Former Premier: Armenian side should have no illusions regarding  Russia`s possible withdrawal from region

ArmInfo.Today, a crisis situation has developed in Armenian- Russian relations. former Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, ex-rector of the Russian-Armenian University Armen Darbinyan, stated.

According to him, in the conditions of the crisis, it is very  important to understand the causes and, most importantly, to evaluate  its consequences, to determine the directions and necessary actions  to improve them. "I believe that the blame for the deterioration of  these relations lies on both the Armenian and Russian sides - on  states, publics and societies," said Armen Darbinyan, pointing out  four omissions on the Armenian side. First of all, we are talking  about excessive expectations from Armenian-Russian strategic  relations. "I don't know why the Armenian society has the perception  that the allied nature of bilateral relations will become a guarantor  in the implementation of the state and national interests of Armenia. 

But this is absolutely not the case, and has never been the case.  Russia and any other state never pursue the interests of other  countries; each of them has its own national-state interests, which  is correct. In this context, the strategic allied relations between  Russia and Armenia served the interests of the first one. Our  illusions in no way corresponded to these interests," Armen Darbinyan  emphasized.

The second reason for the deterioration of relations, according to  the former prime minister, was the lack of a real understanding of  the development of international relations, as well as ongoing  trends, especially after the Crimean developments of 2014. Meanwhile,  tectonic shifts took place in the world, which Yerevan did not take  into account. "I don't know why, but we felt that this strategic  alliance would give us the opportunity to be protected from any kind  of complications of the situation. We have failed to take appropriate  steps in this direction to manage the situation. We even considered  the Russian base in Armenia in this context. But you must understand  that if another state controls at least part of your state, this  means a concession of sovereignty. Especially after 2014, Russia  began to search for a partnership that could help serve its  interests. In this context, Turkey has become a preferred partner for  Russia, which fell out of our attention," said the former prime  minister.

He also pointed to the third reason, which concerns the failure of  Armenia's lobbying activities in the Russian Federation, in contrast  to Azerbaijan, which was able to carry out fantastically effective  work in this direction. Armenian awards were given to people who had  nothing to do with Armenia's interests.  Business lobbying also  failed. Thus, among the representatives of big business in Russia are  entrepreneurs:  Vagit Alekperov, Araz Agalarov, God Nisanov, who have  carried out and are carrying out active lobbying work in the Russian  Federation. As a result, there was a concession of the national  interests of Armenia in favor of Azerbaijan.

As the fourth reason, Darbinyan mentioned Yerevan's contempt for  Moscow's demands and warnings. The so-called "Lavrov Plan" was the  last warning to the Armenian side. "Moscow directly stated that  Armenia cannot count on more than Lavrov's plan," Armen Darbinyan  emphasized. But Armenia ignored the warning.

He noted that the Russian side also made critical mistakes. In  particular, Russia viewed Armenia as its outpost, and not as an equal  partner. The interests of Armenia were never considered by the  Russian Federation as the interests of equal partners, and the  interests of the Republic of Armenia were never taken into account by  Moscow. In particular, Moscow believes that RA Prime Minister Nikol  Pashinyan violated the "gentleman's agreement" on the future of  Karabakh. "But there cannot be gentlemen's agreements between states;  this is the prerogative of individuals, which is difficult to  perceive as an accusation against Armenia. From a subjective point of  view, one can also understand the accusations against Moscow  regarding the ratification of the Rome Statute by the National  Assembly. In my opinion, we should have done this much earlier, and  the ratification of this document corresponds to the national  interests of Armenia," the specialist noted.

He added that the Armenian side should have no illusions about  Russia's possible withdrawal from the region, despite the terrible  outflow of the Armenian population from Artsakh and the closure of  the Lachin corridor. "Moreover, in my deep conviction, one of the  narratives of the Russian Federation was its presence in the region,  and, in particular, in Karabakh, which was a territory of vital  interests of Moscow.  "But a deal happened, Russia gave up its vital  territories in exchange for something. It is clear that this was done  in exchange for control over the corridor, which should pass through  the territory of Armenia. We all talk about the "red" line in  relation to the so-called "Zangezur corridor", but we don't say  anything about the "green" line, which is not serious, since we are  not talking about a few gates, but about six highways and a railway,"   concluded the former prime minister. He noted that the Armenian side,  in exchange, should demand the opening of the Kars-Gyumri railway  connection, which could be under the control of the Russians  according to the same logic by which they are going to control the  corridors through the territory of Armenia.