Aram Sargsyan: “Events in Ukraine is a lesson for all of us!”

The leader of Democratic Party of Armenia Aram Sargsyan, in the past the adviser to the president of Armenia for foreign policy questions, considers that events in Ukraine inevitably influence a geopolitical situation, and, in particular, a situation in the Caucasus:

- There are always the prerequisites for intensity growth in the region, after all Azerbaijan actively buys the arms. It acquires heavy arms and calls this process as rearmament. Including in Russia it buys rather large number of the weapon. And Anton Pavlovich after all said that if the gun hangs on a wall, sooner or later, but it will surely shoot. So, in this regard it is necessary to be constant on call, not to lose vigilance.

As for geopolitical processes, it is natural, that occurs today in Ukraine, it is surely reflected in different regions, including us. Because it is already the opposition between America and Russia and between Europe and Russia. And the interests of the USA in the Caucasus are rather big, and they never refused realization of these interests. Therefore they are very actively engaged with representatives of public organizations and those political forces which consider that Armenia has to be integrated into the European structures.

So, there are always the prerequisites for intensity growth — everything depends on how to anticipate these actions and what counterarguments to expose in this question.

— What lesson can be learned from events in Ukraine?

- Lessons are given in order to draw the corresponding conclusions. Those forces which wanted to create a negative image of Russia, an image of the enemy very actively worked at Ukraine. And in many respects they managed it. And in Armenia such danger exists too! There was it in many respects because those forces which considered that integration with Russia and integration with the Eurasian Union favourable to Armenia, these forces were thrown in a certain degree.

In the information plan, we will frankly speak, such press was as though the black sheep. I don’t know how is it possible to rectify this situation now.

- Is the discussion round the entry of Armenia into the Eurasian Union?

- It is obvious that such discussion is today. Don’t forget that there was an active promotion about the need for Armenia to go to Europe, to sign all agreements. But some days before the expected date other decision was made cardinally. And after all many standards which Europeans wanted to introduce, we already definitely reached. And, in principle, it would be even on advantage to us, if not that level of corruption which disturbs the implementation of real changes.

Events in Ukraine, of course, gave an impetus to new discussion. But I consider that there is one more detail here. When the president of Kazakhstan Nazarbayev decided to be marked out before the ally Azerbaijan, he indirectly brought up a question of Nagorno-Karabakh on council of presidents. But there was no place for similar discussion, after all there is a discussion of economic problems. And questions of Nagorno-Karabakh are discussed in separately taken Minsk OSCE group.

Naturally, all this couldn’t but cause discussion in Armenia. It is necessary to offer an explanation for all this and including to ask: do you want that we doomed the region where 150 thousand people live, on a humanitarian disaster? If you demand from Armenia to close suddenly the borders with Karabakh and not to have any economic relations with it, after all then there will come the total block of Nagorno-Karabakh!

— That is, there are too much questions…

- Yes, and the most important question is that Armenia can’t be considered as an appendage in any union. Yes, from the point of view of economy we concede to three countries which united in the union, but here from the point of view of geopolitics Armenia takes a special place. And Russia perfectly understands it, and not incidentally such attention is paid to military base in Armenia.

Generally, there are many nuances which need to be considered constantly. And then we, maybe, will change something. But thus it is necessary to work competently, but not as speak in Russia, in a slipshod way.