The “pro-Western” part of the supporters of the current government presents the situation as the people who took the streets are pro-Russians that follow Putin’s orders. And their favorite Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, is a pure democrat, liberal, and supporter of Western and European values. According to those propagandists, the “fifth column”, “Kremlin’s agents” with their rallies, try to divert us from the direct path of entering the European family.
The fact that Pashinyan, from time to time, appears next to the leader who launched a bloody and aggressive war against his neighbors contradicts the idyllic image of the current government. You will argue that he has no other choice, as otherwise, Kremlin will continue punishing us in Artsakh and Syunik. And I will agree with you.
Our dependency on Russia has increased because of the defeat in the war. Yes, the Armenian leader is forced to dance to Moscow’s tune, a circumstance that the “pro-Western” government supporters don’t want to see. At the last CSTO session, Pashinyan slightly complained about the organization (perhaps, he did the right thing). But from time to time, Lukashenko also makes strong complaints. Could you tell which country is more dependent on Russia – Armenia or Belarus?
I imagine the loyalty to Western, liberal values like this: whether we like protesters’ views or not, we must protect the citizens’ right to peaceful assembly. It cannot be that before 2018, the violence by police was condemnable, contradicted those values, and now you can be violent to these people because the protesters are “putinists”; and the one who gives orders is a “torchbearer of freedom”. By the way, by an interesting coincidence, the actions of the police have become more brutal after the CSTO session. Acting in the style of Putin and Lukashenko, of course, is not excluding the fact that the organizers of the rallies are “putinists” just like Pashinyan.
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It’s good that Putin did not invite Armenia’s Prime Minister to celebrate May 9. Otherwise, Pashinyan would have to go. Kocharyan and Sargsyan would have been jealous of him.
Aram Abrahamyan
