PARUYR HAYRIKIAN: RUSSIA DECLARES POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC WAR ON ARMENIA

YEREVAN, October 15 (Noyan Tapan). Russia has declared a political
and economic war on Armenia, so the Armenian_Russian relations
need to be reviewed. Paruyr Hayrikian, Chairman of the “National
Self_Determination” Union, made this statement at the October 15 press
conference. According to him, the blockade policy against Armenia
implemented by Russia now does not differ at all from the continuing
blockade by Turkey. Hayrikian believes that thousands of Armenia’s
citizens are subjected to terrorism in Russia under the pretext of
fighting terrorism. “Even morbid Russophiles must confess that Russia
demonstrates an undisguised hostile attitude towards Armenia,” he
noted. Accoding to the Chairman of the “National Self-Determination”
Union, this measure taken by Russia is conditioned by the fact that
the Armenian nation’s potential is starting to manifest itself, and
Russia has for centuries implemented the “We need Armenia without
Armenians” strategical program. In Hayeikian’s view, Armenia should
have given adequate responses to the Russian “audacious challenges”:
during the first three days the Foreign Ministry, Prime Minister and
finally President should have tried to settle the antagonism in a
friendly way, but then Russia should have received an ultimatum. The
Ministry of Finance should have calculated and presented to Russia
the material damage caused to Armenia. And finally, the Armenian
ambassador to Russia should have been called back, while the Russian
ambassador to Armenia should have been asked to “pack his things”,
and the RA President should have invited the OSCE ambassadors and,
after informing them about his intention to freeze the relations with
Russia, he should have asked support from their governments. Hayrikian
also considers it necessary to publish decrees to start the process of
nationalizing the national property provided to Russia in return for
debts, as well as to stop the Russian symbolic military presence, etc.