian president about the principle of non-interference in each other's internal affairs. After all, Armenia is a sovereign country. Its borders with Iran and Turkey are protected by Russian soldiers, and it receives preferential military loans from Russia, and therefore, has absolute freedom to ensure that Moscow does not interfere in its affairs.
Kremlin understood and accepted this powerful message of the Armenian prime minister and did not extradite the ex-Minister of Defense of Armenia at the request of the country’s authorities, because his extradition would have become an interference. So, from the Russian side, the adaptation is in full swing.
Now Azerbaijan has to adapt to the new realities. Through the Russian newspaper Kommersant, (Ilham Aliyev for some reason does not hurry to meet with Pashinyan) ‘the people's prime minister’ made it clear that the country should expect neither the return of the Nagorno-Karabakh, nor the adjacent seven regions, and in general, the negotiations should be carried out with the authorities of the ‘Nagorno-Karabakh Republic’, not recognized even by Armenia. Pashinyan, however, did not specify the topic of the negotiations.
In general, Pashinyan's revolutionary train moves forward in full steam. Only some trifles are left - to defeat poverty, corruption and migration, cage Kocharyan and Sargsyan, to make Russia adapt and Azerbaijan forget about the occupied territories. The newly-sprung Armenian Great Helmsman will surely cope with this task- just do not interfere and let him work.
