Agency WPS
What the Papers Say. Part A (Russia)
May 27, 2005, Friday
THE ARMENIAN GAMBIT
SOURCE: Rossiiskie Vesti, No. 17, May 19, 2005, p. 8
by Sergei Marsov, Yerevan, especially for Rossiiskiye Vesti
The name of fugitive Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky has been
promoted well enough in the former USSR. The tycoon is believed to be
linked to recent developments in Georgia and Ukraine, attempts to
overthrow Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus, and every imaginable
political plot against the Kremlin. And this is not without reason.
But very few could suppose that Boris Berezovsky would concern
himself with Armenia – more precisely, with relations between Baku
and Yerevan.
Media wars are always waged with reliable and tested techniques. At
first, some newspaper produces a “leak” concerning some event, citing
“our sources in authoritative government bodies.” Then the
information is taken up by political analysts with their usual “smart
explanation.” During the third phase, if the “leak” is has been
arranged properly, it becomes a big politics factor when certain
statements are made concerning operating politicians. If they are
aware of the process they are being involved in, it is one thing. But
it is different when the politicians try to satisfy the so-called
public opinion which has been formed by someone else. In this case
political complications are inevitable. If it comes to state leaders,
there will most likely spring up problems between states.
Something of that kind has recently occurred in the
Azerbaaijani-Armenian relations. The most sophisticated political
analysts were quick to name the “evil force” factor. The plot is as
follows. Originally, Armenian newspaper “168 Zham” spread information
that Armenian President Robert Kocharyan had recently gone to Georgia
in order to meet there with Boris Berezovsky. The reporters claimed
that the Armenian president had asked the fugitive oligarch to assist
him through the media he owned.
Simultaneously, Realny Azerbaijan newspaper published an interview
with Alexander Litvinenko, a former officer of Ukrainian security
agencies. Litvinenko declared that the bloody tragedy which happened
in the Armenian Parliament on October 27, 1999 when terrorists killed
the prime-minister, the speaker and other six senior government
officials had been scripted and organized by the Russian Main
Intelligence Administration (GRU). It was claimed that owing to these
measures “the Russian authorities managed to prevent signature of a
Karabakh conflict resolution agreement.”
Therefore, an interesting political combination is shaping up: an
attempt has been made to removed Russia from the Karabakh conflict
resolution by undermining Yerevan’s and Baku’s trust in it. It was
suggested that there are particular trust relationships between
Robert Kocharyan and Boris Berezovsky, which is supposed to bring
Yerevan and Moscow apart. There was also a broad hint at “bloc”
ambitions which Mikhail Saakashvili and Robert Kocharyan are believed
to have, which surely cannot but worry Baku. Taking into
consideration the recent statement of President George W. Bush in
Tbilisi in which he called Georgia “the outpost of democracy in the
whole region”, the propagandist scheme which Boris Berezovsky is
implementing in the Trans-Caucasus is acquiring a real geopolitical
outline.
Adding to this an idea of an “impending oil revolution in Baku” which
is being widely propagated by western media, one may conclude that
Baku has a real reason for concern. If Yerevan and Tbilisi are really
forming a bloc (it is worth mentioning in this respect that some
European media reported on the “Armenian roots” of Mr. Saakashvili),
Baku will be bound to overcome the so-called regional isolation.
However, it seems that this combination has been disclosed in Moscow.
The Russian Embassy in Armenia issued a note in which the actions of
Boris Berezovsky and his associate Mr. Litvinenko were qualified
respectively, as they are meant to complicate the relationships
between Yerevan and Moscow.
Of course, Boris Berezovsky is a master of intrigue. However, staying
in London longer, he is losing touch with the political situation in
the former USSR republics. Now he himself is becoming an object of
political manipulations, which can cause certain discomfort
personally to him and all his team. This is because we are going to
start our next report about Boris Berezovsky as follows: “As reported
by our source very close to the oligarch.”
Translated by Sergei Kolosov