The Ministry of Foreign Affairs thinks such talk is unserious
An article, which was made public through the Caucus Online information and analytical portal and has a rather interesting title “Armenia May Be Annexed to Russia,” has been discussed on the internet, in different Facebook groups, for a few days now. We find out in the article written by Roman Agarunov, an expert in international relations and commentator on the CIS countries, that in Russian political back rooms, the issue of Armenia’s annexation to Russia is being discussed, no less. Referring to unidentified diplomatic sources, the author of the article states that Moscow thinks that it is high time to do more active work on the post-Soviet territory, and as though, according to certain information, Serzh Sargsyan, the President of Armenia, has already given Moscow his preliminary consent. The article explains Armenia’s integration with Russia as an opportunity to fix the hard socio-economic condition, which, according to the author, Armenia cannot do by itself. Besides, it is also intended to meet Azerbaijan’s expectation of neutralizing the foreign threat. “Armenia has been economically dependent on Russia in recent years. A set of areas and companies have been given to Russia to repay the debt. The big companies that are under Armenia’s control are gradually taken over by the Northern neighbor. In the case of Armenia’s national air carrier, Armavia, which has ceased its operations, Russia is considered the only buyer. It is interesting that Moscow has never rushed to make investment in Armenia. It may be related to the Kremlin’s far-reaching plans for Armenia, according to which they try to make Armenia completely bankrupt; only after that will they immediately put forward the issue of Armenia’s integration with Russia,” the author explains. Based on his sources again, the author states that during his visit to Moscow after the February presidential election, Serzh Sargsyan reaffirmed his consent to the idea of integration and discussed the action plan for that, and as though an agreement was reached to elaborate the mechanisms of integration secretly, so that there is no tide of protest in Armenia. Then the author quoted Serzh Sargsyan’s statements about the Armenia-Russia relations and noted that Serzh Sargsyan’s visit to Moscow had been followed by Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandyan’s visit in April, and the latter had discussed with his Russian counterpart technical issues regarding Armenia’s annexation to Russia. “Supposedly, Armenia will be annexed to Russia as one of the subjects of the Russian Federation,” the article reads. Yesterday Aravot first asked the Foreign Ministry to comment. However, Tigran Balayan, the press secretary of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, just stated: “That kind of unserious publications are not worth commenting on.”
And Ruben Mehrabyan, an expert of the Center for Political and International Studies, first noted during a conversation with Aravot that the article was “conspiratorial,” but then expressed concern that the article mentioned all the levers that Russia could use to influence Armenia these days. “It is a fact that Russia’s presence in Armenia is too big, to such an extent that it hinders both development and sovereignty of Armenia,” our interlocutor stated, adding, however, that it didn’t imply that Armenia should be annexed to Russia,
because such Anschlusses just didn’t happen in the 21st century (“Anschluss” is a German term used to describe the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938). Such Anschlusses don’t happen even in the case of such dependent entities as South Ossetia or Abkhazia, R. Mehrabyan noted. R. Mehrabyan described such an idea about Armenia as exaggeration and dramatization. “However, the concern expressed in the article that Armenia was greatly dependent on Russia is certainly a fact. On the other hand, the fact of publishing such an article in the Georgian periodical can also be understood, because one of the main issues in our region these days is the issue of being able to pursue an independent policy, which is not solved yet. In this sense, I don’t think that Armenia renders the best service to the region on the one hand, and it is in Armenia’s interests on the other.”
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P.S. By the way, the Caucasus Online information and analytical portal is known to be a Georgian portal, but, according to certain information, it is an Azeri portal. Thus, one should not be surprised at such publications on Armenia.
EMMA GABRIELYAN
