Lukashenko’s lesson to Armenian leaders - Pashinyan's silence - COMMENT

Baku. 18 December. REPORT.AZ/ A new political power in Armenia is unable to determine its direction. On the one hand, they are trying to distance from Russia, which has set up a state for them, settled them in Azerbaijani lands, and on the other hand they try to get more help from the West. In other words,they are floundering between Russia and the West. Such a situation gives an impression that the new power is not a serious force.

The December 14 speech by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko at the press conference, remarks to present and former Armenian presidents may well be regarded as a lesson to official Yerevan.

What former President Serzh Sargsyan was told about leaving the occupied territories of Azerbaijan confirms the cowardice of the authorities in Armenia. This situation is continuing in official Yerevan.

The visits paid by acting prime minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan to the occupied Azerbaijani territories confirms that the situation continues. The Belarusian leader openly accused Armenia's current leaders of cowardice saying that Russia was selling more weapons to Azerbaijan: “Belarus is in the 4th or 5th place in this list. I asked Nikol Pashinyan why he does not criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin for this. Did you swallow your tongue? Are you scared?" Nikol Pashinyan has not yet responded to these accusations of the Belarusian leader. Basically, Armenia and Belarus are in same close proximity to Russia. The difference between them lies in the price of natural gas purchased from Russia. Belarus buys a thousand cubic meters of gas for $ 29. It wants to lower the price to $70. Armenia pays $ 150 for this volume and also attempts to get it cheaper. And the new contract has not yet been signed for 2019. One of the main features differing Armenia from Belarus is the fact that the Russian military were not charged with crimes in the territory of Belarus.

Thus, on December 3, 57-year-old street sweeper Julieta Ghukasyan was beaten to death in Armenia’s second city of Gyumri. A soldier from the Russian base there was arrested in connection with the case. Acting Justice Minister Artak Zeynalyan and director of National Security Service Director Artur Vanetsyan are still silent. Narine Rshtuni, a lawyer for the military, said that the client was kept in the territory of a military unit No 102: The serviceman does not admit his guilt. He was detained by Armenian law-enforcement agencies by the decision of the court of the Shirak Marz. Then he was handed over to the Russian side."

This situation reminded the incident that occurred a few years ago. Valery Permyakov, a soldier of the 102nd military unit, killed seven members of an Armenian family in Gyumri on January 12, 2015. After long talks, the Armenian court could convict him. However, Permyakov serves a sentence in Russia.

Russia found him guilty not of murder but of being a deserter, arms stealing and illegal possession of weapons.

By the way, the civil society in Armenia states that they are unaware of the activities of the 102rd military unit. According to their representative, the Russian military continue committing crimes. Representatives of civil society expressed their concern about the situation in Armenia being dependent on one person - Nikol Pashinyan. In their opinion, it is very dangerous that everyone in the country believes in one person. Civil society representatives do not hide their regret over the "revolution".

The representative of this layer said that nobody wanted Nikol Pashinyan to replace Serzh Sargsyan: "We want the rule of law to be guaranteed". The community do not consider elections on December 9 as a classic election: "It simply reflected the confidence in political processes". Thus, there are fears that a new dictatorship will emerge in the country.

Meanwhile, the Armenian media are trying every way to put Alexander Lukashenko's words aside.

They blame Moscow, the former power and even try to take advantage of Karabakh card to reduce the influence of the Belarusian leader's statement. Armenian political scientists say that Lukashenko cannot solve Karabakh problem. In fact, the Belarusian leader reiterated the truth that everyone knows about this issue :"Over the years, international mediators have not done a thing for a real solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict." Things came to the point that Armenian politicians are also threatening Russia's territorial integrity.  

Finally, the impression is that the new forces that come to power in Armenia made a commitment before any external force. The basis of this obligation is to get out of the Russian influence area, to protest the activities of the military base No.102 and to extend the occupation of Karabakh. Yerevan has no resources to implement such  claims. Armenia is in a swamp. Those who are trapped in swampare are usually advised not to move.

Moreover, official Yerevan tries to show itself too smart. But the reality is that Armenia is between the swamp and trap.