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RUSSIA DEMANDS YEREVAN TACKLE CRIMINAL TYCOONS - ARMENIAN PAPER
by Ovanes Galadzyan
Iravunk, Yerevan,
2 Nov 2006 p 1
"The most important 'property' for Russian 'debt'"
Certainly everybody in Armenia thinks that Robert Kocharyan's working
visit to Moscow was very important. Although the official reason for
the visit was the opening of a monument to [Armenian composer] Aram
Khachatryan, it was clear to everybody that the Armenian president
went to Moscow with a more serious agenda.
The Russian president's remarks that it is a shame Russia comes only
third among investors in the Armenian economy have already become
widely know. Robert Kocharyan's reply was mainly about his readiness
to turn the Armenian strategic energy facilities into the Russian
ones. But they discussed not only the energy issues. Thus, it is not
accidental that exactly during Kocharyan's visit the Armenian "gas
leaders" raised the problem of stealing of the Russian gas while it
went via Georgia to Armenia.
Undoubtedly, this has a political context concerning Armenian-Georgian
relations, or more precisely, Russian expectations with regard to
this relationship. We can say that the Russian and Armenian foreign
ministers have hinted that even though there is no demand from Armenia
to worsen its ties with Georgia, the neutrality of Yerevan will come
to an end.
The general tendency is the following: the "property for debt"
process continues to deepen, and this "debt" means not only financial
assistance from Russia, but also Moscow's political kindness or backing
in certain issues. In this case Robert Kocharyan expected support
from Vladimir Putin so that he will be able to keep everything under
control in Armenia before the presidential election in 2008. And one
can say for sure that handing over the Armenia-Iran gas pipeline to
Russians is part of the price for Putin's support.
That is to say, the policy of "complementarity" limits Armenia's
actions even when it comes to relations with Iran, a country which
does not seem to have a foreign policy vector much different from that
of Russia. Surely, this does not mean that all the programmes and
arrangements made with Americans will remain on paper. Simply put,
in Moscow they made Robert Kocharyan understand that relations with
Uncle Sam should be agreed with uncle Putin.
There is another interesting piece of information, according to which
during the two-day working visit to Moscow Kocharyan was told to cede
in a short period of time and in return for Russia's "political debt"
a very important "property" - the criminals who have gathered around
[Defence Minister] Serzh Sarkisyan. In a nutshell, the Armenian
president received a thinly-veiled hint that if Russia is fighting
its criminalized system of tycoons, then Armenia should follow the
suit. Naturally, Kocharyan was pleased with this demand, but speeding
the process up would require the president to use bigger resources and
this could have dangerous ramifications. But that is a different story.
by Ovanes Galadzyan
Iravunk, Yerevan,
2 Nov 2006 p 1
"The most important 'property' for Russian 'debt'"
Certainly everybody in Armenia thinks that Robert Kocharyan's working
visit to Moscow was very important. Although the official reason for
the visit was the opening of a monument to [Armenian composer] Aram
Khachatryan, it was clear to everybody that the Armenian president
went to Moscow with a more serious agenda.
The Russian president's remarks that it is a shame Russia comes only
third among investors in the Armenian economy have already become
widely know. Robert Kocharyan's reply was mainly about his readiness
to turn the Armenian strategic energy facilities into the Russian
ones. But they discussed not only the energy issues. Thus, it is not
accidental that exactly during Kocharyan's visit the Armenian "gas
leaders" raised the problem of stealing of the Russian gas while it
went via Georgia to Armenia.
Undoubtedly, this has a political context concerning Armenian-Georgian
relations, or more precisely, Russian expectations with regard to
this relationship. We can say that the Russian and Armenian foreign
ministers have hinted that even though there is no demand from Armenia
to worsen its ties with Georgia, the neutrality of Yerevan will come
to an end.
The general tendency is the following: the "property for debt"
process continues to deepen, and this "debt" means not only financial
assistance from Russia, but also Moscow's political kindness or backing
in certain issues. In this case Robert Kocharyan expected support
from Vladimir Putin so that he will be able to keep everything under
control in Armenia before the presidential election in 2008. And one
can say for sure that handing over the Armenia-Iran gas pipeline to
Russians is part of the price for Putin's support.
That is to say, the policy of "complementarity" limits Armenia's
actions even when it comes to relations with Iran, a country which
does not seem to have a foreign policy vector much different from that
of Russia. Surely, this does not mean that all the programmes and
arrangements made with Americans will remain on paper. Simply put,
in Moscow they made Robert Kocharyan understand that relations with
Uncle Sam should be agreed with uncle Putin.
There is another interesting piece of information, according to which
during the two-day working visit to Moscow Kocharyan was told to cede
in a short period of time and in return for Russia's "political debt"
a very important "property" - the criminals who have gathered around
[Defence Minister] Serzh Sarkisyan. In a nutshell, the Armenian
president received a thinly-veiled hint that if Russia is fighting
its criminalized system of tycoons, then Armenia should follow the
suit. Naturally, Kocharyan was pleased with this demand, but speeding
the process up would require the president to use bigger resources and
this could have dangerous ramifications. But that is a different story.