“I do not think that Armenian-Russian relations are based on the personal relationship between Pashinyan and Putin or between some political groups,” Russian political expert Sergey Markedonov said at the teleconference organized by the Sputnik Armenia press club regarding why he believes that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan did not participate in the ceremony in honor of the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II that took place in Moscow on June 24.
The political expert believes that Armenian-Russian relations are of strategic importance and they are very serious. They are not based on changes made in Armenian or Russian authorities, but they are being maintained in the same nature that they were after the Soviet Union.
The political expert also does not consider it to be a fundamental political issue that the Prime Minister did not participate in the ceremony in Moscow. He said that it was more important that a legion of Armenian soldiers participated. “The leaders of countries may come and go, but our military-strategic cooperation remains. That is a more permanent value,” Sergey Markedonov said. According to him, Aliyev, Pashinyan, and the rest are the leaders of independent nations and they are allowed to have their own agendas.
But regarding the fact that Nikol Pashinyan did not go to Moscow, Markedonov considers the level of the spread of COVID-19 to be one of the reasons, but not the only one. The political expert said that he believes Nikol Pashinyan did not go also due to events that are taking place in Armenia, such as the situation surrounding the Constitutional Court. But, the expert said that Armenian-Russian relations are not based on the events that unfolded on June 24.
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This summer will be tense for Armenia. According to Sergey Markedonov, the branches of government were being controlled by the force that came to power as a result of the revolution, and that is neither good nor bad, but it is logical. The only uncontrollable branch was the judicial one, and they had begun to take steps in that direction one year ago. He also found it to be symbolic that only the ruling party voted for changing the constitution and depriving Gagik Tsarukyan of his immunity.
Regarding the former authorities, the political expert spoke about the recent meeting between Serzh Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan. “The former presidents seem to still be trying to put on a show. It is not clear whether or not something will come out of this because neither of them has a strong political party backing them. The Republican Party and the ARF are behind them, but they are in a state of dissolution.” The political expert considers the abilities of the former authorities to be at zero. Instead, the current authorities are in the best position because they still have the support of the majority. However, he considers the situation in Armenia to be exceptional because there never has been a situation where two former presidents are persecuted and it is important that the two former presidents were able to survive politically and financially. Now, this tradition is ending.
Nelly Grigoryan
