“The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement process should generate exclusively from the principle of peaceful settlement. And this dirty deal between the two countries strongly violates the democratic values, human freedoms and the right to free mobility, and does not generate from the regional peace guarantee,” said NA Deputy Speaker Eduard Sharmazanov to the journalists addressing the decision of Belarus to extradite blogger Alexander Lapshin to Azerbaijan.
Recall that the blogger was arrested in Belarus. He was on the “black list” of Baku for visiting Artsakh and preparing articles about his visits. “Furthermore, this is a move that is not typical of democratic regimes. This is a move that is against the Armenian-Belarusian political cooperation,” said NA Deputy Speaker, adding that as a co-chair of the Armenian-Belarus Parliamentary Friendship Group, he opines that this move by Belarus does not generate from the Russian-Belarusian relations, this is a move that is aimed against the CSTO and EaEU confederates, “This is a disgrace, this is a deal.”
Recall that Alexander Lapshin is a citizen of the Russian Federation. Moscow has also officially spoken about the necessity to extradite Lapshin to Azerbaijan. But as the co-chair of the parliamentary committee, Eduard Sharmazanov at least today does not think it is appropriate to sit around the table with the Belarusian parliamentarians and discuss this issue, for the Committee is friendly while this move is definitely not friendly and does not derive from the relations between the two countries. To the question of Aravot.am about the moves that Yerevan should make officially, Eduard Sharmazanov said that it is already taking actions. He meant the reaction of the RA Foreign Ministry spokesperson which he qualifies as quite tough. To our clarifying question of whether we have adverse moves to make, the following response was made, “We must use all diplomatic measures.”
