Stepan Grigoryan: Armenia Dealt Extremely Painful Blow To Putin

The Russian Federation painfully perceives Armenia's refusal to take part in the CSTO summit.

The CSTO summit began in Minsk today. Lukashenka personally called Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and asked to come, but the answer was negative. In addition, Yerevan removed from the agenda the document on its support from the countries participating in the Treaty.

Was it really painful for Lukashenka and Putin? Charter97.org addressed the question to Stepan Grigoryan, one of the leaders of the democratic movement in Armenia in the 1990s, a former member of the Supreme Council of the republic and ex-ambassador of Armenia to Russia.

– I don’t consider Lukashenka an independent player, but for Putin this is very painful, sure. After all, what does he want? Putin wants to surrender the interests of Armenia, but so that the Armenians remain loyal. This will never happen, and this is a very good lesson for authoritarian leaders. Russia did not fulfil its obligations to Armenia, the CSTO did not fulfill its obligations, this forced the current leadership of Armenia to freeze its CSTO participation.

Armenia refused to take part in the CSTO military exercises and refused the position of Deputy Secretary General of the organization and also the Defence Minister refused the Minister of Foreign Affairs refused to go to the meeting in Minsk. All these mean freezing Armenia's operation within the CSTO system. This is an extremely painful blow to Putin.

– What do the Armenian media say about these events?

– The Armenian society has a very negative attitude towards Russia, especially after the Russian “peacekeepers” did not protect the Armenian people in Nagorno-Karabakh. There was ethnic cleansing. The Azerbaijanis simply kicked out the Armenians because these Russian “peacekeepers” did not perform their function.

But we also have some political forces and experts who are either agents of Russia or are under its influence. They are spreading the opinion that we need to wait, that maybe tomorrow the CSTO will help. However, the overwhelming majority of Armenian society is criticizing the CSTO and Russia’s policy towards Armenia.

– Will there be anything interesting at the CSTO Minsk summit?

– I think this will just be another chatter, senseless conversation. Russia needs this format so that it is not isolated from the world, to show that there are some states under its influence. Therefore, the Russian Federation is sensitive to Armenia’s non-participation in these events.

It is unlikely that any important decisions will be made. Conversations will prevail there. Let me give you one example so you understand that this is just chatter. Putin said just yesterday that the construction of a unified air defence system is being completed within the CSTO. This means that the air defense systems of Armenia and Russia are the same, but when in September last year Azerbaijan moved six kilometers into our territory and launched Bayraktars against us, Moscow forbade Yerevan to defend its airspace.

The CSTO countries should know that Russia is creating a unified air defense system not in order to protect them, but in order to use it for its own purposes. Therefore, there will be chatter that will never end.

– The heads of the Central Asian countries, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, arrived in Minsk today. Can issues of circumventing sanctions be discussed?

– Of course, this will be discussed, but I am sure that Kazakhstan will try to avoid this. Armenia has always evaded, but now Kazakhstan has also joined in. He wants to assert his sovereignty, so he will be as careful as possible.

– How can we shut down the loopholes for circumventing sanctions?

– The West is already doing this, they warned Turkey, Kazakhstan, and other countries, including Armenia, so that there would be no circumvention of sanctions. Officials come and clarify why, for example, trade between Kazakhstan, Armenia and, if I’m not mistaken, Turkey with Russia has doubled. What's the matter? What is this radical improvement? There are suspicions and warnings. This is the best way to avoid sanctions circumvention, because warnings from the Americans and Europeans make governments more careful and try to avoid sanctions circumvention. Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Turkey are not interested in any worsening relations with the West, so they are trying to be as careful as possible.

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