Recently the former advisor to the Russian ombudsman, Arbak Khachatryan was released from the “Lefortovo” prison. It is worth mentioning that in 2003 before the Armenian presidential elections he was jailed for providing financial support to candidate Artashes Geghamyan.
On February 5, 2003 citizen of Russia and Doctor Youri Riabtsev was arrested in the Yerevan-Moscow departures VIP hall of the “Sheremetevo- 1” airport of Moscow for trying to transfer $120k without registering it in the declaration lists. According to the Russian press these 12 packs of $100 bills were tied with the bands of a Czech bank. At first Riabtsev said that he didn’t know anything about that money and later confessed that Arbak Khachatryan had given him this money.
Mr. Khachatryan’s lawyer, Vladimir Levin announced in the Russian “Comersant” newspaper that although the customs board had instituted legal proceedings they had paid 120000 Russian rubles to release him. Recently we talked to Mr. Riabtsev on the phone and he said that he knew about the press publications writing that this money was intended for Artashes Geghamyan. Riabtsev denies these rumors and says, “Mr. Khachatryan has supported the elections but has never concentrated on one candidate”. The former advisor to the Russian ombudsman used to be the advisor to the first Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrosyan. Later, after Robert Kocharyan was elected, he went back to Moscow and was appointed in this position.
While in the Lefortovo, A. Khachatryan wrote several letters to the Russian president Putin. In one of his letters he wrote, “With this letter I ask your help connected with two issues. First, in the criminal case there are copies of documents addressed to the Czech company where there are signatures of Gazprom officials. The original documents are in Czech Republic. Please help in connection with these proceedings so as not to politicize this issue later. Secondly, before getting acquainted with the criminal case I learned that I had been fired two days before being jailed. This reminds me of the Stalin times.”
The most important thing in Khachatryan’s letters is the transformation from the criminal case to political issues, “I applied to you in January, 2003 connected with the activities of some officials, whose activities could lead to a crisis in Moscow and in the relations with some CIS countries. I made predictions in my letter about Georgia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and what’s worse for me, Armenia as well. The conflict with Azerbaijan connected with the Karabagh issue is not a problem only for Armenia, but also for Russia and the region. And the reason is the henchmen appointed by the center. But there will be serious strategic issues in the future like oil and gas pipe lines…”
In another letter he writes, “When the USSR collapsed the reason wasn’t the national and ethnic enmity: in that period the main slogan in the country was freedom and it was used everywhere in the USSR. But alas, it wasn’t so because there were very few politicians who really understood the meaning of freedom and what it could lead to. Even people didn’t understand that. But generally the Soviet Union collapsed because of the wish to get out of the communistic frame as soon as possible without understanding what was going on. This was the first phase. The second phase was the most tragic one not only for the former republics, but also for many countries in the world. A lot of states that had denied their administrations in favor of the two big states (capitalism-socialism) of the world lost their priorities after the collapse of their etalon. A lot of non-governmental and other organizations that were under the control of large services lost their meaning and there was no need for them any more. Later the financial support to small countries that were in war was stopped. The new world order was radical not only for Russia and CIS countries, but also for the whole economical, financial and political system of the world. Russia needed an ideology to recover the state after the impact of the Yeltsin tenure period. And the “no Russians” slogan brainwashed these politicians like a plague sickness. 50% of the population was poor and outlaws and it was very easy to imagine foreigners to be enemies. The meaning of “enemy” consisted of several things: influence, religion, color and wellbeing in other countries. Vladimir Vladimirovich, about two and a half years ago I applied to you and wrote that the activities of these politicians would lead to the situation that we are in now, and then I was isolated. These people are not able to understand that the plague of the 21st century is the ethnic mutual enmity which is the basis of terrorism and collapse of Russia.”
After his release, during our conversation in Moscow regarding the region, Mr. Khachatryan said, “After the collapse of the Soviet Union the countries lost their interests. Before there was a need for these interests, but now there isn’t. This collapse brought a lot of countries of the world to a deep economical crisis. They started to look for ways on how to show their “power”. One of these ways was terrorism which could survive due to the fact that nationalism and color factors were used to make way for terrorism. All these developments brought to very dangerous results. With the purpose of showing their powers, a lot of countries started to demonstrate their power: some countries-their financial background, some-their military power, the Jewish -their banks, the US -its strong power and the EU its politeness and human rights protection institutions. These countries are not able to come to an agreement: it is impossible because they all “hate” each other. Let’s remember the wars of Chechnya and Palestine that took a really long time. The young generation of these states only has the picture of “enmity” instilled in their minds and nothing else. They don’t know what peace means, they haven’t seen it. Russia is currently selling everything it has. But even this is not enough to increase the salaries of people. So the only way out of this situation is for Russia to take new markets, and these new markets are the small countries. But in fact there is no market. So what can Armenia and Georgia give to Russia against getting gas from it?-nothing. Only sell the territories? The only thing these small countries have is their territory. They are starting to depend on Moscow and later this dependence turns to “hate”. It can’t last long. Let’s remember Ukraine or Georgia. During the presidential elections in Ukraine MP Patrushev stood up and announced that the Americans had paid $50 million and appointed their own president. I suspected because every year Russia gave them gas for more than one billion dollars. Although Russia gave gas worth ten billion dollars during the last ten years the Americans could pay just 50 million dollars, appoint their president in a short period and make Ukraine the enemy of Russia. The policy of the US was wise. That is why I say that dependence brings to “enmity”, always. Even if these countries have the same religion. Because economical dependence is very important for Russia: it is not able to feed the nation. Teachers that get 1500-2000 rubles are not able to raise a family and keep food on the table because it is very hard to live in Moscow, especially since it has the most expensive products in the world.
Personally I think that it is impossible to move forward without any victims; you can achieve victory when the number of these victims is the minimum. But there are some factors connected with Northern Caucasus and the clan of the Kremlin. If Moscow doesn’t agree with something, people become terrorists and new clans are formed. Both Dagestan and the other countries economically depend on Moscow. Only Chechnya has oil which can help it survive. So what do the other countries have?-nothing. What can Armenia or Georgia do for Russia?-absolutely nothing. Those countries that can bring up their issues in Russia are in good conditions”.
When speaking about the possible developments of the Karabagh conflict Mr. Khachatryan said, “Armenia is interested in prolonging the solution of the conflict. The world will officially agree with the status of Karabakh. There are a lot of territorial conflicts like this. Why is the situation so bad in Armenia now? Three years ago I knew that the economy of Armenia would not develop and the Karabagh conflict would not be solved officially. That is why I said that it would not be good to have a president from Karabagh because everyone would blame everything on the people of Karabagh… The Karabagh conflict can’t find a good solution because a lot of Armenians are already tired of this problem. Before the whole nation stood up together to join Karabagh with Armenia, but now things are different. Now Armenia is depending on what Russia will do for the country as a strategic partner. Armenia doesn’t have many financial resources; a lot of people have emigrated. I am sorry, but there isn’t any “intellectual center” in Armenia either. There aren’t intellectual politicians who understand how we can win economically. The reason I wrote that Armenia is specific partner for Russia when applying to Putin is the fact that in case it loses Armenia it will lose the Caucasus. Russia mustn’t ignore the interests of Armenia. Do you remember four years ago, when the Russian prime-minister Kasianov said that everything would be fine with the Russian companies in Armenia? Back then I said that these enterprises would not work and would be forgotten because there was no market. What kinds of countries are neighboring Armenia? It was very easy for Russia to revive the economy of a country whose population was five million and is currently less than two million now. At the same time Armenia was receiving aid from the West too. Such a policy is not a good one for such a strong country like Russia. I think very soon Russia will lose Armenia as well. This is out of the interests of Russia.
What kind of benefits did Russia get from selling weapons to Syria? They announced on TV that they would sell everything they wanted. But by selling these weapons and making a profit of ten million dollars they lost about one billion dollars from the banks of those European countries that were against Syria. As for the Russian people, they don’t ask now where that money is. The existing president of Russia wants their people to earn a good living, but wanting is not enough. Armenians want that too. But for that purpose they have to give something instead, for instance they can resign in order to show people that they don’t do everything only for the purpose of getting to sit in the big chair and have power. There are a lot of things that Russia has lost. Why does Armenia have to accept the Russian troops that were taken out of Georgia? Is this to show that Armenia belongs to us? You can give as much money to a bum as you want; it doesn’t matter, he will not become a millionaire. Armenia is not doing anything and the money it is getting is thanks to the millions of Armenians living in the Diaspora.
So what’s going on in Russia now? Who can prove that most Russians don’t hate the people from Caucasus, when we Armenians live here like slaves. We go out to streets, afraid that the police will catch us. Our children are scared too. This is very dangerous for Armenia. I don’t wish Russia were a partner of a stagnated country. Russia must be partners with the civil Armenia. But now, neither side cares about this.”
Mr. Khachatryan predicts that very soon there will be a trade blockade in the region: “The prices for oil and gas will increase, Armenia will not be able to trade with Iran and Armenia will face hardships. The international community will start looking for ways on how to export oil and gas to Europe. Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan will export their oil and gas to Europe through the Caspian Sea, Baku and Georgia. Armenia will go through some rough times and it will be difficult for Russia too, because this route will not run through its territory. This will be the most dangerous development for Russia and Armenia”.
Moscow-Yerevan