Mr. Manukyan, the president of the National Assembly, Ara Babloyan raised the question of Armenia’s driving licenses in Russia, in response to which the RF State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said that he cannot offer anything else to solve the issue than to give the Russian language a state status in Armenia. How would you comment on the proposal of a Russian high-ranking official? -“It is just ridiculous. You know what is strange? English has spread and has become an international language and, for example, is the second state language in India, but no one has imposed it, life has led to it. It’s ridiculous when a country tries to artificially, by reasoning driver’s license, impose its language to another country. Although it was said by a high-ranking official, it is difficult to consider as Russia’s official opinion.
You can use a driving license in all countries around the world. In 1949, a convention was signed in Geneva, which states that in the signatory states, there is not a national driving license, but international. In 1968, the Vienna Convention was adopted, to which Russia and Armenia joined. According to the Vienna Convention, national driving licenses of each state also operate in other member states. Although there are some differences. For example, Brazil, which has also signed the Vienna Convention, imposes that if you go to their country with a national driving license, you must have a copy of the license translated and approved by notary, which is normal, there may be some such nuances, but making it a state question and saying that you have to change your Constitution so your driving license can be useable in my country is just ridiculous and unacceptable.
-This requirement, in fact, is also contrary to the international convention. -It is contrary to anything. -And won’t this step of Russia harm relations between Armenia and the Eurasian Economic Union? Some of our political circles are raising the issue of refusing the Eurasian Economic Union. -You shouldn’t complicate everything that much. Of course, the claim about the language is nonsense, but there will be many such ridiculous claims. After all, people forget that no matter how strong Russia is, from the legal point of view we have entered the Eurasian Union as an equal country. We are just not used to be equal, but we are really equal and we can put our demands. This is a new emerging structure where there will be conflicts of interests, each one would like to promote his own interests, and similar issues can be raised later as well, but for that we have a president, a National Assembly, a government that must solve these issues, to promote our country’s interests and to make certain demands as a member of the Eurasian Economic Union. And it is not serious to get upset at anything and to leave.