“To say the least, I am not enthusiastic about these loans. Generally, I consider taking a loan from Russia very dangerous because Russia is taking back its debts from Armenia with strategic objects, Armenia’s shares, particularly, in the “ArmRusGasProm” company, in other words, it takes some elements of our independence and statehood every time”, such opinion was expressed by the Head of the “Agreement” Center, David Shahnazaryan, in the interview with Aravot, referring to the new Russia loan. Note that controversy opinions are voiced regarding this loan. The local authorities claim that Russia approved its friendly partnership relations with Armenia with this loan, as it is selling us weapons by the factory prices, while the opponents believe that Russia is selling the same weapons to Azerbaijan, then we have to borrow to keep the balance.
According to David Shahnazaryan, indeed, Armenian needs a weapon, but not at this cost. Mr. Shahnazaryan explained that by saying price, in this case, he means not the price of the weapon but the price that we will pay for the Russian loans. “It is possible that we may pay a very high price once again. It is not excluded that from now on, if Russia has sold weapons to us worth of 200 million, then it will sign a multi-billion arms supply agreement with Azerbaijan. One thing is clear, Russia has imposed the West to start an arms race, and side-by-side with it, it is filling in the region with arms in a course of many years and thereby violates the military balance in favor of Azerbaijan. This is not my opinion but the opinion of numerous international expertise centers that in favor of Azerbaijan, Russia has repeatedly violated the military balance.” As mentioned by David Shahnazaryan, today, truly, the No. 1 partner of Russia in the region is not Armenia but the Aliyev regime and Azerbaijan.
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
