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On April 24th Vladimir Putin participated in solemn events in Yerevan devoted to the 100th anniversary of the tragic events during World War I in the Ottoman Empire. The reaction by the Armenian press to the visit by the Russian President, who came to share with the Armenian people the memory of the tragedy, was strange and unclear at tge very least. Vestnik Kavkaza publishes an article by www.lragir.am, in which the author analyzes the prospects of Russian-Armenian relations after April 24th 2015.
Many people think that after a month of staying in the center of world politics, Armenia will return to its swamp. Everything was well organized in world politics – meetings, marches, everybody spoke about the Armenians, we were proud that the world learnt how we were murdered and expelled from our lands.
However, everything is over and we need “to come back.” Armen Ashotyan asked the swamp “not to come back” on his page in Facebook; but it seems it has no intention of doing so. Armenia has finally overcome the disgusting, but warm swamp and has turned out to be in a rapid stream which flows nobody-knows-where.
The fact that Putin had to come to Yerevan and listen to Turkey’s humiliating hints won’t be forgotten. Now the Russification of Armenia will be speeded up, moreover, it is clear that the West doesn’t want to fight for the interests of the Armenians. Moscow has no reasons to preserve the sovereignty of Armenia even formally.
One of the apologists of Russian-Armenian friendship, a chairman of Eurasian foundations and projects, Andranik Nikogosyan, made an interesting statement. He told Hartak, commenting on the fact that the Presidents of Belarus and Kazakhstan didn’t support Armenia on April 24th, that “it would be better to join the Russian Federation than the EAEU.”
It’s true that the EAEU requires sovereignty of its members to some extent; and this annoys Russia. Playing with sovereignties and other things is over. It’s time for a certain choice – to be a part of Russia or to stand against Russia.
After April 24th, Armenia will face new acts of suppression of independence. Probably it will touch on the Karabakh problem. The President of Azerbaijan will be present in Moscow on May 9th; and if Serge Sargsyan goes to Moscow (and he has to go there), Putin will probably organize a trilateral meeting and make Armenia agree on their plan of settlement.
It might also touch on the economy. Russia can increase gas and electricity power prices in Armenia freely, and nobody will protest against this. Nobody heard the word ‘genocide’ from Putin in Yerevan on April 24th, and nobody saw demonstrations of demands from Turkey in Yerevan. Thus, the Armenian people will agree to everything.
So, there will be no return to the swamp. We should be ready for a dissolution of the Eurasian Union and joining Russia.
