The Messenger, Georgia
Dec 10 2004

Armenia: “We should not push away our true friends”

The Armenian newspaper Aravot (Morning) interviewed a member of the
Armat Center and political analyst Stepan Grigorian who recommended
that the current Armenian government reexamine its foreign policy
approaches and be mindful of mistakes.
“You always make a mistake when you follow mistaken approaches. The
same thing took place in connection with Senator Kerry as well as
with Georgia,” he said, adding that it was a mistake for Yerevan to
initially oppose Saakashvili. He said Armenia is continuing its
mistakes in regards to Ukraine.
“Nobody forced our acting government to congratulate Yanukovich on
the victory beforehand, when even CEC had not announced its
decision,” he said. He said that serious, revolutionary processes are
under way in the Ukraine now, but Armenia together with other
“underdeveloped, totalitarian countries” Belarus, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan and Russia congratulated a person who according to
Ukraine’s laws was not elected president.
As Grigorian stated, Russia is unable to develop and little by little
it becomes a weak, semi-totalitarian and semi-authoritarian state
whose economy will collapse. He added that Russia has no resources to
retain its super-power status. He noted ironically that Russia was
not satisfied by the fact that in Abkhazia all the candidates on the
presidential ballot had a pro-Russian orientation.
“I agree with the fact that we should actively cooperate with Russia
and have good neighborly relations. But I am against leaders of our
country being its proteges. The millions of demonstrators in Ukraine
are the expression of a protest against Russia,” he stated.
“Our fault is that the acting authorities in our country cooperate
with those countries and political forces that vote against Armenia.
The United States always makes its decision in favor of Karabakh and
allots us financial assistance – its was exactly a U.S.
representative who suppressed unfavorable actions in the UN. But we
say – “No! Russia is better”… WE should refuse this kind of approach
in order not to push away our true friends,” he concluded.