RUSSIAN MEDIA IGNORES FOREIGN MINISTER’S VISIT TO ARMENIA – PAPER
Haykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
5 Apr 07 p 3
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit to Armenia was not
covered by the Russian media, and by following the Russian media it was
hard to guess that Lavrov was in Armenia, reporter Anna Hakobyan wrote
in the Armenian newspaper Haykakan Zhamanak on 5 April. Though Lavrov
was accompanied by a large group of Russian reporters, none of them put
a question dealing with Armenia to Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan
Oskanyan at the joint news conference of the foreign ministers. Is
there anyone who is surprised by such an inconsiderate attitude of
Russian journalists towards Armenia, or is any Armenian official
concerned with such ignorance towards his country? We don’t think so,
the newspaper said. But it would be good if Armenian President Robert
Kocharyan, who behaves like a humble brother when speaking to Russian
President Putin, and Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan, who always
makes polite gestures to the Russian foreign minister, thought about
Armenia’s image in the eyes of the world, Haykakan Zhamanak stressed.
Lavrov lectured at Yerevan State University on 4 April, speaking
again about centuries-long Armenian-Russian friendship. He said that
in the past two years, the Russian and Armenian presidents have met
eight times, and that Armenia is right to trust the future of its
non-operational companies to Russia.
But no professor or a student tried to remind Lavrov that all those
companies have not been put in operation after they were given to
Russia, the newspaper said. However, they asked a question about
the section of the US Department of State human rights report on
Karabakh. Lavrov said in response that this report is often politicized
and that the Department of State never publishes reports on human
rights in its own country, Haykakan Zhamanak said.