In connection with the visit of the head of the US Central Intelligence Agency to Armenia, comments are circulating in Russian expert circles these days that the purpose of the visit was to provoke Russian peacekeepers in Artsakh with the agreement of the Armenian government, and in this way, there would be a rift in the relations between Russia and Turkey. Aravot.am talked with Hovsep Khurshudyan, chairman of “Free Citizen” NGO.
– Mr. Khurshudyan, according to Russian experts, the USA aims to create a legitimate basis for Russia to think that Turkey is supporting the instability in Artsakh by opening a second front against Russia through Azerbaijan. How valid do you think this claim is?
– It is very worrying that Russian expert circles say such things because it means that Russia itself is preparing to organize such provocations. Obviously, they could not know what the content of the visit of the head of the CIA was. So, for sure, they are preparing provocations, we should be careful. Moreover, the concern is especially related to the fact that they will try to involve Turkey in provocations for some actions against the Armenian side. Now is it agreed with the Turkish side, or is it a prelude, or are theh just planning to do it and they are sounding it out with the words of experts (putting the blame on the USA in advance), it will be difficult to say. But that we should wait for provocations organized by the Russian Federation, it is certainly true.
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– Russian experts also believe that with the visit of this US official, the West wants to finally break the Armenia-Russia partnership and deprive Russia of its Armenian support in the South Caucasus.
– The Armenian-Russian cooperation ended as a result of the Russian treachery during the Artsakh war and before that. Before the war, it armed and prepared Azerbaijan in the best possible way, and during the war, it did not supply or it delayed the weapons needed by Armenia. Most importantly, Russia allowed Azerbaijan to attack. Even after the war, there were Azerbaijani invasions and occupations within Armenian borders, to which the Russian Federation was unresponsive.
In my opinion, it was also the instigator, because at the instigation of the Russian Federation, Azerbaijan took such steps to destabilize the internal political situation in Armenia and bring the Russian “5th Column” to power in the elections. Fortunately, it didn’t work. All these steps caused a rupture in Armenian-Russian relations. I am surprised that until today, some Armenian authorities declare that the Russian Federation is our strategic partner. It’s good, at least they don’t call it an ally…so, that rupture has led to the fact that Armenia tries to find other sources of security for itself. They are mostly in the West. Naturally, China has no such interest here.
The head of Chinese intelligence does not come to Armenia, but the US official has. The US has interests and can provide certain security. And the fact that Azerbaijan received a harsh rebuke from the West, especially from the USA, after the events in Parukh, abruptly stopped the provocations and did not advance further.
This shows that the Western security cushions are much more effective for RA than the Russian ones, which act in the opposite direction: they provoke Azerbaijan to take and occupy land from us, and then Russia acts as a peacemaker so we will go and ask for support. This is the impression that we don’t have alliance agreements with the Russian Federation, but instead there is some kind of “good tsar” whom we have to ask every time to save us. And in order for us to ask as soon as possible, he should provoke Azerbaijan to attack us as soon as possible. Therefore, it is obvious that we urgently need to change our security system and find normal allies.
Luiza Sukiasyan
