In the context of the unprecedented escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, “Zhamanak” accuses Russia of betraying Armenia by selling weapons to Azerbaijan and delaying promised arms supplies to Armenia. The paper alleges that Moscow is dragging its feet over a $200 million arms deal with Yerevan in order to get the latter to publicly plead with the Russians.
“Zhoghovurd” also blasts Russia, saying that Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has decided to offset his visit to Armenia with a trip to Azerbaijan. The paper says that Moscow is keen to maintain “parity” in its relations with Yerevan and Baku. “The Russians are not just as attentive when it comes to not upsetting Armenia,” it claims. “For some reason, after visiting Baku and trumpeting about the Russian-Azerbaijani strategic partnership there, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov did not rush to come to Yerevan. Instead, he summoned Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian to Moscow.”
“Armenia’s authorities must answer many questions,” “Chorrord Ishkhanutyun” writes in relation to the four-day hostilities in and around Nagorno-Karabakh. In particular, the paper says, they must explain why Armenian military positions are not equipped with sophisticated devices that could detect enemy attacks in advance and thereby minimize combat deaths within its ranks. “And it goes without saying that Armenia’s foreign minister [Edward Nalbandian] should resign,” adds the pro-opposition daily. “We should have realized long ago that we have no foreign minister for the simple reason that it has no independent foreign policy.”
“We realize that we are not economically very powerful and that our state is unable to buy as many weapons as our enemy has,” writes “Hraparak.” “We have neither oilfields nor a non-corrupt government or an ally lavishly supplying us with weapons. But we have a [worldwide] Diaspora and a society that makes utmost contributions to our army and soldiers. It is impossible to demoralize that society. Just because we very much want peace to be established in this region does not mean that we are prepared live an undignified life.”
(Tigran Avetisian)