David Stepanyan, Yerevan. Exclusively for VK
Every autumn Armenia witnesses a burst of activity of Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan. By coincidence, this activity is traditionally manifested by a dissatisfaction with the activities of the Russian program of repatriation "Compatriots."
Background information from VK: The state program aimed at assisting the voluntary resettlement of compatriots living abroad to the Russian Federation was approved by presidential decree on June 22, 2006. It aims at encouraging and facilitating the voluntary resettlement of compatriots to Russia. Since 2006 about 80 thousand people living in the CIS countries returned to Russia thanks to the program. Participating families are required by the Russian side to abandon Armenian citizenship and become citizens of Russia. The program provides participants with work, two years of health insurance, as well as travelling costs.
"Our political position states that the implementation of the "Compatriots" program of the Federal Migration Service of Russia in Armenia in the format it is carried out in other countries is unacceptable to us," the Armenian prime minister said on October 3. He stated that Yerevan never agreed to implement the program. Already on October 9 in response to the statement given by the Armenian Prime Minister, Russian Ambassador to Armenia Vyacheslav Kovalenko convened in Yerevan a press conference in which, in response to the question as to why Russia is not closing the "Compatriots" program, he said that no one is forcing Armenians to go to Russia, and the closing of "Compatriots" program alone would not stop emigration from Armenia.
The ambassador of the Russian Federation noted that no one requires from the US Ambassador to Armenia to discuss these problems in connection with issuing green cards. Kovalenko said that last year alone, with the help of America, over five thousand families left Armenia.
The "Compatriots" program has been functioning in Armenia since 2007. As the head of the Representative Office of the FMS of Russia in Armenia, Svetlana Stepanova, told VK, more than 30 Russian regions have become hosts to compatriots. (See VK article: http://www.vestikavkaza.ru/articles/45030.html). All in all, 2166 people left Armenia for Russia for permanent residency. Thus, statements regarding the threat of the program to the demographic situation in Armenia are unfounded to say the least.
It is not the first time that the Armenian prime minister has attacked the "Compatriots" program with merciless criticism. Last fall, Sargsian also promised to raise the issue at international level by responding to Armenian intellectuals, who had demanded that measures be taken to prevent the outflow of the population.
The situation around the "Compatriots" program is developing against the background of the overall growth of the number of emigrants from the country, who are leaving Armenia first of all due to the severe socio-economic conditions. At the moment there is an ongoing information campaign in Armenia involving a number of foreign-funded non-governmental organizations, civil society activists and specialists in the field who oppose the activities of the FMS of Russia in Armenia. Particularly active in this campaign is a government-sponsored youth initiative called "Now", which has already demanded that the program be suspended.
Some Armenian media have already supported the campaign with articles entitled, for example, "Kovalenko is the last Russian Ambassador to Armenia with whom the century-old cycle of the Armenian-Russian love-hate friendship ends." It is noteworthy that, according to the same media, the Russian ambassador to Armenia allegedly has already met with President Serzh Sargsyan in order to specify the foreign policy orientation of the Armenian president.
Even the strongest authorities leave, but national interests remain. The national interests of Armenia in the state of an unresolved conflict require better relations with its centuries-old northern neighbor. These relationships are in the national interests of Russia as well. There are no one-sided dependencies in nature. Armenia is as dependent on Russia as Russia is dependent on Armenia. The only difference lies within the size and geopolitical accents. Therefore major geopolitical games for the sake of personal narrow group interests, for the sake of preserving power in one's hands, for the sake of manoeuvring between the West and Russia, are clearly not in the interests of Armenians – those who are still living in Armenia, as well as those who have already emigrated to Russia in the framework of the "Compatriots" program.
