At a meeting with Armenian businessmen in Saint Petersburg on July 26 Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced: “Who has funded our revolution? This is a very important question… We have published the report on funders, I am sorry, I have not calculated the percentage, but I am sure that roughly half of that funding came from Russia, Armenians of Russia. During Sakhalin march I received a call and then money transfer was made before we even entered Lori. The largest funder of our revolution was the Armenian community in Russia, there is no doubt about it. We made a mistake not publishing the geography of the funds. 90 percent of funding was done by the Diaspora, and at least 50 percent of those 90 percent were Russian Armenians, if not more. An analysis should be carried out and reported. The second was the US, Europe, but the largest funding was definitely from the Armenians of Russia”.
In this regard Aravot.am asked political analyst Aghasi Yenokyan whether we can conclude that there is more Russian factor in this revolution. He said: “Two points can be noted: first, they are the Armenians who were dissatisfied with Serzh Sargsyan’s government and had left Armenia trying to protect their businesses and themselves during his tenure. Thus, of course, their goal was to dethrone Serzh Sargsyan and finance these processes. This can also be noticed in Nikol Pashinyan’s actions since the issue was to eliminate that power, and yet there was nothing about the establishment of the new. The second important factor is that any business, or any serious business, in Russia is under the state control. In other words, all serious businesses are controlled by the state and, in this sense, the Russian-funded revolution could not have anti-Russian result. The result should naturally have been what we have now”.
Speaking about Putin’s influence on the Armenian revolution, Aghasi Yenokyan said: “As there are no clear political priorities, in particular in foreign policy, Pashinyan’s team knows well that Russia can create big problems and cause great damage to Armenia, that is why the main political stance that they have taken is not to irritate Putin. However, not always they succeed in that. For instance, initiating criminal prosecution against Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov and recalling him, without consulting with other CSTO member states, I think, has really irritated Putin and other partners. It is just a recent example”.
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
Armenians of diaspora deserve to be engaged in Armenia’s political process. It is long overdue.