ARF SAYS EMPIRIC PRO-RUSSIAN APPROACHES SURRENDER TO PRAGMATIC ONES

Armenpress
Mar 21 2006

YEREVAN, MARCH 21, ARMENPRESS: A deputy chairman of Armenian parliament
told journalists today in Yerevan last week he saw indications in
Moscow that Russia may revise its decision to double the price of
natural gas it sells to Armenia.

Vahan Hovhanessian, a deputy parliament speaker from the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation (ARF), who headed an Armenian delegation
to Moscow for a recurrent meeting of the Russian-Armenian
intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation, told a
news conference in Yerevan those indications made him ‘cautiously
optimistic’ that some mechanisms would be found to compensate the
gas price hike.

He said Armenians did not try to conceal their discontent in Moscow
over the anticipated price hike, largely expected to become effective
from April 1, when Russian Gazprom is expected to start selling gas
to Armenia at $110 per one thousand cubic meters instead of current
$56. He said Russian government officials promised to take note of
Armenian discontent. Hovhanessian argued that ’empiric pro-Russian
approaches in the Armenian political environment are yielding to
pragmatic approaches, as a result the voice of anti-Russian forces
is becoming stronger and they are becoming more influential.”

“We explained to our Russian partners that the authorities and
the opposition in Armenia are not divided into pro-Russian and
anti-Russian segments, but the prevalence of unreasonable elements
in Moscow’s policy may lead to stronger anti-Russian sentiments which
may eventually jeopardize Armenia’s national security,” he speculated.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress