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"ARMENIA IS A SOVEREIGN STATE, KALININGRAD REGION - A PART OF RF: THE COMPARISON, HERE, IS PURELY TECHNICAL"
October 11 2013
RF President's Advisor Sergey Glazyev about his scandalous comparison
Beginning of the previous edition - In the four years of Armenia's
negotiations with the EU, everything seemed normal, the negotiating
parties were satisfied, and all of a sudden, on September 3,
unexpectedly for everyone, the statement of the President of Armenia
in Moscow is voiced. Don't you agree that everything was very sudden
and suspicious? - It was unexpected, because people have not read the
text of the EU-Armenia Association Agreement. The same for Ukraine:
the text was in secret, no one had seen it. They did not show the text
to anyone, neither to the Armenian people, neither to the business
sector, nor to us. And in the website of the Eurasian Common Economic
Area, the entire database of legal agreements of the Customs Union is
accessible to all, and everything is very simple: to become a member
of the Customs Union, Armenia should only join these agreements, which
would be followed by activities of forming respective road map and
relevant schedule. - You famous comparison with Kaliningrad region,
was not perceived in Armenia, if not to say that it caused quite a
big anti-reaction. Why did you bring just this example? Do you see a
tendency in Armenia? - Here, there is no problem of sovereignty. The
example of Kaliningrad region carries absolutely a conventional
character, with respect to the absence of common border. If Armenia
enters into the Customs Union, it turns out to be a common customs
area, where Armenia becomes an island without having a common border.
Kaliningrad region has another status, it is a part of RF, but with
the RF, it becomes a part of unified customs territory. It is the part
of common Customs Union that has no common border, like Armenia. But,
this comparison, surely, does not set a goal of the international
manifestations. Armenia is a sovereign state, Kaliningrad region
is a part of RF, and the comparison, here, has purely technical, in
the sense that it is possible to have a common customs border without
having common geographical borders. This technical comparison, surely,
does not set a goal of comparison between a sovereign state and a
region. - Armenia's Prime Minister, as we know, was against Armenia's
joining the Customs Union, and the Eurasian Union, and in all his
speeches during the past year, he was bringing forward the issue of
the lack of, at least, common border, which, according to him, makes
such cooperation ineffective. After the President Sargsyan's statement
in Moscow, as we know, the Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan submitted
his resignation. How are you going to work with an official, who was
principally against Armenia's membership to this structure? - I have a
great respect for the Prime Minister of Armenia, but I would recommend
him to read the agreement carefully, that he wanted to sign with the
EU. In the Armenia-EU Association Agreement, as I have already said,
it is written that Armenia will not only implement the EU directives in
technical, sanitary, animal husbandry, and trade regulation sectors,
but it is also written that Armenia should meet the EU standards for
fisheries and marine areas, and so on. In other words, the Armenian
negotiators did not even bother themselves to read the texts, in which
similar tails from similar agreements are left from the document
signed between the EU and Arab countries, with which the EU has a
common lagoon in the Mediterranean Sea. And, why I am saying this,
because the draft of the EU Association Agreement was not properly
analyze in Armenia. - And what outcome is expected on the issue of
NKR? Today, the question of where the Customs checkpoints should be
placed in Armenia is much discussed about. - I think the situation
will be like now. Now are there Customs checkpoints, or not?
If, now, there are no Customs checkpoints at the Armenia-Karabakh
border, they will not be. It is Armenia's internal issue. The problem
that exists between Armenia and Azerbaijan with regard to the Azeri
requirements, the Customs Union does not extend to geopolitical
matters. As I said before, since there is no common border with
Armenia, it's all the same, within the boundaries of the Customs Union,
we do not have to conduct monitoring of goods imported from Armenia
to RF, while Armenia needs to conduct monitoring of products imported
from RF, Belarus and Kazakhstan, just to follow that these products
conform to the production standards. But, what is inside, it is
Armenia's absolute right, we do not include the Customs checkpoints in
the competence of the Customs Union. The National Customs checkpoints
functioning inside remain and operate within the framework of national
laws regulating the Customs checkpoint activities. Public service is
maintained, therefore, the customs officers of Armenia and border
guards as they are standing so they will stay. The regime that is
available with Karabakh, is not in any way connected with Armenia's
joining the Customs Union. - You assert that there have been no
pressures from the RF on Armenia's joining the Customs Union, but they
were more than obvious in the case of Ukraine. - I would not say so,
it is just presented that way that the pressures are exerted by the
RF. We just warn our Ukrainian colleagues as to what outcomes would
arise at signing the EU Association Agreement. We do not intimidate
them, we are not setting conditions, we are just saying that if
you give sovereignty to Brussels, you can not be a partner with us
with its consequences, we will stop trusting you in the sector of
production of goods, because you are subordinated to Brussels, you
will be compelled to conduct a tougher vet epidemic control because you
will import European agricultural products without control, and so on
and so forth. It is incompatible with the enormous pressure that the
U.S. and the EU employ against Ukraine. U.S. Ambassador does not stop
intimidating Ukraine that it should join the EU, Yanukovich has to
accept European commissioners every week. European officials do not
come out of Ukraine in general, they are always there. The European
ambassadors are very actively "processing" the Ukrainian politicians.
In other words, the terror is coming more from them. Interviewer
Nelly GRIGORYAN
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/10/11/161986/
© 1998 - 2013 Aravot - News from Armenia
October 11 2013
RF President's Advisor Sergey Glazyev about his scandalous comparison
Beginning of the previous edition - In the four years of Armenia's
negotiations with the EU, everything seemed normal, the negotiating
parties were satisfied, and all of a sudden, on September 3,
unexpectedly for everyone, the statement of the President of Armenia
in Moscow is voiced. Don't you agree that everything was very sudden
and suspicious? - It was unexpected, because people have not read the
text of the EU-Armenia Association Agreement. The same for Ukraine:
the text was in secret, no one had seen it. They did not show the text
to anyone, neither to the Armenian people, neither to the business
sector, nor to us. And in the website of the Eurasian Common Economic
Area, the entire database of legal agreements of the Customs Union is
accessible to all, and everything is very simple: to become a member
of the Customs Union, Armenia should only join these agreements, which
would be followed by activities of forming respective road map and
relevant schedule. - You famous comparison with Kaliningrad region,
was not perceived in Armenia, if not to say that it caused quite a
big anti-reaction. Why did you bring just this example? Do you see a
tendency in Armenia? - Here, there is no problem of sovereignty. The
example of Kaliningrad region carries absolutely a conventional
character, with respect to the absence of common border. If Armenia
enters into the Customs Union, it turns out to be a common customs
area, where Armenia becomes an island without having a common border.
Kaliningrad region has another status, it is a part of RF, but with
the RF, it becomes a part of unified customs territory. It is the part
of common Customs Union that has no common border, like Armenia. But,
this comparison, surely, does not set a goal of the international
manifestations. Armenia is a sovereign state, Kaliningrad region
is a part of RF, and the comparison, here, has purely technical, in
the sense that it is possible to have a common customs border without
having common geographical borders. This technical comparison, surely,
does not set a goal of comparison between a sovereign state and a
region. - Armenia's Prime Minister, as we know, was against Armenia's
joining the Customs Union, and the Eurasian Union, and in all his
speeches during the past year, he was bringing forward the issue of
the lack of, at least, common border, which, according to him, makes
such cooperation ineffective. After the President Sargsyan's statement
in Moscow, as we know, the Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan submitted
his resignation. How are you going to work with an official, who was
principally against Armenia's membership to this structure? - I have a
great respect for the Prime Minister of Armenia, but I would recommend
him to read the agreement carefully, that he wanted to sign with the
EU. In the Armenia-EU Association Agreement, as I have already said,
it is written that Armenia will not only implement the EU directives in
technical, sanitary, animal husbandry, and trade regulation sectors,
but it is also written that Armenia should meet the EU standards for
fisheries and marine areas, and so on. In other words, the Armenian
negotiators did not even bother themselves to read the texts, in which
similar tails from similar agreements are left from the document
signed between the EU and Arab countries, with which the EU has a
common lagoon in the Mediterranean Sea. And, why I am saying this,
because the draft of the EU Association Agreement was not properly
analyze in Armenia. - And what outcome is expected on the issue of
NKR? Today, the question of where the Customs checkpoints should be
placed in Armenia is much discussed about. - I think the situation
will be like now. Now are there Customs checkpoints, or not?
If, now, there are no Customs checkpoints at the Armenia-Karabakh
border, they will not be. It is Armenia's internal issue. The problem
that exists between Armenia and Azerbaijan with regard to the Azeri
requirements, the Customs Union does not extend to geopolitical
matters. As I said before, since there is no common border with
Armenia, it's all the same, within the boundaries of the Customs Union,
we do not have to conduct monitoring of goods imported from Armenia
to RF, while Armenia needs to conduct monitoring of products imported
from RF, Belarus and Kazakhstan, just to follow that these products
conform to the production standards. But, what is inside, it is
Armenia's absolute right, we do not include the Customs checkpoints in
the competence of the Customs Union. The National Customs checkpoints
functioning inside remain and operate within the framework of national
laws regulating the Customs checkpoint activities. Public service is
maintained, therefore, the customs officers of Armenia and border
guards as they are standing so they will stay. The regime that is
available with Karabakh, is not in any way connected with Armenia's
joining the Customs Union. - You assert that there have been no
pressures from the RF on Armenia's joining the Customs Union, but they
were more than obvious in the case of Ukraine. - I would not say so,
it is just presented that way that the pressures are exerted by the
RF. We just warn our Ukrainian colleagues as to what outcomes would
arise at signing the EU Association Agreement. We do not intimidate
them, we are not setting conditions, we are just saying that if
you give sovereignty to Brussels, you can not be a partner with us
with its consequences, we will stop trusting you in the sector of
production of goods, because you are subordinated to Brussels, you
will be compelled to conduct a tougher vet epidemic control because you
will import European agricultural products without control, and so on
and so forth. It is incompatible with the enormous pressure that the
U.S. and the EU employ against Ukraine. U.S. Ambassador does not stop
intimidating Ukraine that it should join the EU, Yanukovich has to
accept European commissioners every week. European officials do not
come out of Ukraine in general, they are always there. The European
ambassadors are very actively "processing" the Ukrainian politicians.
In other words, the terror is coming more from them. Interviewer
Nelly GRIGORYAN
Read more at: http://en.aravot.am/2013/10/11/161986/
© 1998 - 2013 Aravot - News from Armenia