A few days ago, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko met with reporters and spoke particularly about the fact that his country sells Azerbaijan weapons and Nikol Pashinyan’s criticism of that. The more scandalous part of that interview was published on the Internet, where the Belarusian President rebuked Nikol Pashinyan, saying that Pashinyan does not dare to criticize Vladimir Putin for selling the same weapons. Lukashenko expressed his thoughts using vocabulary that does not suit a world leader, he presented his one-sided views in a closed meeting, and deliberately changed his emphasis.
Armenian citizens are not worried about which country sells more weapons to Azerbaijan. Our problem is that Russia and Belarus, with whom we seem to be in the same military-political alliance, sell weapons to Azerbaijan, which are then used against our state and our children. We are in the middle of a conflict with our neighbors, and it is not normal that our “allies” are arming our enemies. It’s not like the Prime Minister didn’t say the same thing about Putin (which Pashinyan’s press secretary also confirmed), and therefore the Belarusian President’s words were not correct. I don’t think that Lukashenko doesn’t understand that much; I think he simply wants to take the conversation in that direction.
I think that Armenian citizens and Armenians, in general, feel the same way about the sale of weapons and Lukashenko’s words. But an internal issue arises here, which has to do with our medical knowledge. Armenian news outlets are naturally required to report about what an “allied” country’s leader says about our Prime Minister during an interview. But informing people brings strange consequences. Several dozens of internet users thought that Lukashenko’s words were Aravot’s opinion, and therefore, they evaluated the media in accordance with their own cultural level. Some people also demand sources, despite the fact that the aforementioned part of Lukashenko’s interview was attached, and one only needs to take 49 seconds to listen to it.
I am not upset by those evaluations. May all those angry users be happy and healthy. There is something else that interests me: is it worth explaining to them the difference between a statement made by a foreign leader and an article written by Aravot? Or is it not worth spending time on such explanations?
Aram Abrahamyan
