“We are worried that the number of media systems that have a pro-Western orientation and whose goal is to harm Armenian-Russian relations is increasing in Armenia,” said Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in her address to the participants of the Russian-Armenian media forum held in Yerevan.
She urged to speak frankly about existing problems. “Without a doubt, the priority of our joint work is strengthening cooperation between our countries. We emphasize sincere political, open dialogue at all mutually beneficial economic and humanitarian cooperation levels. Moscow and Yerevan have cooperated for decades; we have helped the fraternal Armenian people in the most difficult times. Thanks to the personal involvement of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the war was stopped in 2020. He made personal efforts to sign the November 9 agreement.”
Maria Zakharova also noted that the Russian Federation is the leading investor in the RA economy. She reminded that since 2010, the amount of humanitarian aid provided by Russia to Armenia had exceeded 7 million dollars, 1800 Armenian students are studying in Russian universities at the expense of the Russian state budget, and Russian border guards carry out service with their Armenian counterparts at the borders of Iran, Turkey, and Azerbaijan. She also considered the accusations against Russia in RA unacceptable. “We consider unacceptable the attempts to sow enmity and hatred between our peoples and to blame Russia for all the misfortunes of Armenia.
We assume that neither we nor you can be satisfied with that clear trend observed in the information field of Armenia recently.” According to her, the spread of one-sided and negative information and untrue information harms the traditional friendly relations of the two peoples. Maria Zakharova also considered worrying that some Russian figures are included in the so-called “blacklist”(blocklist) and cannot visit Armenia. “The decision to describe only the figures who expressed their personal views as “undesirable persons” seriously harms the cooperation between Russia and Armenia.”
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Speaking about the arrest of blogger Mika Badalyan and Sputnik Armenia radio columnist Ashot Gevorgyan, Maria Zakharova characterized it as “provocation on the eve of the Armenian-Russian media forum” and noted: “Behind this are the forces that are not interested in the friendship of our countries and peoples. They aim to spread hatred, fear, and mistrust between the two peoples.
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
