And so as experts and journalists fairly mention the complementary politics preached by Vardan Oskanyan on part of Armenia came to its logical ending. There is no way to maneuver any more. The question is set quite directly. We are either with Russia or against.
Indeed, we have always been with Russia since the times of Khachatur Abovyan’s “Blessed plead” piece and it seems that it cannot be other way. But currently we appear in a situation, which means the support to Russia, will even more increase the blockade pressure on us. It will mean become enemies with Georgia and communicate with the rest of the world only through Iran. So what shall we do? It seems the best option would be to continue the previous policy line – “neither the nail nor the hammer.” Our government was trying to do so recently, particularly when avoiding expressing their clear opinion about the Georgian-Ossetian war. But Russians are not satisfied by this behavior any more. They demand a “clear attitude.” But this attitude must of course be on behalf of Russia as Armenia is also a member of the Collective Security Pact (CSP). Moreover, in two days it will accept the presidency of the organization. The CSP session, which was being held in Yerevan yesterday, was in a formal meaning an ordinary one in terms of speaking of plans and activities. Issues were discussed, agreements were signed on trainings of policemen, rescue officers and other law-enforcers. Although the journalists were not allowed to attend the session the press conference afterward showed that the main issue of the agenda of the session was the Georgian-Ossetian conflict. It was quite evident from the words of the Secretary General of the CSP Nikolay Bordyuzha, who emphasized that the directions of the organizations in terms of its functions has radically changed. Especially the speech of the Secretary of the RF Security Council Nikolay Patrushev was signified. He spoke about the reasons of the Georgian aggression. He also briefly spoke about the conflict in his closed speech. According to his words the Caucasian region and the Middle East, which are full of oil and natural gas, have become a zone of conflict of interests especially for the US. However, it is not only necessary to produce these resources but also organize their transportation. That is the reason why certain regimes are needed in certain states. “And we have already seen how it happens in Georgia. You remember how Sahakashvili was brought to power. There can be no word about democratization in here. And maybe you remember the promises he was giving that he would unite Georgia, etc. We have never declined the principle of territorial integrity but meanwhile its methods and shapes are different,” said Patrushev by naming the manslaughter in the South Ossetia as genocide. The target of Patrushev’s criticism was not only Georgia but also the US. “We knew that a number of states were arming Sahakashvili’s Georgia and they raised the military budget of that country thirty times. It was quite understandable that they were preparing for that. The agreement of the use of no arm was cancelled and violated because of Georgia’s aggression. And it happened after the visit of Condoleezza Rice to Georgia.” If we analyze the words of Patrushev then several “messages” will be separately directed to the west on one hand and on the other hand to the CSP states. First of all, the Russian officials stated without any insecurity that Russia will no longer cope with the US behavior as number one dictator in the world. By reminding that after the collapse of the USSR and the cancellation of the Warsaw Pact the world became uni-polar, where the US would dictate its conditions and the world would develop in that direction. “After these events Russia declared itself as a center. And not only Russia’s but also the role of other organizations, which Russia is a member to (such as the CSP), will increase their roles.” According to Patrushev serious political changes took place and the balance of power was changed. However, the cases develop in such a scenario, which causes the anger of Russia. “We see that despite these tragic events Georgia is still being supported. We see that humanitarian aid is being transported via military ships, which are equipped with modern armaments. We know that Cheney is visiting Georgia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine with the goal of trying to persuade them to support the US policy in the region. Most importantly none of the countries has any doubt that the conflict was initiated by Georgia but they did it on purpose and realized that so that innocent citizens would die.” Indeed, as we mentioned Russia needs final formulations. More concretely they need recognition of Ossetia and Abkhazia. Of course, all that is not openly said and in the words of Patrushev the issue of the recognition of these states is in the framework of the authority of each state. “Every state must make its own decision to recognize or not recognize Ossetia and Abkhazia. Russia will not pressure on anyone but we are interested,” he said and expressed his hope that many other states will recognize Ossetia’s and Abkhazia’s independence. The healthy logic prompts that it should be first of all the strategic partners of Russia, such as Armenia to recognize independence. In fact, this whole session and the speeches of the Russian officials objectively demonstrate the opinion of the Russian government. After that the member states will have to express their attitude. By the way Patrushev has made a quite noteworthy observation by saying that he hopes that the CSP member states will support the decision of Russia just like the Shanghai organization states did. “Honestly said there is no other choice.” Thus, every country decides on its own whether it recognizes or not. Honestly said, the standpoint of Russia is quite understandable and these people are trying to restore their previous power and reputation as a super state. However, it is not understandable why Russia would show that it cares more about Armenia than the Armenians do and that it doesn’t have any fault in the difficulties of Armenia. For example, during the CSP session Nikolay Bordyuzha mentioned that the activity of the organization must be activated and that some of the member states face threats of sovereignty. He also brought the example of Armenia by saying that Armenia has been facing serious difficulties during the recent days. “In fact, the railroads are blocked and it faces problems transporting its goods from Georgia to Armenia. And it is being done by a neighbor state.” What is this? They almost make us think that it is the Georgians, who themselves blew up the railroads and the bridges in Gori, as a result of which Armenian goods were stuck in Georgia. Or they ridiculously forgot that years ago they were the ones who blocked the corridor from Upper Lars. The worst thing is that no one can even think that the Armenian officials may oppose the opinions of Russians by claiming not to consider us fools. However, on the other hand, when you see that Artur Baghdasarayn, who back in his day was a passionate supporter of NATO, repeats the words of Bordyuzha, you realize that whenever there is a quiet listener there will always be someone to talk.