“I don’t see anything pro-Armenian in Lavrov’s interview; were completely anti-Armenian statements that were not in the interests of Armenia. But the only slight positive side is that our society is opening its eyes. It is becoming clear that over the past few years, the authorities of the Russian Federation have taken strong anti-Armenian positions on various issues,” political scientist Armen Vardanyan interpreted the statements made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in an interview with “Russia 24” TV channel in a conversation with Aravot.am.
Let’s remind that, speaking about why the CSTO countries did not unequivocally condemn the aggressive actions of Azerbaijan in September 2022, Lavrov stated: “The history of this Karabakh war comes from the depth of decades, and when Armenia occupied the seven regions of Azerbaijan for many years, and then when it was desperate to resolve the issue politically, Russia offered many options, which the former authorities of Armenia did not accept very well, positively. They did not accept, wanting to keep the territories they had never claimed. Therefore, Azerbaijan has returned the lands that belong to it.”
According to Armen Vardanyan, some circles of RA, based on the political conjuncture, blame the current authorities of Armenia for the situation. Still, the reality is that since January 2016, the Russian government has offered the RA government to return those seven regions, which Lavrov was talking about; this is known as the “Lavrov Plan.” “The fact that some opposition circles say that Nikol came was not sincere, lied, put anti-Russian circles in positions, etc., is completely untrue.”
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The fact that the representatives of the former government present Lavrov’s statements as proof that they are not land givers, Armen Vardanyan counters. “Nikol is not a land giver either; is he a land giver?” If he had agreed to that plan, we would not have had a war and survived with fewer losses; Shushi and Hadrut would have been under our control.
Both refused Lavrov’s plan and refused to return the seven regions return just like that, and happened what happened after September 27, 2020. There is no difference between Pashinyan’s and Serzh Sargsyan’s policies on this issue. Both of them refused, but one diplomatically offered hope, said: “I can’t give now.” The other dryly said: “I don’t give, and the war happened.”
Armen Vardanyan answered the question: Is there a new idea in Lavrov’s statements? “There is nothing new, of course. They have said this many times, sometimes openly, sometimes with footnotes. Even after the war, Lavrov made such a statement that the lands should be given, they were given, Armenia refused to give it peacefully, and it happened through war; there is nothing new in what he said.”
To the question, “In any case, Armenia is called an occupier, a party to the conflict, and with what motives does the ally do this in such an open text?” Vardanyan replied: “There are many manipulations on this topic. Political forces interpret it in a way that suits them, some say that an anti-Russian government came to RA, and that’s why they behave like that, but in reality, the problem is more profound.
The reason is that the former authorities of Armenia, starting with Robert Kocharyan, gradually put Armenia under Russia for years and made Armenia dependent on Russia. What we had and didn’t have was given to the Russians, and the Russian Federation, considering that Armenia is now in its pocket, entirely under its influence, cannot go anywhere else, decided that now is the time to do it with Azerbaijan, that is, Azerbaijan should bring into its sphere of influence. And it does this at our expense because they would tremble if they knew that Armenia has a place to go or an opportunity to get out of the Russian influence.
Even now, they are anxious; they are afraid, but they know that Armenia, by and large, cannot afford to make a sharp turn like Ukraine or others because the dependence is very high on energy and weapons. Russia wants to woo Azerbaijan and bring it into its sphere of influence, and they are doing it at the expense of Armenia’s interests. By the way, let me add a little nuance: until 2015-2016, the Russian side encouraged Armenia not to make any concessions.
If the Western side said: to hand over the seven regions to Azerbaijan, then the independence of Artsakh would be recognized instead; that is, it offered a solution based on compromises to resolve the conflict finally; the Russian side has always wanted that conflict not to be determined, to keep Armenia and Azerbaijan under its influence. Russia will use the conflict whenever it needs it.”
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
