“These days, not only the future of Ukraine will be decided, but also that of Armenia, if Armenia wants a lot,” said Davit Sanasaryan, leader of the Sovereign Armenia party, during a roundtable discussion on May 6 titled, ” Armenia at the crossroads: Challenges and Opportunities for Sovereignty and Identity.”
According to him, for 30 years Armenia has borne the great burden called Russia, and as a result it has had many losses. “Today, Armenia is given an opportunity to correct its 30-year-old mistake. What is that opportunity for today, because Russia is stuck in Ukraine at the moment, it does not see any way out for its state, it has no chance of a new front? In this regard, Armenia should take the following steps. As a result of negotiations with the West, guarantees must be obtained that they will be able to control Azerbaijan and Turkey, no new provocations will take place, and in return Armenia will take a rather valuable step: Russia’s withdrawal from the region. It is unequivocal that Russia is in this region exclusively due to Armenia. It is another matter that Russia uses Azerbaijan and Turkey to increase its influence in the region, including to keep Armenia more under its control, but nevertheless, that Armenia will be able to obtain the assurance from the West that there will be no attack by Azerbaijan or Turkey.
In return, Armenia will leave the CST and the EEU, and recognize the territorial integrity of Ukraine and Georgia. I mean, it will recognize Abkhazia and Ossetia as part of Georgia, and Crimea and Donbas as part of Ukraine. Kosovo will also be recognized. Armenia must assure that it will not be part of the Russian-Turkish 3 + 3 territory and have other strategic agreements arising from it.” According to Davit Sanasaryan, if Armenia does not take those steps at the moment, it will not have such an opportunity in the future. “Tomorrow, if Russia lost the war with Ukraine and withdrew, where it had spread, including from our region, we will not have this opportunity either. Roughly speaking, this is not a commercial product either. And for that, this should not be delayed and this should be done as soon as possible. I am not sure that the authorities of our day will have the courage to take this step, but I think we need to have this agreement, we need to set an agenda in this regard.”
Ami CHICHAKYAN
