Armenia again ruled out a change of its traditional foreign policy orientation on Wednesday when it responded to Russia’s criticism of serious accusations levelled against former senior Armenian officials.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that the high-profile criminal cases contradict the new Armenian government’s earlier assurances that it has “no intention to persecute its predecessors for political motives.” “In the last few days, we have repeatedly conveyed our concerns to the Armenian leadership,” he said in what was rare criticism of Yerevan publicly voiced by Moscow.
Lavrov referred to the prosecutions of former Armenian President Robert Kocharian, former Defense Minister Mikael Harutiunian and former Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Khachaturov, the current secretary general of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). The three men are facing coup charges stemming from the March 2008 post-election unrest in Yerevan.
A court in Yerevan sanctioned Kocharian’s pre-trial arrest but granted Khachaturov bail on July 27. Harutiunian is believed to have fled Armenia recently.
Reacting to critical statements from Moscow, the Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Tigran Balayan, said the criminal proceedings are part of the new government’s efforts to establish the rule of law and combat corruption. “These processes are not connected with Armenia’s foreign policy and should not be misinterpreted,” he said in written comments to the Arminfo news agency.
“In this regard, we reaffirm our foreign policy priorities which are … aimed at further strengthening Russian-Armenian allied relations and increasing the effectiveness of cooperation within the CSTO and [Eurasian Economic Union] frameworks,” added Balayan.
In a clear reference to Khachaturov’s prosecution, Lavrov said that Yerevan is putting “the normal work” of Russian-led alliances of ex-Soviet states at risk. Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry described as “unprofessional” an Armenian proposal to the CSTO to replace Khachaturov by another, presumably Armenian, official.
Pro-Western political analysts in Yerevan denounced the Russian reaction, accusing Moscow of interfering in Armenia’s internal affairs.
“Unfortunately, Russia is making a serious mistake not just by alleging politically motivated prosecutions in Armenia but also saying what the Armenian authorities should do,” one of them, Stepan Safarian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).
Another analyst, Stepan Grigorian, said the Kremlin feels that Russian influence in Armenia is declining following the recent wave of mass protests that brought down the country’s previous government. “I think that Russia was wrong to react,” he said. “It’s interference, it’s pressure on our courts and law-enforcement bodies.”
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