ARMENIAN OPPOSITION PARTY SPLITS OVER FOREIGN POLICY COURSE

The Associated Press
09/06/05 14:16 EDT

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) – Several top members of a leading opposition
party said Tuesday that they were quitting in protest over what they
described as the party’s pro-Western stance.

Albert Bazeian, who left the Anrapetutsyun (Republic) party along
with six comrades, said its leaders’ push for Armenia’s membership
in NATO and withdrawal from the Russian-dominated alliances was wrong.

The Anrapetutsyun party’s leader, former Prime Minister Aram Sarkisian,
has recently called for Armenia to quit the Commonwealth of Independent
States, a loose alliance of ex-Soviet nations.

“It’s too early to speak about that,” Bazeian, a member of national
parliament and former mayor of Yerevan, said at a news conference.
“Armenia faces no threat from Russia.”

While many other ex-Soviet nations looked increasingly toward closer
integration into Western structures, Armenia has remained a staunch
Russian ally. It hosts a Russian military base, which has become even
more important for Moscow after neighboring Georgia pushed for the
withdrawal of Russian troops.

Russia’s energy monopoly assumed financial control of Armenia’s only
nuclear plant in 2003, and earlier this year it also has acquired
the right to manage and receive profits from Armenia’s national grid
company for the next 99 years. Armenia also depends on Russia for
natural gas supplies.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress