The incident with Russian Sergey Mironov, who was had been detained in Yerevan allegedly at the request of the US and three days later released, did not demonstrate the best features of Yerevan's foreign policy, but rather the short-sighted policies of the Armenian authorities, the Russian political scientist Andrei Yepifantsev told Vestnik Kavkaza.
"The situation itself is strange enough. In any case, it was not in Yerevan's interest to make such a demarche," he noted.
"Friendly countries do not do such things. For example, the West considers itself friendly to the Ukrainian government - but at the same time, Ukraine cannot make Western countries extradite many of its citizens at the Interpol request. If Armenia seriously considers this option, and even extradites Sergei Mironov to the United States, it would be quite an unfriendly step, which would jeopardize the Russian-Armenian relations, and ultimately lead to Russia taking identical steps and start extraditing, for example, Armenian citizens to Azerbaijan," Yepifantsev warned.
The political scientist drew attention to the ambiguous reaction of the Armenian society in connection with the current events. "Armenia's move to detain a Russian citizen was taken calmly by the public. But when they heard that Russia may take similar measures, it was interpreted as interference in the internal affairs of Armenia. And I think that such a reaction indicates the situation is not interpreted adequately," the expert explained.
He stressed that the situation posed a greater threat to Armenia, not to Russia. "And Yerevan realized it eventually. When the news about Mironov's detention hit the headlines, this step caused a growing outrage in the society. And then either the Russians voiced their resentment during negotiations with the Armenians or they themselves realized that they had gone too far," Andrei Yepifantsev concluded.
