KREMLIN DISBELIEVES YEREVAN

Lragir, Armenia
Aug 27 2007

2007 is the tenth anniversary of both the Armenian and Russian
treaty and the creation of the Armenian-Russian intergovernmental
commission which is known for a few significant deals for Armenia,
both negative and positive, reminded Hmayak Hovanisyan, political
scientist, August 27 at the Friday Club. "The operation of Armenal
is positive, of course, and we may even say it is a major achievement
but the failure of our aims connected with the Iran-Armenia gas pipe,
regarding a transit pipeline, is worrisome," Hmayak Hovanisyan said
who hinted that it was Russia’s will. He disagrees, however, that
Russia should be criticized for the failure of the transit pipeline
project. "We did not set our regional political goals together with
Russia," Hmayak Hovanisyan says. According to him, Russia could
control the transit pipeline and manage it through its strategic
partner Armenia, but the fact that Moscow minded a transit pipeline
shows, according to Hmayak Hovanisyan, that the Kremlin does not
trust Armenia. "The regional political strategy is not adjusted to
our relations and produces such results," the political scientist
says. He even says Russia makes no efforts to lay out a North-South
transport axis through Armenia. To compare, Hmayak Hovanisyan
mentions that TRASECA and INOGATE in which Armenia and Russia
are not participating involve major transport and energy programs,
whereas nothing happens regarding the North-South. Moreover, Russia is
negotiating Russia-Azerbaijan-Iran railroad through Azerbaijan. Hmayak
Hovanisyan thinks it is more evidence to the lack of confidence
in Armenia, in addition to Russia’s efforts to get hold of all the
strategic spheres of economy of Armenia. It is due to the complementary
policy we declared, the political scientist says. According to him,
since we did not agree with Russia on the strategy, Moscow gets hold
of everything to prevent from conducting a complementary policy.