“Ukraine is at war with Russia. Of course, it would be much better for Ukraine if Russia also fought in Greenland or, I do not know, in the Arctic Ocean, so that Russian forces would be less involved in the war against Ukraine. It is necessary to look at the post from the Ukrainian point of view,” human rights activist Vardan Harutyunyan commented on the statement made by the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Alexei Danilov during the “Areresum (Confrontation)” program that opening new fronts in other countries, including Nagorno-Karabakh, would greatly help Ukraine to fight against Russia’s large-scale invasion.
Referring to the questions of how it happened that the West unitedly helps Ukraine with sanctions, weapons, political and moral support, and isolation of Russia, but this did not happen in the case of Armenia, Vardan Harutyunyan said in particular, “If you want the free world to support you, then you must be part of that free world, you must be like them. When you congratulate Lukashenko a few days before your war on rigged elections, when you join Putin’s Russia, which is fighting against a free world, and when you vote against a free world in international structures, if there is a war in your country, that free world can not support you.”
According to him, “Today we are in opposite camps, that’s why we got what we got, and Ukraine gets what it gets: because it is part of a free world.” RPA Supreme Body member Eduard Sharmazanov had written, “Those who persuade Baku to open a second front in Artsakh are the enemies of the Armenian nation. Their names must be registered so that later they can be published all over the world as the enemy of the Armenian nation, regardless of their citizenship and other affiliations.”
The other guest of the “Areresum” program, the artistic director of the Yerevan State Puppet Theater Ruben Babayan, said in this regard that in that case, the whole world could be registered as an enemy of the Armenian nation. “War is the greatest immorality. To demand moral approaches during the war is simply naive because the country uses all the levers, including lies and provocations, to achieve the state defense of Ukraine.”
Read also
Ruben Babayan mentioned that instead of the current accusations, he would like to have a discussion about why we are isolated and what we did not do. Besides, “When we talk about the attitude of the Ukrainians, let’s not forget that this is mainly the attitude of the state, which, I think, is justified by the behavior of Armenia during the last 8 years. Yes, Armenia voted against Ukraine in all international instances. Unfortunately, our current enemy did the opposite.” Allegations of discriminatory treatment, double standards, are being leveled at international organizations for making faceless and egalitarian statements during the 44-day war, if bloodshed is really unacceptable to them. Separating the position of the states and societies again, Mr. Babayan said, “The issue is being resolved through camps, let’s not try to attribute the status of great philanthropists to state and political figures.” In his opinion, “We did our best not to occupy any place within the framework of the state interests of any state. We chose for ourselves, in a very romantic way, that our place is in this field, which is obliged to protect us ․․․ ”
To the question of whether the desperate efforts to find an alternative were not visible after 2018, Vardan Harutyunyan responded, “They were already in the Kremlin a second after coming to power. I have not seen a desperate effort.” Ethnographer Hranush Kharatyan predicted that if Russia won an absolute victory in Ukraine, Armenia would lose everything. “Turkey and Russia will take action here so that Armenia does not cause any more headaches.” In Vardan Harutyunyan’s opinion, he is always worried that if Russia suddenly manages to register a serious victory, it will have to continue its expansionist policy. “I think he thinks it is more beneficial for us for Russia to come out of this war with a well-trodden but ‘not finally crushed’ nose. I am one of the lucky ones who will see the collapse of the Russian Empire twice in his life. Putin contributes to that destruction.”
Meanwhile, the current forecast predicts that Azerbaijan is taking advantage of the situation that Russia is “busy” to gain new positions in Artsakh. Agreeing with that prediction, Ruben Babayan added, “And that is explained by the fact that all our hope, at least in the Artsakh issue, is Russia. I think this is not justified at all, as Russia is pursuing its own volitional interests there. There was no Russian army in Azerbaijan, now there is.”
Anna ISRAELYAN
