(Saturday, September 1)
“Haykakan Zhamanak” lambastes former president Robert Kocharian, who is being prosecuted on coup charges in Armenia, over his ‘provincialism’ revealed in his purported attempt to seek political support from Moscow. The paper, in particular, refers to Kocharian’s August 31 telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin reported by the Kremlin in which the latter extended his congratulations to the former Armenian leader on his 64th birthday. “Kocharian, naturally, doesn’t care that such messages create some problems for the sovereignty of Armenia, to some extent provoke more anti-Russian sentiments and fuel unnecessary tensions within the Armenian society,” it writes.
“Hraparak” notes that a brief readout on the Kremlin’s official website about Putin’s phone conversation with Kocharian has stirred a ‘big storm’ within the Armenian society. “Some took it as a slap in Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s face, others remembered that Putin sent such public congratulations to Kocharian only during the latter’s presidency, still others noted that only two months ago it was [another ex-president] Serzh Sarkisian’s birthday, but Putin did not congratulate him at the time when he, perhaps, needed that support most.”
“Zhamanak” suggests that Russia’s possible refusal to extradite Mikael Harutiunian, a former Armenian defense minister wanted on charges related to the 2008 post-election unrest, to Armenia on the grounds that he is also a Russian citizen may trigger tensions in Armenian-Russian relations similar to the ones that existed when in 2015 Moscow effectively refused to transfer a Russian soldier charged with murdering a seven-member Armenian family in Gyumri to Armenian jurisdiction. On August 31, the Interfax news agency, citing a diplomatic source in Russia, reported that such refusal will be Moscow’s response to the request received from the Armenian side. “The cases of [the Russian soldier Valery] Permyakov and Harutiunian may not be comparable, but as far as extradition is concerned, history may be repeated,” the paper comments.
The editor of “Aravot” believes Kocharian’s intention to participate in expected early parliamentary elections can only be welcomed: “This is going to be a good test that will enable the second president to check his real rating. In the upcoming elections he will not possess any administrative levers, he will not be able to threaten or pressure anyone, he will not be able to ban media and buy votes. Consequently, the votes that Kocharian will receive will truly be his ‘hard earned’ votes, the votes that he really deserves.”
(Tigran Avetisian)
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