After protracted silence the government of Armenia finally officially declared about the 500-million USD loan they are supposed to receive from Russia. The statement publicized on the website of the ministry of finances reads as follows, “As a result of the negotiations between the governments of Armenia and Russia an agreement was signed, according to which Russia is to grant 500 million USD to the Armenian government as a loan in order to neutralize the negative impact of the intentional crisis on Armenia.” The statement also mentions that the loan will be given for a 15-year acquittal period, 4 years of which are privileged. The parentheses don’t open any more than this, such as what “privileged” means. Usually privileged term means that the loan is going to be acquitted in intangible interest rates or symbolic percentage is mentioned or that payments are not made at all for 4 years. For example, there will be no payments for coming 7 years for the loan given from Russia to Kyrgyzstan, which amounts to 1.7 billion USD and the future interest rate is going to be LIBOR+3. LIBOR is a well-accepted index in the world, which shows the value of financial resources. To be short this is the interest rate, which the world banks apply to finance each other. It is periodically refreshed by world banks. Let’s mention that at the beginning of February the interest rate of LIBOR for the US was 2%. As of Armenia nothing is clarified. The government only says that the loan was given in privileged conditions. You should probably agree that this kind of formulation is very comparative and abstract. The RA citizens have the right to know what’s going on especially when things relate to large loans. Finally the loan is not going to be acquitted from the pockets of the government officials but the citizens of Armenia. However the most interesting formulation of the statement of the finance ministry was the following, “the signed agreement doesn’t imply any other obligation for Armenia except for financial ones.” Why should there be any other obligations? It’s understandable that by this sentence the government is trying to refute all the rumors that after receiving the Russian loan Armenia would enter the ruble zone or give away other strategic complexes to Russia (if we have any left). The agreement with Kyrgyzstan doesn’t mention that the country is obliged to remove the US military base in Manas, however everyone knows that it’s going to happen. No one believes that Russia is being merely friendly right now to its allies, which suffered from the international crisis especially taking into account the fact that it’s not in a very favorable condition either. Russians themselves don’t believe in the good step of Russia. One of the Russian magazines by adverting to the international crisis in the post-Soviet region writes, “The international crisis largely damaged the economy of Russia but the latter obviously doesn’t wish to learn from its previous mistakes. And the sense of chauvinism is reviving in Russia again. Thus, everything is done for imperial purposes in order to expand the zones of Russia’s influence.” Moreover, the author of the article has used nicknames characteristic to certain countries – Russian empire, Sovereign Ukraine, democratic Baltic states. Azerbaijan deserved the title of a “patient” state as it’s trying to overcome its own difficulties without anyone’s help by relying on its resources. Do you know what the characteristic Armenia, the strategic ally of Russia, deserved? Translated from Russian it means, “always ready.” It means a state that abides with every caprice. Let us present the part, which relates to Armenia, “The behavior of the government of Armenia may be described with the words of the song of Karabas-Barabas” from the film of Buratino (Pinocchio). The article also mentions that despite the fact that Armenia has already sold to Russia all of its companies of electrical power, railroads infrastructure but it’s willing go even further to suffice the caprice of Russia and that is refuse from its own monetary unit. This viewpoint has been circulated in the Armenian media despite the fact that the government periodically refutes it. Moreover, the ones, who are refuting it are not quite familiar with the conditions and terms of the provided Russian loan. It is also unclear whether the entrance of the ruble zone is considered a financial obligation or not. The big question is – will Armenian yield anything or not? We all remember how back in the day the government of Armenian was refuting that they are going to sacrifice energetic strategic objects to Russia in order to maintain the 110 USD fee for natural gas received from Russia. We all remember what happened. Now the government is being silent. It seems that after the end of successful negotiations with Russia the minister of finances of Armenia should have held a press conference and publicized the public on the results of the talks and agreement. However, no official statement was made even after the minister of finances of Russia Kudrin declared that the loan will be provided. And now they are offering only an announcement, which doesn’t mean anything. It’s not clear why they are doing this because there is no reason to be glad about the loan or because they are being modest. At any rate, this behavior can be explained only in one way – fear. If they declare the amount of the interest rate of the loan the Armenian society will be once again disappointed of the Armenian government and our strategic partner. But if the terms of the loan are low then there is a bigger doubt that something is going to be yielded instead. It was Russia that had numerously stated that as of the gas price they are guided only with market principles and those principles cover the ally states as well.
