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ARMENIAN LEADERS RETICENT ON UKRAINE CRISIS
Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
IWPR Caucasus Reporting #726
March 7 2014
Government too closely tied to Moscow to say anything controversial,
although it plans to work with new Kiev leaders.
By Vahe Harutyunyan - Caucasus
Armenian officials are treading a careful line over the Ukraine crisis,
keen to avoid angering their allies in the Kremlin but also anxious
to avoid supporting an intervention in a sovereign state.
Just before Russian troops fanned out across Crimea, Armenian deputy
foreign minister Shavarsh Kocharyan pledged to maintain ties with
the new Ukrainian administration set up after President Viktor
Yanukovich fled.
"This is our position - to continue cooperating with Ukraine, and to
always act in line with Armenia's interests," Kocharyan told reporters.
While this position is out of step with Russian policy, which refuses
to recognise the removal of Yanukovich, Armenian officials refused
to join the Ukrainians in condemning what the Kiev leadership says
is an invasion of Crimea.
"Our ambassador is in Kiev and is carefully following the course of
events," said foreign ministry spokesman Tigran Balayan.
Analysts in Armenia say the government is in a tricky position. Russia
is Armenia's chief trading partner, a strategic military ally and home
to the largest Armenian diaspora. Ukraine, meanwhile, is Armenia's
fourth largest trading partner, and home to a 100,000-strong Armenian
community.
Officials in Yerevan are therefore trying not to antagonise either
side.
"The situation is, shall we say, delicate. The government in Armenia
is trying to keep quiet until the outcome of the Ukrainian crisis
becomes clear," Sergei Minasyan, deputy director of the Caucasus
Institute in Yerevan, told IWPR.
Ruben Mehrabyan, of the Centre for Political and International Studies,
added that "even if the Armenian government recognises the dangers
posed by Russia, they still can't criticise the Kremlin since they
are under its control,"
Armenia has faced dilemmas about foreign policy direction similar to
those that form the backdrop to Ukraine's current crisis. In early
September, President Serzh Sargsyan announced that Armenia was to
join the Russia-Kazakstan-Belarus Customs Union, ditching plans to
sign an Association Agreement with the European Union.
Armenia is already part of the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty
Organisation, hosts a large Russian military presence, does a quarter
of its foreign trade with that country.
Although ties have always been close, many Armenians still suspect
that President Sargsyan was pushed into applying for Customs Union
membership - and that the same pressure is making other leading
figures stay silent on Crimea.
Hovhannes Sahakyan, secretary of the ruling Republican Party's
parliamentary group, reflected this caution in studiously guarded
remarks.
"It is important to us for the crisis in Ukraine to be resolved
peacefully. At the same time, however, it is no less important that
a solution is reached in line with the norms of international law,"
he said.
Most opposition parties have taken a similarly cautious line, the
only exception being the Heritage party, which strongly condemned
Moscow's actions.
"Russian actions in Crimea and in other parts of Ukraine constitute
aggression and a gross violation of international law. Their aim
is to force Kiev into Moscow's orbit," Styopa Safaryan, the party's
general secretary, told IWPR.
Many Armenians share this view.
Daniel Ionisyan, 27, who spent several hours behind bars last year
after protesting against a visit to Yerevan by President Vladimir
Putin, said the outcome of the Ukraine crisis would seal the fate of
Armenians, too.
A Committee for Solidarity With the Maidan - the Kiev square where
protesters massed to oppose Yanukovich - has been set up in Yerevan.
It too damned Putin's government as the aggressor, and likened the
official silence in Armenia to appeasement.
"These actions resemble those shameful episodes in European history
- the German Anschluss of Austria in 1938, and the annexation of
Czechoslovakia by Adolf Hitler," a statement from the committee said.
The Maidan solidarity committee includes prominent rights activists
like Artur Sakunts, head of the Vanadzor office of the Helsinki
Civilian Assembly, Boris Navasardyan, head of the Yerevan Press Club,
and Davit Shahnazaryan, former director of the National Security
Service, as well as many ordinary people.
The Armenian business sector has been as reluctant as the politicians
to express forthright opinions on events in Ukraine.
Gagik Makaryan, head of the Republican Union of Employers, said
he was concerned about the potential impact of the crisis on the
Russian economy, which is already weakening despite consistently high
oil prices.
"The possibility that the international community will impose sanctions
against Russia is also a matter of concern to us. Such a course of
events would strike a blow against Armenian businessmen," Makaryan
told IWPR. "The instability of the Ukrainian economy is also having
a negative impact on us."
Vahe Harutiunyan is a freelance journalist in Armenia.
http://iwpr.net/report-news/armenian-leaders-reticent-ukraine-crisis
Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
IWPR Caucasus Reporting #726
March 7 2014
Government too closely tied to Moscow to say anything controversial,
although it plans to work with new Kiev leaders.
By Vahe Harutyunyan - Caucasus
Armenian officials are treading a careful line over the Ukraine crisis,
keen to avoid angering their allies in the Kremlin but also anxious
to avoid supporting an intervention in a sovereign state.
Just before Russian troops fanned out across Crimea, Armenian deputy
foreign minister Shavarsh Kocharyan pledged to maintain ties with
the new Ukrainian administration set up after President Viktor
Yanukovich fled.
"This is our position - to continue cooperating with Ukraine, and to
always act in line with Armenia's interests," Kocharyan told reporters.
While this position is out of step with Russian policy, which refuses
to recognise the removal of Yanukovich, Armenian officials refused
to join the Ukrainians in condemning what the Kiev leadership says
is an invasion of Crimea.
"Our ambassador is in Kiev and is carefully following the course of
events," said foreign ministry spokesman Tigran Balayan.
Analysts in Armenia say the government is in a tricky position. Russia
is Armenia's chief trading partner, a strategic military ally and home
to the largest Armenian diaspora. Ukraine, meanwhile, is Armenia's
fourth largest trading partner, and home to a 100,000-strong Armenian
community.
Officials in Yerevan are therefore trying not to antagonise either
side.
"The situation is, shall we say, delicate. The government in Armenia
is trying to keep quiet until the outcome of the Ukrainian crisis
becomes clear," Sergei Minasyan, deputy director of the Caucasus
Institute in Yerevan, told IWPR.
Ruben Mehrabyan, of the Centre for Political and International Studies,
added that "even if the Armenian government recognises the dangers
posed by Russia, they still can't criticise the Kremlin since they
are under its control,"
Armenia has faced dilemmas about foreign policy direction similar to
those that form the backdrop to Ukraine's current crisis. In early
September, President Serzh Sargsyan announced that Armenia was to
join the Russia-Kazakstan-Belarus Customs Union, ditching plans to
sign an Association Agreement with the European Union.
Armenia is already part of the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty
Organisation, hosts a large Russian military presence, does a quarter
of its foreign trade with that country.
Although ties have always been close, many Armenians still suspect
that President Sargsyan was pushed into applying for Customs Union
membership - and that the same pressure is making other leading
figures stay silent on Crimea.
Hovhannes Sahakyan, secretary of the ruling Republican Party's
parliamentary group, reflected this caution in studiously guarded
remarks.
"It is important to us for the crisis in Ukraine to be resolved
peacefully. At the same time, however, it is no less important that
a solution is reached in line with the norms of international law,"
he said.
Most opposition parties have taken a similarly cautious line, the
only exception being the Heritage party, which strongly condemned
Moscow's actions.
"Russian actions in Crimea and in other parts of Ukraine constitute
aggression and a gross violation of international law. Their aim
is to force Kiev into Moscow's orbit," Styopa Safaryan, the party's
general secretary, told IWPR.
Many Armenians share this view.
Daniel Ionisyan, 27, who spent several hours behind bars last year
after protesting against a visit to Yerevan by President Vladimir
Putin, said the outcome of the Ukraine crisis would seal the fate of
Armenians, too.
A Committee for Solidarity With the Maidan - the Kiev square where
protesters massed to oppose Yanukovich - has been set up in Yerevan.
It too damned Putin's government as the aggressor, and likened the
official silence in Armenia to appeasement.
"These actions resemble those shameful episodes in European history
- the German Anschluss of Austria in 1938, and the annexation of
Czechoslovakia by Adolf Hitler," a statement from the committee said.
The Maidan solidarity committee includes prominent rights activists
like Artur Sakunts, head of the Vanadzor office of the Helsinki
Civilian Assembly, Boris Navasardyan, head of the Yerevan Press Club,
and Davit Shahnazaryan, former director of the National Security
Service, as well as many ordinary people.
The Armenian business sector has been as reluctant as the politicians
to express forthright opinions on events in Ukraine.
Gagik Makaryan, head of the Republican Union of Employers, said
he was concerned about the potential impact of the crisis on the
Russian economy, which is already weakening despite consistently high
oil prices.
"The possibility that the international community will impose sanctions
against Russia is also a matter of concern to us. Such a course of
events would strike a blow against Armenian businessmen," Makaryan
told IWPR. "The instability of the Ukrainian economy is also having
a negative impact on us."
Vahe Harutiunyan is a freelance journalist in Armenia.
http://iwpr.net/report-news/armenian-leaders-reticent-ukraine-crisis