The statements made by the councilor of the Russian Embassy in Armenia Sergey Averchenko may be considered as the successive diplomatic scandal. He presented the expectations of the Russian Federation from Armenia to the Secretary of the National Security Council Arthur Baghdasaryan during the discussion on “Russian-Armenian strategic cooperation” organized by the president of Union of Armenians of Russia Ara Abrahamyan. He also suggested reviewing the attitude of our country towards the draft law on foreign language schools. According to the councilor of the Russian Embassy the votes supporting the draft law were not numerous in our country. The Armenians need the Russian language in order to feel better the Russian. He is not contented with the response of the media on Putin’s nomination as a President. The councilor warns that it is necessary for Armenia that Putin becomes President.” He presented all this to the attention of one of the high-ranking officials of RA, the Secretary of the National Security Council Arthur Baghdasaryan. The latter stated, “We will pay much attention to what we can do to make the media represent Russian- Armenian relations more effectively.” What does it mean? An ordinary official may publicly threaten the Armenian government and require their control on the media so that positive attitude towards their country and Putin is formed in the media. And our government must guarantee what they want displaying utmost submission. In this case, however, the government having self respect should have sent a diplomatic not to the respective country or at least invite the ambassador of the relevant country to give explanation. No matter how hard we tried we couldn’t get any comments from the government representatives concerning the statements made by the councilor of the Russian Embassy. During the interview coalition MPs said they were not aware about the statements by the Armenian and Russian officials. Even Galust Sahakyan deputy president of the Republican Party hasn’t heard about that, who is usually aware of everything. “It is not only our honor, but there is a violation of ethic norms,” he said. “It is probably the most indecent interference into the domestic affairs of RA. The diplomat of that rank may and should meet with the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of his rank to discuss any issue related to the Armenian-Russian relations. The nonsense is that he is accepted at such a high state level and discusses issues beyond his competencies. That is to say, he discusses and gives instruction on the draft laws discussed in our National Assembly. He persuades the state officials to control the publications of Armenian media. The most amusing is the way the person occupying the post of the Secretary of National Security Council finds excuses in front of a foreign diplomat. It is a nonsense and offending fact for any citizen of Armenia. I won’t be surprised if the driver of the Russian Ambassador goes to a Ministry and gives instructions on how to develop agricultural or any other sphere sometime soon,” says Alexander Arzumanyan, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, a member of “Free Democrats” party. Ruben Mehrabyan, the expert of Armenian Center for Political and International Studies also thinks that these kinds of statements are mere interference into the domestic affairs of Armenia. “That councilor made a statement beyond the frameworks of his diplomatic mission. It is a violation of diplomatic ethics. I think the people present there should make him understand where his place was and not give promises like we would behave ourselves from now on. The Republic of Armenia was publicly humiliated in that hall,” thinks R. Mehrabyan. The councilor of the Embassy stated as well that Putin’s election as the President stems from the interests of our Republic.” Nobody should tell us what the interests of our nation are, especially when elections are to be held in a certain country. The President of that country is first of all elected to protect the interests of his people,” commented R. Mehrabyan. According to the Heritage party deputy Armen Martirosyan those statements show how our authorities imagine national security. “I think education in RA should be exclusively Armenian. We don’t need to study the language of a country to understand them. I don’t think education should be English, American or French to understand better the respective countries. Accordingly, education doesn’t have to be Russian to understand their country better,” says A. Martirosyan. According to the deputy Baghdasaryan simply stated the fact that in Armenia print press and especially TV channels are under control. No native TV channel broadcasted the statements by the councilor of the Russian Embassy. The next step to please the Russian took Ara Abrahamyan, the organizer of the discussion who stated, “The Armenians of Russia are ready to vote for Putin without any hesitation”. He mentioned that the necessity to create the Union of Armenians of Russia arose 10 years ago “arising from the fact that when he used to advocate for Putin’s candidacy in 2000, in RF cities very few Armenians participated in the meetings with him.” Another remark: A. Baghdasaryan has always presented himself as a Europe oriented politician bearing western values. Do his frequent meetings with the Russian officials and Ara Abrahamyan come to prove that he rejected the worshiped values and set great hopes on Russian assistance? “A. Baghdasaryan is from the opposition. So I don’t see any issue in this case,” says A. Martirosyan. “I am not interested in A. Baghdasaryan or A. Abrahamyan as persons. I am worried about the rating of the Republic of Armenia. I am not interested what personal issues they want to solve. While speaking on behalf of RA they have to abbey some rules. And it is offending that by such statements and behavior they offend our statehood and question the independence of our country. I call for everyone to mind their own business, especially foreign citizens. Let them go and take care of their counties instead of interfering in the domestic affairs of Armenia,” added Martirosyan.
